Steps to Kickstarting your Mental Health this January

New Year, New Goals. Naturally the New Year is a time for setting goals and looking ahead to the future. For that reason, it can be a great time to refocus on improving your mental health. That said, it can be difficult to know where to start. Here are some positive first steps that you can take to help you move forward and begin improving your mental health.

1. Acknowledge where you are now and where you want to be

The first step is to be honest with yourself about where your mental health is now. One way to do this is to use the 1-10 scale. Where 1 is as bad as it could be, and 10 is as good as it could be, where is your mental health one the scale now?

1 __________________________________________________________________10

Then you can ask yourself – “What do I want?” (from this mental health journey).

When you answer this question, it is important that you focus on what you do want, not on what you don’t want. Often when I ask this question people will say “I don’t want to feel overwhelmed anymore”,”I don’t want to have anxiety anymore”. My answer to that would be “what do you want instead of that anxiety?

You want the answer to be stated in the positive E.G. “I want to be able to complete my day-day activities in a relaxed state, with positive thoughts.”, “I want to return to my football team and enjoy playing again”,”I want to be relaxed and happy around my friends”.

You can also ask yourself: “What will be different?”

An answer might be “I can wake-up in the morning and get up without dreading the day ahead.”

Answering these questions gives you an end-point – you know that you have achieved what you wanted to when i.e you are now relaxed and happy around your friends. Once you are there you can start the cycle again with the same question, though you might want to do it in relation to something else, not your mental health.

Answering these questions will also get you thinking about the positive outcome – it lets your mind know that change is possible. This is a great way to get you moving forward.

2. Find Stability in Routines

Start by finding stability in familiar routines, rituals, schedules. Sometimes over the Christmas period people’s schedule’s change and routines are non-existent for a week or two. It is good to get a solid schedule and routine back, as it helps to keep you consistent with work and habits. It also means your brain and body knows what to expect, and consequently day-to-day activities feel easier because they are done habitually, without you having to consciously think about it. You can start with familiar routines and calming activities and things that you know have been good for you in the past or things that keep you in a more positive frame of mind. This will give you a good foundation to protect your mental health and a solid basis to grow from.

3. Plan Your Schedule

Take some time to sit down and plan out your schedule, making sure you prioritise the most important things and the things that are good for your mental health. Also set achievable and enjoyable goals – these could be weekly or monthly. The key is to focus on things that you want to do and will benefit you and your mental health. Choosing things you don’t enjoy will make it difficult to stick to in the long-term and you might find it harder to achieve the goals. It can also help to start small and increase the goals as you achieve them or hit your target.

4. Plan and Book Things To Look Forward To

Plan a few things in to the calendar to look forward to – cinema trips, coffee meet-ups, opportunities to meet friends and family. Research has shown that social connection is particularly important for mental health – so its good to have social plans booked in. That said, having anything to look forward to is good, so also plan-in holidays, trips away, and small events as often as you can (without breaking your bank balance – these don’t all have to cost money.) Repeat this step routinely – monthly, weekly, whatever works best for you.