Welcome to Part 2 of the 3 Part Wellness Blog Series. This post will address Major Life Changes and Wellness.
Ever felt stressed out? Did you ever think to yourself,” Oh wow what a week or day!”. Everyone faces stress from time to time and being an adult by no means exempts us from feeling a mixture of emotions on a regular basis. When we experience some ups and downs all sorts of emotions may come out, and dealing with these big emotions can increase our stress levels to an overwhelming feeling.
Image the daily life of a child.
"Elijah, you need to get up for school now.”
“Elijah, you need to brush your teeth now!”
“Elijah, stop yelling at your sister and get down here.”
“Elijah, do you have your bookbag? Where is your homework?”
“Elijah, you need to hurry, or you will miss the bus."
When Elijah gets to school, it starts again.
"No running on the playground!”
“Put your pencils away now.”
“No talking in the hallway."
If you are looking for a quick mental health boost, researchers recommend getting outside. They have shown that just being outside can help people feel more mentally healthy. It feels that science has caught up with what people already know: how many times have you, when you felt upset, just wanted to “get some fresh air.” Well, it turns out that it works.
There once was a psychiatrist in New York who worked with patients who were depressed. While he provided the usual treatment, he would add something out of the ordinary. He would ask all his patients to do a mitzvah.
A mitzvah is a good deed, but not just any good deed. A mitzvah is a good deed where you are not expected to get anything back. You don’t expect an acknowledgment: it doesn’t give you points; you don’t get a reward; and you might not even get a thank you.
In the previous post on mental health wellness, we talked about the need to meet with a friend face-to-face, either just talking or eating together. However, some people have only a few or no friends. In this post and the next, we share recommendations on how to be social even if you don’t have many friends.
May is Mental Health Awareness month. This month, organizations and agencies publish articles on how to identify mental health issues and best treatment practices. This year we’d would like to take a slightly different approach and focus on mental health wellness. In the next few weeks, we will present activities that have been shown to improve mental health. These activities work for people who are currently in treatment, have been in therapy, and want to stay well, and those who have never been in treatment but want to simply improve their mental health.
