#MentalHealthAwareness — Tip 1 — Gratitude

“They can literally be anything and I found that that constant reinforcement of happiness and gratitude slowly changed my mindset from negative to predominantly positive”

Now before I start these tips, I want to reiterate that these are things that worked for me. This is not a be all and end all guide of gaining the perfect mental health, nor do they work over night. But I found by implementing certain small changes in my life, over time, they made a huge difference.

So bare with me, some may sound obvious/ridiculous/tedious/or not for you….but where’s the harm in trying ey?

Tip 1 is GRATITUDE.

I found that when my mental health was at it’s lowest I lost all sense of the good things in life. From simple little things that make you smile and laugh, to the bigger things that seriously effect your life for the better. My mindset had become predominantly negative and I found it very difficult to see the good in life.

People were trying to help me but I didn’t see any good in that, things in work were going ok but I continually became critical of myself, I didn’t even like looking in the mirror because all I could see was a miserable, self centered twat that was determined to put a downer on everything. I was for sure not great company.

SOMETHING HAD TO CHANGE. I was recommended starting a gratitude list. Now on the face of it, it seems like a very basic thing to do and I was very skeptical of how this could make any difference, however looking back now, it’s probably one of the most important changes I have made.

The key concept is to write down 3 things that you are grateful for each day. Now they can be things that you are eternally grateful for or things that have happened that day/week/year. Just try to do it everyday, I did it before bed because it helped me reflect on the day I had.

Some of my entries spanned from ‘Got up early and it’s sunny’ to ‘Spoke to my friend Steve on the phone’ to ‘Had pizza for dinner’ to ‘500 days sober today’. They can literally be anything and I found that this constant reinforcement of happiness and gratitude slowly changed my mindset from negative to mostly positive. Ok, we are all going to have shit days, but at least now you can scroll back a few days and remember some important happy moments. Hopefully you wont dwell on the negatives as much.

I downloaded the Happyfeed app, so that I could keep it organised. You can add photos and scroll back through past days, even look at what you were grateful for exactly 6 months ago to see your progression.

Reinforce those happy thoughts! Try to not let everything get you down. Remember you are loved and that there is so much goodness in the world.

Thanks as always,
Craig