Your health matters. Here are some meta tips for good mental health

Wellbeing, much like the word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, is a hard thing to describe, as it can be quite unique for each person. Generally, wellbeing is the feeling of general happiness, healthiness, and to the same degree of grated carrot in Bolognese, content. It typically involves living a life that is meaningful, satisfying, and enjoyable, including productive emotional health, positive relationships, meaningful activities and overall general health.

How do you define wellbeing? 

Spend some t̴̢̥̺͍̼̠͓̭̫͓̙̱̓͐̌̐͝ͅi̷̢̞̩̞̖͖̱̝̓̂̾̐̓̋̆̃m̶̥̟̖̬͈̬͓̗̮͚̞̆̆͋̈́̆̌͝e̸̢̪̻̥͕̞̝̬̓͗͌͋̋̕… to figure out your view of wellbeing. Words, images, ideas; all those things that come to mind when you think about wellbeing. Write it all down.

Knowing what, well, being is? that's half the battle, knowing what creates and supports such wellbeing is far more fundamental. If you have the t̴̢̥̺͍̼̠͓̭̫͓̙̱̓͐̌̐͝ͅi̷̢̞̩̞̖͖̱̝̓̂̾̐̓̋̆̃m̶̥̟̖̬͈̬͓̗̮͚̞̆̆͋̈́̆̌͝e̸̢̪̻̥͕̞̝̬̓͗͌͋̋̕… write down the things that support your wellbeing. Basic things like quality sleep (hopefully not because of this article), a good social life, and other activities that bring the above definitions of wellbeing along.

Wellbeing wheel

Best part about the invention of the wheel many millennia ago, most likely by a person who looked like Australopithecus or possibly Joaquin-Phoenix, was that you can use them to make pretty graphs. This is a good example of one. The wellbeing wheel. You can use this as a means to measure how satisfied you are with the general areas of health in your life. 

Let us explore each side of the wheel shall we?

Mental health: How well are you able to cope with challenges, when things go wrong, can you endure the consequences? How well are you able to feel your emotions? Are you able to feel anger, sadness, or disappointment in healthy ways? A person’s ability to go through life with a level head, being able to have emotions without letting feelings overwhelm them is a sign of good mental health. 

Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd talked about two ways one can handle deep emotions, by either removing themselves completely from the feeling, or by facing the feeling and using it to resolve the issues a person has in their life. How well are you able to use your emotions?

Physical Health: Pretty straightforward. How do you rate your physical health? Do you have a balanced diet? Avoid unhealthy habits like smoking or excessive drinking? And do you sleep? Physical health plays an important role in overall health. I believe it was Tony Robbins who said that the way food lovers can eat a lot of food is to eat a little bit of food for a long time. Moderation in habits leads to a long life of enjoying them.

Spiritual health: How well are you able to find meaning in life? People justify their existence in many different ways. How well you are able to find your purpose and apply your values in daily life will determine your spiritual health level. Peace within yourself, through whatever greater purpose, will assist in improving all areas of your life.

Career health: How much you like your work? how do you stay occupied and contribute to the world? How well do you find the work? Is it fulfilling or is it…work? Does the work you do fit in well with the other aspects of your life or does it get in the way of other things that are important?

Social Health: No man is an island. Our relationship with the people around us is a potent part of our wellbeing. Whether you prefer to be alone most of the time, or prefer being around everyone all the time, we need some degree of interaction with others to be fulfilled. Your score on this part of the wheel would be determined by how meaningful you feel your relationships are, your sense of belonging, and feeling of support by the people around you. 

Family Health: just like social health but with a bit of blood involved. How would you judge the relationship with your family? Do you feel connection and support from them? 

Financial Health: they say money makes the world go round, so how well you are able to manage your income to meet your needs? Do you understand your finances? Are you living within your means? Are you prepared for the future? 

Now it's time for...

Coming to know what matters (strengths and values)

No, this isn’t a lesson on figuring out what matter and energy is, that is the physics building down the hall, yep, this isn't an article, it is a university building now go to your lecture room!

