5 Steps You Can Take to Protect Your Mental Health

As a modern woman, you have a lot to keep track of. Maybe you are maintaining and running a home, taking care of the kids, or working a busy job day-to-day. Maybe it's all three. Life moves quickly and can catch up with you quickly. It can be bad for your mental health when the work, the drama, and the worry build up. It's not talked about enough how important mental health is, especially for women and moms. Like our physical well being, its important to safeguard our mental health. We should always be taking steps to safeguard and improve our mental state from the invisible wounds that daily life inflicts on us. We are going to talk about 5 ways to improve, safeguard, and repair your mental health. Let's get healthy!

Spend Time In Nature

This one is simple, fun, and good for both your mental and physical health. Try spending time in green spaces. Go on a hike into the wilderness, or go camping in a remote place. Away from your normal routine, spend some time away from the internet and in touch with a simple, beautiful, natural world. Nature can help you relax, be more active, and reduce anxiety. An isolated hike isn't necessary to enjoy nature's therapeutic benefits. Gardening, a walk in the park, or just being around animals can do the trick. Spending time in God's beautiful, natural world is very good for our mental health.

Work Out

This is one you’ve probably heard before, but it’s an important one. Each time you exercise, your brain releases the ‘feel good’ chemicals associated with positivity and a good mood, like serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins. These compounds released in your brain instantaneously make you happier. Frequent exercise helps you regulate blood sugar and insulin levels, lowers your weight, and reduces your risk of heart disease. Those who decide to exercise consistently have both short-term and long-term mental and physical advantages, so go out there and start moving!

Do not Compare Yourself to Others

Comparing oneself to others has a negative impact on your mental health. The stresses of social comparison can weigh on us heavily–because it makes us feel deficient. Humans are continually comparing what they have to what others have. As a child, you may compare your toy to your friend's better toy. In high school, you might compare your clothes to your classmates' branded clothing. As an adult, you might compare job status, salary, and family.

These comparisons are damaging to our health. Focusing on others' possessions lowers self-esteem and happiness. We are not in the same boat as everyone, and we have to remember that. You are on your path and on your timeline. Superficial material goods like toys, brands, and salary don’t make you who you are supposed to be. Your highest values are your attributes. Your kindness, your mercy, and your ability to do good. Allah provides, and he will give you all that you are supposed to have.

Meet Your Own Expectations, Not The Expectations of Others:

What are you passionate about? What are your goals? Your dreams? What kind of life do you want to build for yourself? These are important questions that are central to our lives and happiness. Often, important people in our lives, like spouses and authority figures, have expectations of who we should be. Often, they have these expectations because they want the best for us. But only you know what will give your life true meaning. Only you know what path will lead you to true happiness. Regardless, it’s important to have standards for yourself. A goal gives us a marker to strive towards–a target. Without them, we will be lost in the woods.

Get Enough Sleep

This one can be hard to do. You are probably busy with your kids, your career, and your home life. Getting enough sleep is important to mental and physical health. Did you know that we spend around a third of our lives asleep? Sleep affects mood, energy, and our ability to focus. Getting quality sleep also improves mood drastically. If you’re not getting good quality sleep. There are ways to improve. Firstly, ditch the TV and phone in bed. Screen time right before going to sleep is poor sleep. Before bed, try winding down with a book. The environment you sleep in is important too. Make sure it’s a cool, comfortable temperature that is quiet.