By Alice Fraimovich
Mon., May 17, 2021 | reading time 5 minutes ⏰
Blyth Yorkville’s PLF4M class has recently been taking a stab at yoga in their ‘Wellness Wednesday” sessions, pictured below. Students enjoyed some time off from schoolwork to focus more on their mental and physical well-being, and had some fun while they were at it!
In case you aren’t aware, it’s Mental Health Awareness Month! This means that we need to take the time to learn about how to look after our mental health, as well as how to help someone else during a stressful time. It’s crazy how the topic of mental health was taboo until recently. People were told to act like robots, to suppress our emotions, that seeking help is weak. In many regions, this is sadly still the case. Luckily for us, we can educate ourselves on the importance of taking care of our mental health. Our mental health, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, “includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.” This just goes to show just how incredibly important it is to take care of ourselves. Speaking of taking care of ourselves, there are many ways to look after your mental health. Here’s a short list of things you can do in order to keep yourself in a healthy mindset.
Talking about your feelings. You should not feel ashamed or embarrassed to talk about your feelings. Our emotions are what make us human, it is natural for us to have emotions. Sometimes venting to a friend can really lift the weight off your shoulders, and you might even receive helpful advice from doing so.
Sometimes finding a new hobby or activity to keep yourself busy and active helps loads to take your mind off of things. Check out my other article titled “Fun Quarantine Activities” and you’ll find tons of (hopefully) great ways to save yourself from boredom.
Take a break! Oftentimes this isn’t possible for some people, but it is still important to take a break every now and then. Schedule a day off school if you don’t have too much of a workload.
Take lots of walks. This helps a lot to clear your mind and is especially refreshing when it’s nice outside. Plug in some earbuds and listen to some of your favourite music as you wander around slowly, taking in all the familiar (or unfamiliar) sights.
Buy some of your favourite food, or make it yourself. This doesn’t help too much, but it gives you something to enjoy and for a moment while you’re eating, you might even feel at peace.
Apparently exercising can decrease depression, but making the first step to actively being active is very difficult. I can’t get myself out of bed on most days, so it’s perfectly understandable if you can’t bring yourself to exercise just yet.
Cleaning your room helps loads more than you might think it does. My room is a mess currently and usually when I get the motivation to clean it, the result takes another worry off my mind.
I personally find writing poems to be very relaxing, and they don’t even have to be rhyming poems. Haiku poems are a great way to start. In addition, here’s a challenge: write any kind of poem, but it has to be about marinated mushrooms. I dare you to send it to my email once you’re done! I promise I won’t judge too harshly. (aliceisarandomperson@gmail.com)
There are tons of many other things you can do to improve your mental health, like seeing a therapist or just asking for help. Hopefully this short list is at least somewhat useful, and I urge you to take a step towards helping yourself feel better, because you deserve to feel good! (Unless you are a serial killer or something. I’m hoping you’re not.)