When you sit down and think about how wellbeing is accomplished, you might think it is, well, being. This may be true in a broad sense, Eckhart Tolle’s book The Power Of Now interprets it that way to some extent. Practically speaking, however, wellbeing can be greatly supported by what actions you take and how you define their importance. 

This means knowing your strengths and finding your values.

Take a second to think…what is truly important to you? What do you think about when considering every idea or action?  

Do you think about how kind something is, or how efficient it is, or something else entirely? 

Once you have figured out what is important to you, consider how you are putting them into practice. Are you acting in a way where things are becoming kinder, or more efficient. Are you contributing in a way you deem important? If not, are there any ways you think you can do it? Even if it is something as simple as writing a new joke (something I am failing to do in this video) or making sure to say one more kind word. Being able to knowingly do something you consider good will increase wellbeing.

Strength, an aspect of a person's character that not only exists in the world of roleplay video games but also apparently in real life. Understanding where you are able to best apply yourself is good at ensuring you are able to get the things you want done. Are you funny? Are you patient?  Even quirks you aren’t sure are good can be used in a good way. If you feel you are arrogant you can also make use of that to be wilful. If we can see our traits and quirks as an avenue of doing good - whatever our definition of the word good is - then it is a big boost for wellbeing.

Resources are important, you want my source on that fact? Well too bad, It is attached to the Re now. Take some time to consider what support and resources you have, as appreciating what you do have is brilliant to keep you aware of what you can use to go even further. Good family? Good friends? Education and accommodation. None of it has to be official either. If you know how to do something good, then that skill can come in handy even without a piece of paper to prove it. 

Hope is the thing with feathers, and such things as dreams and aspirations ideally kept in mind. Although a person must have some level of satisfaction with their place in the world as it stands, having long term goals which stretch years or even decades into the future is an unending source of activity and action. What long term goals would you like to shoot for? Some common goals can be something like home ownership or visiting far away places, but it doesn’t have to be something as simple as that, what matters is that you have a goal that you can then work towards, even if you change that goal halfway through, the progress you make can always be useful in some way.

Appreciating what you enjoy doing is also an important part of fulfilment, as although large goals and impacting action is the main game, we must set aside time for activities we do for the art of the act. Hobbies and Interests, be it cars, games, or gardening, are good to note down. Even Winston Churchill had a hobby of amateur bricklaying to get away from the stresses of fighting a World War. When the big things are worrying us, and it seems like we are failing at every step, being able to take a break through simple, enjoyable work can be a life saver. Spend some time to think about your hobbies and interests. 

Let's hope this next one works out. 

Physical health

Let's get PHYSICAL, PHYSICAL.

To understand physical health, a big help is a bit of health literacy, literally. This is the ability to use, access, and understand health information. Do you know how to get good health info? Can you read that info? And importantly do you know how to apply the conclusions of such information? DR Google does not count BTW.

So how do you think you might find ways to understand your health better? Think of one or two things, like seeing your GP to ask about and explain your medical history.

Physical health can influence wellbeing in many ways. It is important to consider each aspect of physical health and how satisfied you are with each area. Take a minute to think about areas you consider A-OK, areas that could be better but ain’t too terrible, and areas you wanna focus on immensely. 

Understanding and managing stress

Stress is an inevitable aspect of existence. In small doses it helps strengthen us, but intense and continuous stress, much like when you overcook food, will render us burned out and broken.

One way of looking at stress is through the concept of a bucket.

Imagine you have a bucket, there is a hole in your bucket, also known as a tap dear liza. The bucket represents your capacity to cope with stress and the tap represents your ability to dissipate that stress through pro stress management strats. Everyone has different kinds of buckets, as everyone manages stress differently. Stressful events are represented by adding water to the bucket. Financial issues, excessive workload, having to wait a full year before your favourite show gets a new season (I've been there) all that adds stress water to the bucket. If it overflows, well, you got a problem don’t you?

