Mental health is very important for me and my family. Mental health is just as important as physical health. Almost three years ago my dad attempted suicide. It was such a shock to my family, as it is with most families when they deal with suicide. When it is such a close family member or friend you ask a lot of questions that don't have answers. For me, it was "Why didn’t I call more?", "Was I not a good daughter?", "Could I have done something differently?", "Why didn’t I make time to visit more?".
My Dad did survive, but it took this family disaster to bring to light the long history of mental health my Dad was battling with every day of his life. All the family secrets came to life. They have to when you are talking to doctors, and you can’t ignore them or hide them anymore. It made me reflect a lot about my own mental health. Was I taking the right steps? Now that I know I have this type of history in my family I need to be more proactive with my own mental health so that my husband and kids don’t have to be in this same situation as I was in at that moment.
As someone who is on social media a lot with a mix of personal and professional needs. I have to remind myself of these 7 things. As a mom, I am not always successful at them, but I do try to keep them in mind so I am more in the moment with my family and giving myself a break.
Check your workload – as humans, we try to do everything by ourselves and try to get everything done that day. It’s impossible. Make a list of what’s important and what can wait. Then break that down to what has to get done today and what can get done at a later time.
Limit your screen time - if you have an iPhone you know we have that lovely reminder of how long we have been on our phones. Ouch. My goal for the rest of the year is to only spend an hour on social media, that is between personal and business.
Choose what you see on your social media feed – this is so important. If a person's post doesn’t serve your need as a business or give you joy on a personal level, don’t follow it. It’s just noise at that point.
Listen to Podcasts or Audio Books – I posted the book I am attempting to read next and quite a few commented that they don’t have time. My husband is a HUGE listener to audiobooks and I like to listen to Podcasts, Dax Shepard Armchair Expert is pretty funny.
Take a break – This is so needed, especially if your business is on social media as well. Sundays are now my no social media days. I don’t post anything and I am going to try and not post any stories either. The world will be ok, my followers will be ok. I promise.
Prioritize Self-Care – as a mom and starting my own business, I am terrible at this. I need to make this more of a priority for myself and remember that you can’t serve from an empty cup.
Ask for help – yes, please ask for help, we can’t do it all. Ask your family to help you around the house. If you can inject a spirit of fun, little children love to imitate and do what you do. Ask some to help write content. Ask someone to help you design something. We can’t do it all so asking for help or input is so important!
I hope my experience will shed some light and give you some helpful tips to take your own mental health into consideration. Practicing these 7 tips has helped me to be more mindful of my own life and my family's life. If you or someone you know is considering harming themselves please reach out to them or call the suicide hotline. 1-800-273-8255