Mental health awareness week

As you know from my previous blog, this week is mental heath awareness week and this year the theme is “kindness”.

We all know what kindness is but how much real kindness do we receive on a daily basis? We are now in an era where kindness is there at the touch of a hand, a nice comment on Instagram or a ‘love’ reaction on Facebook, but is this type of kindness really enough to keep our mental state healthy? When was the last time someone went above and beyond for you and when was the last time you really took care of yourself?

Although our kindness towards others is very important, I thought I’d focus on another type of kindness today, one we often ignore…the kindness towards ourselves.

Now, I’m sat here on a beautiful evening trying to rack my brains for ideas for this blog, its mental health week so I want this to be perfect. But I just realised that this blog isn’t me forcing myself to write the perfect piece, its real and truthful. And to be honest no good writing is ever created by being forced, its natural and flowing. But this fits in perfectly with the idea of self kindness.

Whilst sitting here trying to write to perfection after a long, tiring day I’ve realised I’m not being kind to myself. How can I sit here fatigued and unmotivated when I’m supposed to be telling you about self kindness. So here is my plan-

1). I’m going to run a bath, switch off my phone and have some real ME time, I’ve felt mentally unstable the past couple of days and know when I need to just stop.

2). I’m going to congratulate myself on surviving the day and give myself a pat on the back for the amazing job that I’m doing, just getting through the day.

3). If I don’t feel like exercising tomorrow, I wont. It’s a tough one for me, I find it hard to stop sometimes when really I should listen to both my mind and my body…we all need rest days.

4). I’m going to give myself a break- I try so hard trying to get things done whilst forgetting that my mental health isn’t great this week. I need to stop trying to win at life everyday. I’m exhausted and can’t quite control my thoughts (a sign that you need to reflect and take some time out).

So how can you be kinder to yourself?

1). Speak kindly to yourself- You might speak to others kindly but do you speak kindly to yourself? Look yourself in the mirror and speak kind words to your mind and your body- “you look amazing today”.

2). Know what you need- It’s really important in life to know what makes you happy and to know when you need to stop. It’s respectful towards yourself. When you know what cheers you up it makes the bad days a little bit easier. Do what makes YOU happy, it’s kind.

3). Have something for yourself- I think it’s so important to have something that’s for you and only you. Whether it’s a book you’re reading, a Netflix series you watch alone or a morning run. Have something especially for your “me” time. “Self care isn’t selfish”.

4).Stop putting pressure on yourself- You don’t have to climb a mountain everyday you know. It’s all about small steps. Move at your own pace and stop pressuring yourself to get things done. Life shouldn’t always be stressful! Be kind to that mind of yours.💞

The sweet analogy- Something my dad taught me years ago. We all have a bowl a sweets and when we give our time and energy to someone they take a sweet (it’s good to be kind to others). Then if they give their time and energy to us, we take one from their bowl. Think about how many sweets you’d have in your bowl? There’s times in my life when I’d given so many I had none for myself, think about that for a moment. Although we should give our efforts and be kind others, we need to remember that we need some sweets too. No one wants an empty bowl. So carry on giving out sweets but also give some back to yourself. Be kind to you.☀️

Thanks so much for reading! I hope you have an amazing weekend, be kind to others and be kind to yourself…today and always!🥰