During this summer, push these five habits in the right direction to strengthen your mental well-being and reach a point of true self-care:
1. Instead of trying to be perfect, shoot for excellence and have realistic standards. Reaching for the unattainable only leads to chronic unhappiness and a lot of stress.
2. Don’t overdo social activities. Sure, you don’t want to sit at home all summer, but piling on one commitment after another can make you feel burnt out and overwhelmed, and it can also kill your joy. Learn the power of saying no.
3. Whatever you do, don’t talk to yourself in a mean way. Be compassionate, not mean, to yourself. What if you talked to a friend the way you talk to yourself? That wouldn’t be a friendship that lasted for very long.
4. If you’re ignoring your emotional need, you’re doing yourself a great disservice. You’re meant to feel, and if you’re shoving all of your feelings down, sooner or later, they’re going to come up in a way that you’d rather they didn’t. Open up and express yourself in safe spaces.
5. Finally, if you don’t have a good sleep routine, create one. Turns out, you can’t run on fumes. Willpower is a faulty mechanism that runs out eventually. If you’re not getting the sleep you need, you can’t function, and you’re not going to feel good about anything you’re doing.