Someone asked me today what is the one thing I do to improve my mental health … and after complaining that I could only pick one, I decided it was this mindset:
Never, ever, ever, ever go it alone.
It’s a message I have to remind myself of every day. I have a stubborn tendency to try to do it all by myself. Call it rugged individualism, or Superhero Syndrome, or pride/ego or shame even, but I still wake up thinking I got this thing called life under wraps ALL by myself.
But the reality is … I need other people.
And I have to fight everything within myself to seek, ask for, and receive help and support.
Yes, even after sharing the Iceberg so many times over the years.
But over and over and over, even when somehow I manage to try to do it all by myself … when I think I can just read and research and figure out by myself whatever under the surface dark things I’m dealing with … I eventually and always end up flat on my face, in the gravel, being drug by it.
To serve as a daily reminder and affirmation, I even typed the word “TOGETHER” and printed it out in my office and pinned behind my monitor.
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In this video above, I share about this mindset … and also three practical ways I rely on to maintain and improve my mental health. They are:
1. Counselor on speed dial — just like I have a primary care who I can call to get help when I’m physically sick and for checkups, I also have a counselor to work on my below the iceberg issues.
And the science is so strong and indisputable on these two practices that I’ve woven into my life and am seeking to embed them even deeper:
2. Exercise — I do run-walks aka rualks and also pushups. Exercise is the “mood booster and stress buster.” I’m seeking to amp up my intensity minutes daily now. But I run in 100 degree heat, not because I’m grinding … but because I want to feel better. And I always do when I exercise.
3. Mindfulness — I don’t do this daily but I want to because I know scientifically and practically the benefits in my life of it, in so many areas.
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