What To Do When You are Having a Bad Mental Health Day

Disclaimer - As always this is my personal opinion. Please do not treat it as professional medical advice. This information is for general purposes only. If you have any particular concerns, please speak to an adult.

As we progress our mental health becomes increasingly important. We devote a lot of our time to our physical health and staying fit but keeping up with ourselves is also important. Making sure you are feeling okay and giving yourself time in the day to relax is so important. Sometimes you feel mentally drained without even having done much in the day and I just want to let you know that it is okay. You don’t have to be up and doing something all the time. Sometimes life gets stressful and you can’t keep up (guess what? It happens to the best of us 🙂 )

So, what exactly is a bad mental health day?

I would say a bad mental health day is when you feel mentally drained, anxious, tense, you are not in check with your emotions, or very overwhelmed.

How can I work towards improving my mental health?

Don’t worry I got you. Here are ten ways you can improve your mental health and potentially improve your day as well->

1. Talk to someone: I am telling you venting is probably the most effective thing ever. It helps you reorganize your thoughts. Someone just listening to your worries and troubles takes away so much stress, it also makes you feel so appreciative. I would suggest talking to your friend because for me personally, I feel connect better with them as they can probably relate to what you’re saying. You and your friend can help each other. If it is really bad then maybe first talk to your parents. Remember bottling up how you are feeling is never a great idea. Sometimes listening can do wonders.

2. Take the day off: It is probably a sign that you need to rest and take a day off. There is only so much one can do in a day, if at one point you aren’t registering anything you are studying or you can’t seem to write that essay or you keep procrastinating a simple task, it’s a sign that you just need a bit of time to yourself and that is completely normal. Taking the rest of your day to yourself will help so much. You get to spend time doing things you like. We only have so much time in a day.

3. Keep off all social media: I would highly suggest this, just avoid all social media apps. It can be toxic and I can assure you it probably will not help in the slightest in improving your mental health. You will probably end up spending hours on reels or just scrolling mindlessly when you could be doing so many other things. You can always check your notifications tomorrow. Plus, we never actually take time to appreciate what is around us (I've covered this properly in point 6)

4. Cheer yourself up with your hobby: do what makes you happy, it can be doing absolutely nothing and just sitting there as long as it makes you happy. The sky is the limit really. Here are some ideas if you are wondering what you can do-

oRead a book (^book suggestions are at the end of this blog if you needed some)

o Listen to some music (*some good songs are recommended at the end of this blog as well)

o Facetime a friend/ family member

o Watch a funny movie or a tv show (Friends, The Office, The Good Place, Fuller House, etc)

o Re-decorate your room

o Go cycling

o Do a short workout

o Learn how to cook something

o Meditate

o Organize your room

5. Go for a walk: this is such a great change of scenery, you may feel trapped indoors or you feel that you’ve spent too much time in the same place, then going on a walk is perfect, you put on a podcast or some music and just observe your neighborhood. Appreciate the world that was given to us, the world we often ignore for our phones. If you are feeling ambitious, maybe even go for a run, it will probably make you feel better

6. Be present: live in the moment, sometimes you might feel overwhelmed because of all the possibilities in the future, the stress of what comes next. You just need to put that aside for the time being and be in the moment. I completely understand how stressful it can be planning your week, seeing the overwhelming number of tasks you have to complete in just a mere seven days. That is why, at times, it is best to take it day by day or better yet minute by minute. Be in check with yourself and how you are feeling

7. Journal: if you don’t feel comfortable talking to someone, you can always journal. It helps a ton. If you have no idea how to even begin to start your page, you can use journaling prompts to help put you on the right track. It often helps if you just get everything out on paper. You can write how you overcame it in the end, so if you ever end up looking back you can recall how to prevent it from happening again

8. Accept it and move on: don’t judge yourself so harshly, sometimes you don’t feel your best and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Learning the practice of acceptance is very crucial. Pinpoint the cause that is bothering you and why and come to terms with it or find a way to overcome it. In the end, move on and focus on not letting the same thing bring you down again.

9. Self-care: this can be in any form. (I have a whole blog on self-care if you want to check it out <3). A crucial part of your day is pampering yourself because you most definitely deserve it.

10. Retire early for the day: there is no harm in going to bed before you normally do. Sleep is equally as important as anything else. If you are well-rested, you can be ready for the next day. I would say a minimum of 8 hours of sleep is important.

What can you do if someone close to you is having a bad mental health day?

o Check up on them and ask them if they need any advice

o Offer to simply just listen to them

o Go for a walk with them

o Let them know that you are always there for them

o Do something you both like to do together

o Stay with them for as long as they need (if you can)

Some quotes to keep you going-

o “You don’t have to control your thoughts, you just have to stop letting them control you.”- Don Millman

o “We all have bad yesterdays we can bask in. But those yesterday’s will never come again and neither will the today you are wasting with the thoughts of your yesterday’s.”- Jennae Cecelia

o “When you can’t control what is happening, challenge yourself to control the way you are responding to what’s happening. That’s where the power is.”

o “You don’t have to be positive all the time. It’s perfectly okay to feel sad, angry, annoyed, frustrated, scared, and anxious. Having these feelings doesn’t make you a negative person. It makes you human.”-Lori Deschene

o “Sometimes the people around you will not understand your journey. They do not need to, it is not for them”-Joubert Batha

*Some songs suggestions-

1. Exhale- Sabrina Carpenter

2. Numb Little Bug- Em Beihold

3. Coffee- Beabadoobee

4. Juice- Lizzo (the best hype song ever)

5. Hard on Yourself- Charlie Puth and Blackbear

6. Rager Teenager- Troye Sivan

7. Brutal- Olivia Rodrigo

8. Cough Syrup- Young the Giant

9. All too Well (Taylor’s version)- Taylor Swift [Cause it’s a masterpiece]

10. Chaotic- Tate McRae

I am linking a playlist if you want more songs like these- https://open.spotify.com/playlist/40ZriEeFzVlKnkoLJL5ebD?si=bqhpGoQZRvKGyizcpyaU6A

^Books suggestions:

- Beach Read (Emily Henry)- cute, light-hearted romance. I love the characters

- People We Meet on Vacation (Emily Henry)- possibly one of the best light romance books?

- The Love Hypothesis (Ali Hazelwood)- olive and adam>>>>

- One of Us is Lying (Karen McManus)- if you want a mystery book

I just wanted to end this blog by saying that my Instagram DMs (@blogbanterandbigwords) are always open if you need someone to listen. You can even fill out a submission form on the website if you need to. Remember that you are not and will never be alone <3

Thanks for reading,

Xx Mahika

(Question of the day: What are your top three songs? Mine are- Juice- Lizzo, Vienna- Billy Joel, What a Man Gotta Do- Jonas Brothers)