How do you move forward after the madness of 2020?
First you have to move forward mentally. This is your mental reset of the year, but you can use it anytime.
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Take a Pause Each Day.
Take that mental break. It’s important to take just one minute or five minutes to yourself each day. I do this by going on my stationary bicycle and pushing myself to the extremes on a quick climb. It’s where I just think about my mental health and what I want, I find exercise a great place to think.
But you can also start with a meditation, we have a series of meditations by our resident therapist, Rebecca Lantry, available HERE. When you take time for a moment of breath, you’re giving yourself the self-care that you need to reset for the rest of the day and that translates into better mental health overall.
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Share with Others.
Take the burden off, talk to your friends, your family, or a therapist about what you’re feeling. Everyone is reeling from this disaster of 2020, and it’s important to voice your emotions. Your friends might even be dealing with the same issues.
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Think about the bigger picture.
What do you want to accomplish over the course of the year? Write it down! Then write down the steps that will allow it to happen.
Know that everyone is in this year together. We’re all experiencing a pandemic for the first time and all the madness that’s going along with it. Everyone is stressing and has anxiety right now, so know that you’re not alone.
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Tackle a Single Goal.
You don’t have to accomplish 100 of them, you just have to tackle one. And when you do, you’ll feel so good for having achieved it.
Make your goal something manageable. Maybe you want to learn how to bake brownies (check out our paleo brownie recipe here) or you want to run a 5k! Make it something that you can feasibly accomplish and push for that goal.
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Accentuate the Positive.
Don’t dwell in what went wrong last year, think about what went right. You have to put on those rosy colored glasses right now, it might be tough, but the more you do it, the more you’re training your brain to reflect the good.
Things might not be going so well, but if you can think of one thing that’s good, even if it’s as small as, I have a new pair of socks on, you’ll feel so much better!
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Reflect on the last year.
There are things that you can take with you from 2020. Trust me, it was a terrible year, I was super sick with COVID, and I recovered! That’s something that I take with me. But I’ve also found that I can read more! I read a book a week last year, I had more time to devote to the people I love. Not only did I end up reconnecting with my best friends from college, I spent about 5 months at home with my parents, and I love being with them! As an adult I would never spend this much time with my parents normally, but it’s been incredibly fun to be with them, to exchange recipes, to watch new tv together, and to have some epic game nights. I learned that I want to be around them more, maybe I’ll try to be more bi-coastal, so I can be closer to my family after this is all over.
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Organize your life.
This is figurative and literal. This can be both in your home and digitally. When your space is organized, your mind can be more organized too.
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Reflect on your accomplishments.
Know that you are great! There’s something about you that is unique and amazing! To be human is to be unique! What did you accomplish this year? Did you learn to knit? Did you make a killer sourdough bread? Did you find the best podcast ever? We can celebrate the little and the big things, and by recognizing that an accomplishment is what you make of it, you can start to move your mental health forward.
For example, I knitted a blanket! I perfected macarons! I read 56 books! I directed a show over zoom! I make a list so I can remind myself of what I’ve done when I’m feeling blue.
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Express Gratitude.
Tell the people in your life how much you care. They probably need to hear it right now, this year has been real tough on everyone. Sometimes I just send friends a random text with a memory of the two of us together, something to get them smiling.
You also need to express gratitude for your life. You have a roof over your head, you have food on the table, your country has access to vaccines. Expressing gratitude for one thing each day can give yourself a mental lift. Think of one thing you’re grateful for and write it down in a journal, by next year, you’ll have 365 different things.
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Take care of your PMS.
Life is too crazy right now to deal with your menstrual cycle. With Jubilance for PMS you know longer have to stress during that time of the month. Help your mental health by saying goodbye to the anxieties and irritabilities that come up during PMS. With Jubilance, 80% of women felt less stressed during their monthly cycle.
We know there a lot of ways to reset mentally this year and we hope you can use some of these. Please let me know if you try anything on this list or if you have other ideas! You can either comment below or email me at [email protected] I’d love to hear from you!
