4 Ways You Can Slow Down (To Speed Up And End Your Year On A High Note)
Life often demands that you be fast in everything you do. If not, you’ll fall behind. This rapid pace creates a lot of pressure and causes your emotions to get the better of you. In the end, this can crush mental freedom, making you anxious, stressed, or depressed.
If this is happening to you, it’s time to take a step back. You can’t be the best version of yourself if your mind is not fully healthy. So, in order to speed up, you first need to slow down. Here are some ways you can start doing that:
Understand It’s a Step-by-Step Process
Whether you are suffering from depression, high levels of stress, substance abuse, or something in between, your mental health woes are not going to go away overnight. Like physical fitness, mental fitness takes time — and practice. So, breathe easy, map out a plan and identify a first step to jump start this process.
Find Something to Help You Relax
It’s crucial to devote time to relaxation. Whether you walk in the park, meditate or read, the health benefits of relaxation are enormous. A significant amount of studies have shown relaxation helps with anxiety, stress, insomnia and other issues. Note: Relaxation does not mean sitting on the sofa with a bag of potato chips; it means performing proven relaxation techniques, like deep breathing exercises, guided imagery and meditation.
Have Support Around You
You need someone to talk to about your emotions, as this will help you work through your issues and see better solutions. This person must be able to identify with or be empathetic to your experience. That’s why many mental health experts recommend support groups. Support groups are available all over for all sorts of problems and illnesses. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), for instance, is the largest support group of its kind in the country, and is a great resource for learning more about mental illnesses, finding support, and getting involved to help raise awareness.
Make Use of Technology
Technology is involved in every facet of life, and it should be involved in getting mentally healthy. Your smartphone can provide you with the personal connections, information or the guidance you need. There are a many mental health apps out there that provide support; from apps that help deal with school bullying to platforms teaching cognitive behavioral therapy skills. If you want to connect with licensed therapists, for instance, download the Level Therapy app. Or, if you want to find community by communicating with others suffering from the same diagnosis, check out the Big White Wall community.
Once you’ve implemented your plan for getting emotionally healthy, you’ll begin to reap the rewards. By slowing down and taking time to focus on your well-being, you’ll feel better and start clicking on all cylinders. Before you know it, doing all these things listed above will be second nature, and you can go on to be the most productive you.
About The Author
Dan Miller is the Co-Founder, and CEO of Level Therapy. You can connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
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