What Can You Do?

1. Determine how you are feeling.

• Sometimes your emotions can get out of control, and it can be very overwhelming. You need to take a minute to figure out how you are really feeling. It is easier to feel better when you can determine how you feel.

2. Take a deep breath

• Sometimes all that you need to do is take a deep breath and you will feel much better. Sit somewhere, close your eyes, and take multiple long deep breaths. This can help you to calm down and be able to think better. Sometimes this isn’t as effective and you need something else.

3. Talk about how you are feeling

• Talking to someone that you trust can be very helpful. It is good to talk about how you are feeling instead of bottling it up and holding it in. It can be very freeing to talk about your problems. Sometimes talking about your problems out loud make them seem smaller than you thought. It’s okay to talk about your problems as long as you aren’t constantly talking about them. Make sure that you have at least one person that you are comfortable talking to.

4. Exercise regularly and eat healthy

• Exercise is a good thing, and it’s especially good to help mental illness. It releases endorphins which can improve your mood. It also helps you to get out and you will be healthier. Health Direct talks about why exercise is such a good thing for everybody in every circumstance. They say, “[Exercise] can reduce your stress and symptoms of mental health conditions like depression and anxiety.” Many people don’t exercise because they don’t enjoy it, but there are many different forms of exercise. You can find exercise that you enjoy doing. You should exercise about five days a week. Another thing going along with exercise is having a healthy diet. Eating healthier can help you to feel better, and you will feel better about yourself.

5. Take a break

• Life can get crazy and busy which can be very stressful. If you get super stressed out, taking a break could be just the thing that you need. Taking a break could be as simple as just going outside and walking around for ten minutes so that you can get some fresh air and some time to decompress. This can help you to be more efficient because then you won’t be as stressed out after you take the break.

6. Medication

• If nothing else works and your anxiety or depression is just too much, medication might be the thing for you. This should be an option if nothing else has worked for you. There are many different types of medication, so you will have to research them and find out which one works best for you. It won’t completely take away your mental illness, but it can help. Sometimes the chemicals in your brain are unbalanced, and taking medication is the only thing that can help to regulate them.

7. Acceptance

• You have to accept that this is how it’s going to be. This is who you are, and you have to learn to be happy with it because you can’t change that. You can’t usually just take away mental illness. Once you accept that, you can live life and still be happy. There are things that can help, but you ultimately have to accept it and learn how to live with it happily.