What’s something you do to prioritize your mental health?

I emphasize routines that are important and valuable to prioritize my mental health. They include healthy diet and exercise, worship and prayer, social interactions, brain challenges and meditation, volunteering and working part time. These activities strengthen thought and can develop new pathways for mental health.

Celebrate the smallest of wins in your life! It can be so easy for us to find the doom and gloom, especially the past couple of years. I start each day not only with a prayer for guidance and protection, but remembering all the things that have been wins, successes in my life and in the life of my family. I don't just live for me, I live for them!

I am currently still working full time as a nurse and it is stressful at times trying to coordinate patient care and navigate the political climate we work in now. But what I have found that helps me to prioritize my mental health is to listen to mood music coming in and leaving work. I have recently added scented saturated cotton balls ( eucalyptus or lavender) in a zip lock bag and will open the bag for the fragrance to permeate while I drive. It really helps reduce my stress level and I feel better.

Not isolating myself even when it’s most tempting.

First thing you do to prioritize my sesne of Mental Health to do breathing exercises to calm my heart and brain. Then you write down things to do in my house and yard to make sure I have a plan and tasks prioritize.

ACEPTANCE! i accept i am going to be different and ask myself how do I want to live today. Just today if i only have today. Its ok to ve depressed, in pain, angry or even not want to ve here. Bit if its only for today for this moment how do i want to live with how i feel today. when i try to fake my way to a positive it makes it worse. i am not saying that I am neg just that to accept the fact my head space is not always going to be a good one makes it ok just to be me. good bad or other. feom there i can do almost anything.

I just look to my faith in GOD and my two boys. One who is my biological son and his brother who is my son by way of adoption. As a single parent raising boys from the ages of three months and two years old, now 16 and 18. I was glad that GOD put them in my life when he did. He gave me something to look forward too. We have been so blessed as a family, we now have a wife and momma. She is the best and she is also faith driven. GOD is good.

I decompress by painting. This puts me in a zone if concentration that lessens pain and makes me less focused on my disability.

I have proceeded to retire. My job is stressful and I need to focus on my mental health. There are people on my job that has had heart attacks and strokes. Financially it will hurt me because I do not have 100% disability but I must put myself first and trust that things will work out.

I make sure I am not putting too much on my plate at work and when I get home I take a few minutes to have some quiet time to “reset”.