May is Mental Health Month, so all month long here at MMW, I’ll be touching on some of the mental health aspects of wellness. This week’s article may contain triggers for depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions. Please keep in mind that this space is meant for kindness and the examples I cite are based on my personal experience.

I love the Dimensions of Wellness model. There are several out there, and I like ‘em all. The idea that my health is not just something physical, but that there are several different dimensions, or categories, that help to define me and how well I am overall is super helpful. I enjoy being able to see what areas I am doing well in and where I need to improve. I’ve previously written about using these models to goal set as well.

For years my Physical Health dimension has been pretty strong. It comes from my training. It comes from liking to sweat and seeing what my body is capable of doing. It comes from wanting to be informed about what is out there so I can field questions from clients. It comes from the knowledge that I need to (literally) walk the walk.

But my Mental Health dimension has not always been there. I think most of us go through a season or two of life that are just more difficult. And there are as many reasons for this as there people on this planet. Handling job or school related stress certainly takes its toll, as can dealing with illness or injury. Be it our own or a loved one’s. That’s also assuming that the person trying to cope with those situations doesn’t have underlying mental health conditions.

I don’t fall in to that category, unfortunately. For most of my adult life, I have dealt with low levels of depression and anxiety. And I am one of the lucky ones. As of yet, I have not needed prescription medication nor have I had debilitating bouts. My depression had a tendency to come in small bursts that dissipate with time, at least until post-partum reared its ugly head.

During that extremely difficult phase I sought out counseling. And it was probably the best thing I could have done for myself. I was able to deal with the post-partum issues as well as learn coping strategies that helped alleviate many of the other depression and anxiety symptoms.

It was during this time that I revisited the Dimensions of Wellness model I had learned and taught in grad school. I decided to try using the model as a framework for goal setting. Using this model allowed me to focus in on three or four very tangible things per dimension, or category, that I could do to keep myself on track. And in the years since I’ve used these goals as a system of checks and balances that I am on the right path and as a way to set myself up for success.

I’m sure you are asking yourself what types of things are on my Mental Health goals list. As a matter of fact, this blog that you are reading right now is one. I had the idea for Mental Muscle Wellness years ago. But I was too worried about failure and acceptance to risk it, until I really looked at the potential. While I love my current job, I don’t have as much one on one client interaction as I used to. And those types of interactions keep us in the fitness and health worlds sharp. Talking to you through blog posts forces me to keep up and keep current. And I am in the process of learning all sorts of new technical skills that I never would have picked up otherwise.

I hold several certifications and it is part of my job(s) to keep them current, which means continuing education. I used to keep doing similar courses over and over, but one of my new goals is to stretch my boundaries and search out courses that will broaden my knowledge base. Reading is also a huge hobby of mine, but much like the CECs, I was re-reading the same books. Now, my goal is to visit the library and read as many different books over the course of a year as I can. Clearly, for me, feeling as though I was stuck in a rut was an overall theme I had to learn to change.

I have also incorporated regular meditation into my life. I am not one of those yoga gurus who can focus on world peace for hours at a time (kudos to you, if you are). But just sitting and concentrating on my breath for a few minutes 4-5 times a week has had such a huge ripple effect. Calmness breeds calmness for me. Focusing on my breath and allowing it to help my body relax, in turn relaxes my mind. And allowing the space for nothing more than breath to cross my mind somehow reminds me what is really important.

Lastly, I have a daily gratitude practice. Every night I sit down and physically list out two or three things I am grateful for that day. Some days are easy. But it is the days that are tough to find the silver lining that I think really help with mental health the most. Purposefully looking for the bright side when you just want to scream takes a big mental effort. However, it is one that is absolutely worth it. This particular practice predates my Dimensions goal setting, but I noticed such a huge mind shift so quickly with this practice that I couldn’t not keep it.

Is my system perfect? Heck no. Will there be more bouts of depression and anxiety in my future? Yeah, probably. I have learned who I am and what I need to alleviate those feelings, fortunately.

How do you take care of your mental health?