Life is hard, even for the ones who have money and their loved ones. Almost everyone who is still alive is struggling in one way or another. Psychologists and therapists are the best guides when the burden gets too heavy to carry. However, not everyone can afford them.
If you are struggling with something and having a hard time overcoming it, here are the four pieces of life advice that a therapist or psychologist would give you:
- Practise self-care more seriously
- Feel all your feelings
- Forgive yourself
- Make a habit of writing your thoughts
Practise self-care more seriously
Self-care is important and it often gets neglected. Self-care is making time and effort to improve your mental and physical health. However, it is clinically proven to make the most difference. Therefore, if you have never taken it seriously, you better start your self-care journey. It would help you with anxiety, stress, and anger. Moreover, self-care has also helped in improving concentration, minimizing frustration, increasing happiness, and improving energy.
How to start self-care? Develop the following healthy habits:
- Practice good hygiene
- Eat healthy food and drink enough water
- Avoid junk food, alcohol, and other drugs
- Sleep well
- Exercise
Feel all your feelings
Do you know why most people struggle with moving on from things that hurt them the most? It’s because we all try to run from our feelings. However, this is not the best practice. Whether you are happy, sad, anxious, hurt, or disappointed, do not try to run from your feelings at all. Feel all your feelings if you choose to go against them as it leads to more suffering. No matter how hard it gets, take an oath to feel your feelings. You would notice that this practice would build your emotional awareness and improve your mental health as well.
Forgive yourself
It’s hard to forgive yourself, even harder than you think. It gets hardest when you fail at some major task or disappoints your loved one. However, self-forgiveness is super important for the following major reasons:
- It improves mental and emotional well-being
- Encourages positive attitude and healthier relationships
- It allows you to separate yourself from the mistakes you have made
To forgive yourself, you first have to focus on your emotion, acknowledge your mistake, and say out loud that you have forgiven yourself. Once you are done forgiving yourself, you can keep thinking of it as an experience you have learned from.
Make a habit of writing your thoughts
Whenever something good or bad happens, we all go to our friends, family, or loved ones to share our thoughts. It’s a good way to relax but not that great. No matter how close you are to someone, you can not share “everything” you think. So, with venting out to your friends, family, or loved ones, make a habit of writing your thoughts down. It will help you understand them more clearly and cope with stress, anxiety, and depression as well.
Dennis Relojo-Howell is the managing director of Psychreg.
