World Mental Health Day: Five tips to manage mental health
By Kaeshon King | Columnist
Last month has been a huge struggle for me. School is fine, but my personal life feels destroyed. I won’t go into deep details but I am pretty sure someone else must be going through something as well.
Even though I am still going through it, I have made it this far. I have some tips for those people who feel completely lost or just want to manage the stress of mental health.
Tip 1: Talk to a friend. Everyone has that one person to talk to. It doesn’t necessarily need to be a friend. It could be someone in your family or a coworker you trust, etc. As long as you feel comfortable venting to this person, I think you should do it. In my personal situation, it’s only a temporary relief but it helps when that person is available. Eventually my thoughts do catch back up, but if you feel that you don’t want to do this, then I have more tips.
Tip 2: Get off of social media completely. I would suggest at least a day minimum if you can manage. Social media could remind you of why you feel the way that you feel. Even worse, you could see someone else happy and feel sad or angry all over again. You need to get off of social media for as long as you can manage and try to manage your mental health.
Tip 3: You may want to try speaking to a professional counselor. I have only been to one meeting so far but it felt nice to know that someone was there to listen and would not spread my information. I am already ready for my next meeting because I have a lot I need to get off of my chest. Everything is confidential once you step into that room so do not feel as if you are being exposed for talking to that person. Augusta University students have access to these counselors in the SCAPS department thanks to tuition. Use your resources since you already have to pay for them anyway.
Tip 4: Get active. If you have a favorite sport or activity that involves a lot of movement, then get to it! You may need to release some pent-up energy and being active is a great way to do that. Not only will you feel better, but it is a benefit to your overall health as well. If you’re not sweating, you need to do more until you get to that point. Then reward yourself with a nice shower or bath and some type of reward if you have one.
Tip 5: Simply rest and pray. Just like me, you are probably overthinking. In my situation, I am panicking a lot to the point where my heart has not stopped beating super-fast and my stomach has not been normal. Try to take some deep breaths and calm yourself down. Listen to some calming music. Once you have somewhat cleared your mind, try to do a prayer for yourself. If possible, have other people pray for and with you. One solid prayer can go a long way.
For anyone who made it this far into my story, just know that you aren’t alone. I have to remind myself of that all the time because I honestly feel like that right now. However, in order to make it through these hard times, you have to try to find the positive in every situation and latch onto that. If you can find something positive that comes out of the situation, then you could gain more positivity and work towards getting your mental health back to feeling great again.
Contact Kaeshon King at kaeking@augusta.edu.
