What do you do to maintain or improve your mental health?

To maintain or improve my mental health, I exercise 6-7 days a week. every other day, I walk or run 2-3 miles then workout in the gym. I split between one session upper body pushing, upper body pulling, and legs.

I have improved my mental health by getting into nature. Even if it’s just ten minutes on my back porch without my phone, I allow myself to just be aware of the sounds around me and it brings me a sense of calm. I can use this to start and end my day, or during a period of mental distress. Something about the birds and the trees that brings me to a calm and peaceful place.

I focus on my wife and kids. I battle survivor's guilt horribly. There have been several times I have nearly ended it. Then my son came along. I am married to an amazing woman and our kids are phenomenal. I now have something to live for. I focus on them to get through the darkness.

I exercise six or seven days a week. I combine walking and/or running every other day with weight lifting every other day. For walking and running, my distance is usually never farther than 2-3 miles. For weight lifting, I break out my entire body into upper body pushing, upper body pulling, and a lower body workout.

I adopted a feral kitty that I trapped behind my house. His name is Smokey and is now 1.5 years old. I also do treadmill three times a week and a full body dumbbell workout 2-3 times a week. I read every day and am currently enjoying the Pike Logan series by Brad Taylor.

There are many, many ways to maintain or improve one’s mental health, but they begin with and depend efforts to avoid practices that damage your physical health.

Drugs, smoking, lack of exercise, excessive alcohol, poor eating habits and lack of sleep can ruin even the most well thought-out and praised mental health routine. Each, in its own silent way, works against your mental welfare and will prevail unless you take action to counter it.

So start the road to enhanced mental health by taking a realistic view of your habits, environment and choices. If you find you are deficient in any of the above instances, take corrective action; only then should you start working on the mind.

Exercise is probably the most effective option. I also enjoy flying, so volunteering with the Civil Air Patrol and igniting the joy of aviation for middle and high schoolers helps give me a sense of purpose.

I strive to stay busy by working at a car dealership 2 days a week and to keep my mind busy and working in better shape I do the financial work for our Church, our State organization of Churches and maintain the financial work for our camp.

The work at the dealership is a long 11 hour day but keeps me interfacing with many individuals in the car as I take them home or to their place of work. I have meet many people and in the course of 9+ years I have been driving them to their destination. I have learned much from my customers from information about their selves, their jobs, what is happening with many businesses and with our city.

My financial work not only keeps me busy but exercises my mind working with financial number and learning how to use the computer for new functions.

Working with others always helps me when I’m down, but truthfully sometimes I choose to suffer longer than need be.
Meditating helps me get refocused. Writing in a journal and/or talking with a friend. Sometimes just watching a funny movie will pull me out of a bad/sad mood.

I get outside as much as possible and regularly connect with people who have a positive impact on my life.