By Brianna Boyd

Within our society there is so much emphasis on being healthy. Every week there is a new diet that people are following, and people are so concerned about what they put into their body solely because of their health. Something I have noticed is, while there is a lot of advocacy for our bodies to be healthy, I never hear the majority advocating for our minds to be healthy. In fact, mental health seems to be misunderstood most of the time and just gets brushed to the side as if it is something that does not really matter. There is this idea that we are supposed to be mentally strong all of the time and that even when we feel lousy, we are not supposed to seek out help. As a result, therapy can be such a taboo topic and people avoid getting help because of it. How can our society put so much emphasis on being healthy but devalue mental health at the same time? That seems counterintuitive.

Mental health MATTERS. And having a healthy mind is equally, if not more important than having a healthy body. Have you ever found it hard to eat healthy and exercise when you were feeling depressed or anxious? When you are not mentally healthy, it will be harder to do such things. When your mental health is failing you, it will be harder to excel in school or in your job. It will be harder to actually take care of yourself. With a healthy mind, you will experience all the opposite. Think about a moment when you were genuinely happy. How much easier was it to get an assignment done and be a high achiever at work? How much easier was it to take care of yourself and stay on track with your goals? Being mentally healthy really does matter and I cannot wait until society comes to a consensus about that. Therapy or being able to talk openly about our mental struggles should not be something that is taboo. We should not feel shunned or like we have to keep our struggles to ourselves. The human race will never evolve that way—we are too intelligent of beings to just keep everything bottled up all the time.

So you are probably wondering about ways that you can be mentally healthier. In my experience, I believe there are a few concrete and established ways to achieve a healthier mind. Mindfulness is a big one. According to Eckhart Tolle, mindfulness is the idea of “observing our thoughts from the perspective of an outsider.” It can be so easy to let negative thought patterns take control of us. But when you become aware of that fact, that they are indeed, just negative thoughts patterns, things start to become a little easier. For example, if you suffer from anxiety you might tend to always think the worst. But when you become aware that you do that, you put yourself in the position to stop doing it and to stop letting it have so much of an effect on you. Mindfulness is awareness and consciousness about a certain thing. It can look like being mindful of your bad behavior or habits, that end up effecting your mental health.

The most important thing of all however, is therapy. Therapy should never be seen as a bad thing and you should never feel scared or embarrassed about going to therapy. It is a beneficial and healthy thing to have someone to talk to that will not judge you. Often times, a therapist can help you see things in a way you had not seen them before. Friends are great, but they are not always the best people to have as a sounding board. They can be judgmental and unsympathetic to your struggles. A therapist provides a person an unbiased and non-judgmental safe space to talk. There is absolutely nothing worse than feeling like you have no one to talk to or who understands. There is no reason to feel that way either. There are people out there who have made it their job to listen to you and help you feel validated in your struggles. Having a person like that to talk to will put you directly on the path to having a healthier mind.

Other Ways to Become Mentally Healthy

• Get plenty of sleep

• Eat well

• Avoid alcohol, smoking and drugs

• Get plenty of sunlight

• Manage stress

• Activity and exercise

• Do something you enjoy

• Connect with others and be sociable

• Do things for others