Did you know that mental health is JUST as important as your physical health? These two basically go hand in hand in order to achieve a happy life! Having a good state of mind improves your sense of well being and improves your ability to function in everyday life confidently, especially when a challenge arises. I find that if I am in a positive mindset it also helps me to smash out my workouts and feel better about exercising! Here are my top tips on how to have a positive mind: Accept Yourself for Who You Are Many people struggle with low self-esteem and a low sense of self-worth. I can totally understand this as we are faced with examples of what ‘beauty’ is meant to look like on almost every social media platform and media outlet. It can be hard to love ourselves when we are constantly comparing ourselves to others. Whilst I encourage you girls to always strive to be better, to be healthier and to be happier – you need to understand you can only do it for you and no one else. You were born the way you were for a reason, because you are unique. No two people will ever be the same, so there is no point trying to be someone else. If you focus on being the best version of YOU, you will feel so much happier as you aren’t constantly comparing yourself to others. Eat healthy This may seem like a cliche but it is SO important. If you eat a diet of highly processed foods that have little nutritional benefit, you are doing your body an injustice. Eating clean, healthy, wholesome foods allows your body to function at it’s absolute BEST and in turn this will make you mentally happier. Processed foods are filled with many chemicals that can affect your brain in a negative way. If you are constantly stressed try to cut out caffeine and foods high in salt and sugar. You will feel so much better! Surround Yourself with Positive People Surrounding yourself with friends, family and people who are positive in general will give you a greater sense of well being. Take the time out of your busy schedule to socialise with your friends, go out and try new things and have fun! Feeling appreciated, loved and laughing helps to keep your mental health in check. Having positive people surrounding you also encourages to strive towards your goals and be the best version of you possible. Remember, if someone isn’t making you happy then it may be a ‘friendship’ you don’t really need! Appreciate the Little Things Our lives these days can be so hectic, we are constantly plugged into our phones which are feeding us news from every corner of the globe. This can get overwhelming at times and we may forget what is really important in life. Take the time weekly to slow down, put down your phone, unplug the laptop and go out for a walk. Take everything in, without doing it through your phone screen. Say hi to a stranger, enjoy time with your pet or simply meditate. Doing this a few times a week may help you feel more relaxed and happy. Find a Hobby It is so important to develop multiple skills and hobbies over your lifespan, these give you a purpose in life and give it meaning. If all you do is work or study then go home and repeat the cycle, eventually you may feel underwhelmed with your life. Doing things that make YOU happy helps to keep your mind happy. This may change year to year, but as long as you have something to look forward to – you will feel more positive! Give Back to Others Caring and giving back to others is a part of maintaining healthy relationships. When you care for someone you become naturally concerned about their welfare. If you have lost touch with some of your friends or family, try do something nice for them that will make you feel good. When you do something for someone without expecting anything in return, it makes you feel better as a person. Call your grandmother who you haven’t spoken to in a while or send your best friend a bunch of flowers for no reason. Doing nice things for people will make you feel happy and appreciated. Talk About Your Feelings Many of us keep a lot of our feelings in, whether that be sadness, anger or disappointment. Sometimes we don’t talk about our feelings because we don’t want to ‘bother’ people with our problems. However talking about what we are feeling can help to process our thoughts and feelings, and move on from them. If you don’t want to talk to anyone about your feelings, writing in a journal can really help. Spend some time weekly to write down your feelings, and you will feel so much better having expressed them. Review Your Life Regularly Time is so precious, and it seems to be going by faster and faster each year. We may have goals in mind that we would like to achieve, but how often do you sit down and track their progress? Sitting down every few months to track what we are doing in life can be really helpful to see where we are making good progress, and areas that we can improve. This helps us to be real with ourselves and maybe adjust our path’s if what we are doing is not working. Focus on What You Can Control Many of us spend a lot of time worrying about things we can’t control, ultimately all this does is stress us out and make us feel anxious. Instead focus your efforts on problems you CAN control, and if these seem enormous break them down into smaller problems/tasks. Remember there is always going to be something in life you won’t have complete control over, and that is just part of growing up and understanding what you should and should not focus on. Use Failure to Encourage Success If you are one of those people that get very dejected when you fail at something, learn to use this to create success! It can be hard failing at something and we may instinctively want to give up, however it is important to remember each time we fail at something it teaches us a lesson. Learn from your mistakes and do better next time, use your failures to make you a better person. If you give up each time something goes wrong, you will encourage having a low sense of self worth and may become too scared to ever try again. You got this!e here...