Habits that Improve my Emotional Well-Being.
Hey guys, I hope you're all doing well. I thought I would write another self-improvement post, since I haven't written one in a lil while. This is the time of the year that it starts to get darker quicker, and you spend more time indoors. This is the time of the year that it's freezing outside, and you don't get enough time in the sun (if you get any sun at all).
Because of all these changes in the environment, it is especially important to take care of yourself. I always suffer from not getting enough vitamin D, which is the vitamin you get from the sun. In the winter, this gets tremendously worse. If you didn't realize this by now, spending time outdoors, especially in the sun is one of the things that improve your mood by a lot.
In the winter, you don't get the opportunity to get much sunlight, and so you have to make sure you take care of yourself, to make sure you don't get in that funk. I like to take Vitamin D supplements whenever I can, so that I can counteract the fact that I am not getting much sunlight. Believe it or not, this puts you in a better mood.
There are other major things that I have done on a weekly basis in order to make sure I take care of myself.
Take a day off of Social Media
I mentioned to you recently (this post here), that I've been stepping away from social media. It's a bit hard when you're a social media influencer, but I still try my best to take one day a week to not really look at my phone, and take care of myself. Social media doesn't really do anything particularly good for our well-being. It probably does the opposite of good.
When you look at social media, you are constantly looking at what people are doing, how much fun their having, how great people look, and you compare yourselves to them. When you're not comparing yourself, you're reading all these negative feelings that people are dealing with. While social media, does some good, it's still good to take a step back every once in a while.
I promise you that once you get into the practice of leaving your phone alone and not checking out your social media, you'll feel a little more at peace with yourself, and will feel much less anxious overall.
Get enough sleep.
This is another major one. I used to be such a night owl. I would stay up extremely late, and have such a difficult time waking up early. Not only was I staying up much too late and not getting enough hours of sleep, but I wasn't sleeping restfully as a whole, and so the hours of sleep I was getting weren't really making me feel well-rested.
Now, I try to go to bed between the hours of 10:30-11:30 pm on the weekdays, so I have about half an hour to wind down and fall asleep and still get about 8-9 hours of sleep a day.
I honestly don't know how I would go to bed at 3-4 am in the morning and wake up at 6:45 am in high school. I honestly would not be able to do it. I feel much more rested now a days, because I put a priority on my sleep schedule.
Getting enough sleep also really influences you mental and emotional well-being. When you don't get enough sleep, you have a higher chance of being on edge, and even falling into a funk.
Eat Healthy
This is another thing that I never took much priority in, until this coming year. People would always tell me that junk food was bad for you, which I knew. What I didn't realize until recently is that when you eat junk food, you might feel happier in that moment, but when your food settles, your body tends to feel gross. I know when I'm craving salty foods, and I go and eat a whole bag of chips, I tend to feel like crap afterwards.
If you're constantly putting junk and unhealthy foods into your body, your body is never going to feel well. What you eat is what powers your body up. You have to remember to eat some vegetables, proteins, and fruits in order to power your body up properly.
I'm not saying that you have to each spinach and broccoli all the time, I'm saying that you have to try to have a balanced diet. Easier said than done, trust me, but I can honestly say that I have lessened my chip and salty snack intake, which is something I'm super proud of.
Do calming things you enjoy.
You have to remember to do things for you. Something that doesn't really have a productivity value to it. You could catch up on a TV show you love, read a book, play videogames or do something artistic like painting, drawing, knitting, sewing, ect.
When you do things like this, it relaxes your mind and overall just boosts your mood. It's okay to take some time off from some schoolwork and give your mind a break from your stresses.
Meditate.
I must stress this. As someone who suffers from overthinking, meditating has done me a whole lot of good. Meditating has so many long term benefits, and while I won't go over them all with you right this instance, I will say that it really relaxes me.
Meditating is the perfect way to practice mindfulness. Concentrate on your breathing. Don't think about the stresses in your day to day life. Don't think about the car you need to get serviced or the friend drama that's currently going on. Take those 5-10 minutes to not think about anything. I promise you this is another thing that's easier said than done, but once you get the hang of it, it does wonders.
For people who have trouble with meditating, a good first step would be to try out yoga. It's easier to clear your mind, when you're concentrating on stretching your body the way the instructor wants you to. Sometimes I find yoga, much more enjoyable than meditating, because not only does my mind feel relaxed, but my body does too!
I hope you guys liked this post! I would like to thank Hims for collaborating with me on this post. It was their idea to spread awareness on the importance of emotional well-being, and I loved the idea so much, I was more than happy to write this post. If you guys have any comments, questions, concerns, you know to leave a comment below! Have a wonderful day/night. Sending you all the love, strength, and positivity.
-Melina xxx