Now about that tap.

The first step is to attempt to identify potentially stressful situations before they become major stresses, like screening for a cancer so it can be treated before becoming a notable problem. Figuring out how to solve your problems is like getting a bigger tap. In this case bigger is better, so the more problem solving skills we have to combat stress the better.

What is currently making you stressed anyways? Spend some time to consider what stressful things fill your bucket.

What strategies do you currently use to manage stress? Knowing your current stress fighting meta is important. What strats do you currently use that are helpful? What ones are less than helpful? Hurtful even maybe? Knowing your current set will set you up for improving it. 

Once you know what you have, figure out what you want. What strategies for managing stress would you like to adopt? They can be realistic or fantastical, based or cringe, but just jot down any nice sounding possibilities.

Now you got the list of likables, which one do you want to try THIS WEEK? Getting started with one will set you on the path of stress management and give you a hella big tap to work with.

Building and Utilizing Support networks

No man is an island. Health and Wellbeing is greatly helped by having solid support networks. Evaluating your current relationships in life so that you can find ways of improving your support networks is an excellent way to increase health.

So, who supports your wellbeing? What people in your life right now provide support for your wellbeing? Think about that for a while, if you aren’t sure then call a friend, then realize you had a friend to call and they would probably be worth writing down and promptly hang up on them without elaboration.

After you know your current support network, try and figure out what you need from your support network. What things do you need from the people around you? 

With those two bits of information down pat, it is now easier to answer the question of:

What is working well with your support network, and what is not. Where are your needs being met? And where are they caught lacking? 

Once you know this, the next step is to figure out what needs to change from that which does not work. How must we change our relationships or the way we think about our relationships that will allow our needs to be fulfilled. 

An important part of this process is realizing that a network works both ways. How can you help support people to better support you? A lot of relationships require people’s needs to be respectively fulfilled in order to be healthy and sustainable. 

Now that all this is figured out, what is the first step you are going to take to improve your network? What is something you can do NOW.

Making Change “Giving it a Go”

All of the above has an important aspect to it that will be discussed here. Like a rubber band cork board, all entries of health matters connect to “giving it a go”, Making a change. How are you going to make a change to improve your life? This fundamental aspect of these lessons will be what gets your life moving in a better direction. Whether it is a change in circumstances, habit, or mind.

The first step in making a change is figuring out what kind of changes you would like to make. Try and think of at least one change to your life you would like to make. 

Once that is written, try and figure out how life would be different when the change is made. Whether you put it into words or not does not matter, draw, sing, telepathically communicate it like a dragon bond in the Eragon books, doesn’t matter, as long as you can clearly see how it will change you. 

Most changes aren’t all positives, however. There will be drawbacks, cons, and costs. Consequences are the nature of the universe (the third in fact). What are the pros of making your changes and what are the cons? Try to list them down to compare. 

Knowing what your strengths and values are which you can use to make the changes more effectively comes into play. What can you draw upon to get this done? Remind yourself of what you are good at, where you take your stand. 

Are there any barriers to making this change? I am not talking about a literal barrier like you are some mime, or even a psychic light screen trick. No. What is something that is stopping you from making your change? Social ties, self doubt, work or other kinds of reasons. 

Once you have figured out what is stopping you, Try and figure out how to prevent them from stopping you. What can you do to address those barriers? You might not be able to stop something completely, but you might be able to mitigate its effect, or change your goal to fit with the barrier. 

Now for the final step, the steps.

What steps will you take to make this change? This is essentially the battle plan, and you are about to pick one with some real chest hair. What is phase one, phase two, and phase three? For even the best warrior is nothing without the best plan to follow. 

Cheers for reading this lot of words. The script is based on a video from my YouTube channel regarding some concepts I have used when I worked in the community services sector. if you wish to see what I have been up to lately, you can follow my meme page on Facebook, or if you are a zoomer type, check out my discord "fan club"