Maintaining Good Health
When one thinks of health, one often thinks of
healthy habits such as eating nutritious foods, exercising regularly, and
getting enough sleep. There is an understanding that maintenance is required to
ensure good physical health and that it takes regular conscious effort to
stay healthy.
Unfortunately, this concept of maintenance is often lost when considering mental well-being. When one thinks of mental health it's commonly associated with the negative in some way – perhaps some unwanted symptoms of depression or anxiety, or maybe certain behaviours such as disruptive social interactions or acting impulsively. Although these various scenarios may sometimes be associated with mental health, it's valuable to notice how our focus often strays from ensuring good health and instead focusses on individual “problems” when they arise. The common expectation is that unless a “problem” is occurring, we do not need to focus on our mental wellness.
It is my hope that we can shift our attention from a reactive to a proactive approach to mental wellness, where maintenance in mental health might transform into a typical expectation – a partnering to the standard expectation of maintaining one’s physical health. Intentionally incorporating some mental wellness practices into our day is a preventative act, where we care for ourselves in such a way that we have the resources and skills established before we come upon hard times.
Such practices could include conscious efforts in reflecting on our daily thoughts and emotions, building a positive support network, maintaining an appropriate work-life balance, and holding healthy beliefs about ourselves and the world around us. Maintenance could also include regular self-care activities such as exercise or spending time outdoors, which offer both mental and physical benefits.
I want to note that although these activities might enrich your daily life and help you manage regular stressors more effectively, they will not stop hard days altogether. It's impossible for a human being to avoid difficult experiences, emotions, and thoughts. What these activities offer is a way to maintain your daily mood and stress levels and help establish a coping "tool box" to draw from during those tough times.
Ultimately, engaging in mental health "maintenance" practices would likely prevent many individual mental health challenges from occurring, as we'd be handling stress and challenges more effectively on a day-to-day basis. However these practices can offer more than simply effective ways of coping during hard times; it can make our good days (and even our mundane days) richer and more intentional. These practices might allow for positive personal growth and self-awareness; they could provide the opportunity to live in a way that may be more aligned with our values; they might simply lead to more enjoyment out of our days.
Just like good physical health requires the knowledge and actions to care for yourself, so does good mental health. I encourage you to reflect on your own perceptions of mental health and explore ways to build on your own “maintenance” habits. What healthy habits do you already have in place? Are there areas of your life that might be worth looking at more closely? What steps could you begin to practice regularly to care for your mental health?