According to the Mental Health America, January is national Mental Wellness Month. So, we’re sharing the organization’s 10 resiliency tools to promote wellness and help you feel stronger and more hopeful.
•Connect with others – Humans are social by nature: We crave feeling supported, valued, and connected.
•Stay positive – Trying to be optimistic doesn’t mean ignoring the uglier sides of life. It just means focusing on the positive as much as possible – and it gets easier with practice. Options include writing about a positive future, searching for the silver lining, practicing gratitude and avoiding negative thinking.
•Get physically active – Exercise matters for your mood too. Millions of people have found it decreases stress, anger and tension, while reducing anxiety and depression.
•Help others – Doing good can make you feel good, adding a sense of purpose and meaning to your life.
•Get enough sleep – Research shows that you’re more likely to succeed at your tasks — and enjoy greater well-being — if you get some serious shuteye. Sleep combats some of the fallout of stress.
•Create joy and satisfaction – Experts say good feelings can boost your ability to bounce back from stress, solve problems, think flexibly and even fight disease. Leisure activities can boost our effectiveness, broaden our perspectives, increase creativity and restock our energy supply.
•Eat well – You’ve got to eat well to function well.
•Take care of your spirit – You can think of spirituality as connecting to what you consider meaningful and holy.
•Deal better with hard times – Don’t stew in self-pity or waste energy pointing blame at someone else. How you think about a problem affects both how much it upsets you and how well you tackle it.
•Get professional help if you need it – Most people who seek help feel better. Depending on your situation, treatment can be fairly short or longer-term. Some people worry that getting help is a sign of weakness. If you do, consider that it can be a sign of great strength to take steps toward getting your life back on track.
We encourage you to look forward as you enter into the new year and to prioritize your mental wellness in 2026. Here in Rock County we are blessed with access to a number of mental wellness resources. Contact luv1luvallluverne@gmail.com for information.
