Do you feel drained, stressed out, on edge, and like you’re ready to throw in the towel? These are all common phrases used by the average person each day. Life is stressful, and you must find effective ways to handle this pressure for your psychological safety.
Mental illness is a significant problem, and the load that each person must carry can put increasing pressure on your mental wellbeing. Take, for instance, a parent with three children and a full-time job. They must get up at 6 am to get the kids ready for school.
They have just enough time after getting them out the door to get ready for a long day of work. This hard worker labors until 5 pm and then rush home to get dinner prepared for the spouse and children. By the time they complete the cleanup, laundry, and other household chores, they collapse into bed at midnight. They get only a measly six hours of sleep.
Does this scenario sound familiar? Add to this picture chronic illnesses, grocery shopping, running kids to sports, and it leaves little time for self-care. An empty well cannot pour into others, and it won’t be long until the dry well will crack and become damaged.
Twenty Ways to Enhance Your Psychological Safety
1. Turn Off Electronics
While scrolling on your cell phone is an excellent way to pass the time. It would help if you took the time to disconnect from electronics. Stop the newsflashes and doomscrolling about the trouble of the world. Unplugging can be a mental health break that is much needed.
2. Avoid Self-Criticism
You’re human, and you will make mistakes. How many times have you been your own worst critic? Stop looking at all the things you do wrong and focus on what you do that’s right. Your psychological safety depends on your perceptions of self.
3. Show People How You Want to Be Treated
Setting boundaries protect you from harmful comments and undue stress. You have the power to tell people how you expect to be treated. When you set firm guidelines for your life relationships, you can save yourself major heartache now and in the future.
4. Find an Outlet for Negativity
You’re going to be influenced by negativity each day, as it’s impossible to avoid it. Rather than ingesting it and allowing it to overtake you, you must find an outlet. Try things like meditation, yoga, singing bowls, and box breathing to help you eliminate all the stress you pick up each day.
5. Surround Yourself with Positive People
How many times did you hear old sayings like “you’re known by the company you keep?” Parents and grandparents had all these little proverbs that were so applicable to life. When you hang around with people who are pessimistic and grumbly, then it won’t be long till you develop the same attitude.
However, if you surround yourself with people who tend to see things positively, they can help alter your perceptions for the better.
6. Don’t Compare Yourself to Others
One of the worst things you can do is to compare yourself with others. It doesn’t matter what car you drive, the house you live in, or how much money you make an hour. What matters is what’s inside your heart.
The ability to love and be loved is one of the best gifts around, and it’s priceless. Please don’t allow yourself to get into the comparison game, as it will only destroy your self-esteem.
7. Hit the Gym
It’s a proven fact that exercise can help you boost your mood, which enhances your mental health. According to the National Library of Medicine, exercise proves to increase serotonin, which can help keep depression and anxiety at bay.
8. Speak Up for Yourself
Do you let people walk all over you? Do you have the words doormat written over your forehead? Learn to stand up for yourself and call the shots in your life, as your happiness depends on it.
9. Ask for Help
While you may try to portray yourself as a superhero, you need to know your limits and when it’s time to ask for help. Sure, no one folds the laundry or cuts the lawn as you do, but sometimes you must let go of these petty controlling tactics for your psychological safety.
Give your spouse or kids the power to do the dishes, laundry, or grocery shopping, as it’s very freeing to let go.
10. Get Sufficient Rest
Are you getting enough rest each night? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adults need at least seven hours each night. When you don’t get that much rest, then you create a deficiency that can affect your mind and body.
11. Practice Mindfulness
Learning mindfulness can help you to be present in the here and now. Do you know that most of the things you spend your time worrying about won’t happen anyway? Stop crying over something that might not even come to pass.
Learn to appreciate all the beautiful things around you, like the face of your child, the smell of a flower, and the golden rays of the sun.
12. Do A Vision Board
Part of having good mental health is making goals and achieving them. Wouldn’t life be boring if you did the same thing day after day without alteration? Creating a vision board helps you plan your life in one year, five, and even ten.
Where do you see yourself a year from now? Creating a vision board is a fun task that you can get your kids involved in too.
13. Learn to Say No
How many times do you take on more than you can handle? Sure, the PTA wants five dozen cupcakes from your kitchen, but do you really have time to commit to such a feat? Learn to say no for the sake of your mental health, and it will absolutely change your life.
14. Spend Time in Nature
One of the tactics used to stop a panic attack is to go outside. The fresh air has healing properties that can be therapeutic. If you’re having problems feeling grounded in this world, then take off your shoes and feel the cold earth between your toes.
When the world around you is chaotic, and you feel like you might lose touch, get outside, as it can help.
15. Laugh Often
Laughter is good for your soul, and it’s more beneficial than most think. When you laugh, you’re releasing those feel-good hormones that help to keep your mental health in check.
16. Eat Healthily
You are what you eat, so make sure that what you’re eating is not harming your body. While plant-based diets are beneficial, you don’t have to go full vegan to eat healthily. Watch your intake of junk food, and make sure you stay away from fast-food joints.
17. Spend Time Alone
Everyone needs alone time as it helps you recharge your batteries, which helps with your psychological safety. Even if you only get a half-hour each day, make sure you have some time to be in the silence.
18. Keep a Gratitude Journal
Sure, it’s effortless to focus on all the negative aspects of your life, but keeping a gratitude journal will help keep you balanced. When you start counting all your blessings, it’s easy to put the negativity away from you. Pessimism only hurts your mental health, as it changes your outlook and perceptions.
19. Socialize Often
It’s essential to get away from your job and household responsibilities and have fun. Going out with your friends once in a while can make you feel like a teen again, carefree and happy. Please make time to socialize, as it can do wonders for your mental health.
20. Learn to Forgive
Forgiving others releases the hold that the wrongdoing has on you. When you forgive someone else, then you remove the negativity into the atmosphere to allow for positivity to flow through you. Having unforgiveness in your heart can cause a root of bitterness to grow, and no one wants anything like that growing in their garden.
Final Thoughts on Psychological Safety
Your psychological safety is an integral part of your life. You wouldn’t walk out into rush hour traffic knowing you’re going to be hit now, would you? You need to take the same approach to your mental well-being as you do with your physical.
The most important things are to learn your limits, don’t be self-critical, get plenty of rest, eating right, and make time for your needs. Keeping your mind in check is a tricky balance, but with a few tips and tricks, you can learn how to stay mentally strong even when everything around you seems to be chaotic.
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