One year into the pandemic it’s safe to say, our individual and collective mental health has taken a beating. It’s been a stressful year and has challenged even the most adaptive, resilient, and optimistic among us. I am hopeful that a silver lining in the cloud of the past year is that more people understand the need to take care of our mental health. More people are speaking about the benefits of therapy. Let’s hope there is less stigma moving forward. I hope this year has taught us that our mental health is as important as our physical health and that they are intimately linked. If you haven’t already, it’s time to prioritize your mental health.
In prioritizing your mental health, what goals would you have? Behavior science suggests that you will be more likely to accomplish your goals if they are written, specific, and measurable. An example of this would be to change “I want to feel better and less stressed” into “I will practice a mindfulness skill for 10 minutes daily”. In essence, the goal of less stress and feeling better is more likely met by deciding upon a consistent action you will take that you can measure. Another example could be “I want to feel happier” becomes “I will focus on 5 things I’m grateful for every morning at breakfast”. You can measure whether you did these behaviors or not.
You can create and work on mental health goals in a variety of ways, not unlike with physical or health goals. You can DIY and create your own goals and plan of action. You can read self help books and use their exercises and/or plans. You can use media such as Ted Talks, meditation or mindfulness audio, video, and/or apps. You can join online support groups. You can seek coaching or therapy, which is essentially the personal trainer of mental health.
In seeking personal therapy or coaching, there are things you can do to get the most from that experience. First, make sure the therapist is a good fit for you. A good fit means the therapist is experienced with the issues for which you are seeking assistance. Their expertise matches your goals. You also want to feel a good connection with the person and have a strong sense that they can understand and help you. Research shows a strong positive connection with your therapist is a strong predictor of treatment success. Not every therapist will be the right fit for you. If you aren’t feeling it, find a new therapist. As mentioned above, another important factor to treatment success is having clear goals. While it is common for “feeling better” to be a mental health goal, that is vague and therefore, it will be difficult to know if/when you have achieved this goal. Instead, I like to ask my clients “imagine sometime in the future that therapy has been very successful for you….what specifically will be different then?” Ask yourself this question and write down the specific things that will be different. This will help you know specifically what you want to focus on changing. Work with your therapist to identify behaviors and actions that would contribute to producing this change.
We tend to learn and change habits by taking small new actions consistently. Whether you are working with a therapist or working on goals yourself, write down what you want to achieve and a plan of small steps you will take, consistently, that you believe will contribute to the change you want to make. It’s hard to build new habits. Get an accountability partner; a family member, friend, or a coach or therapist to help you consistently work on your goals. In doing so, you are setting yourself up on a pathway to success! Take your mental health seriously. Get the support you need. Prioritize your mental health by investing time and attention to your mental health needs. Here’s to building your resilience and well being one small action at a time!
