Over recent years I have come to realise that one of the biggest barriers to our success is our own individual health.
Much is said today about mental health but some of the mental health problems we experience could be down to not having a good general health regime. Every day we all brush our teeth, shower or bath, clean our nails, moisturise our skin but how often do we look at our minds and adopt the same type of hygiene?
If we are honest with ourselves probably, at best, infrequently. If this is the case then should we be surprised when we suffer from stress, depression or anxiety? Should we be surprised at becoming exhausted and burnt out?
We have deluded ourselves into believing that certain aspects in life are just not important – such as mental hygiene.
Mental hygiene is all about introducing small changes to becoming good in ourselves.
I have suffered from anxiety and depression for many years. I was prescribed anti depressants, I undertook CBT but I found that this just did not really work for me. So I took a long hard look at my own health and how I was maybe not being fair to my mind, the result was that I made a real effort to focus on five areas and I still attempt these still:
I take time out to just relax and switch off.
I make sleep a priority.
I take time to eat my meals going for quality food and avoiding processed and low fat foods.
I drink water rather than coffee or fizzy drinks.
I get moving and I try to make sure that this is into the daylight.
I try to keep to this regime each day and it does really help to banish the anxiety and depression – most of the time. However, the greatest lesson I have learned is not try to change everything at once, a little bit at a time will work just fine but to “become good” you do have to change.