This is my first post for May and we are celebrating Mental Health Awareness all month long! Mental Health is a very important and wide-range topic to talk on because there is so much that leads up to mental illnesses and various of disorders worldwide. I’m not going to get too much in detail to what mental health is since we should be pretty familiar with the good, bad, and ugly of it all. We all try to practice those healthy tips for leading a good mental health in our daily lives, but sometimes that doesn’t always work that way. Slip-ups happens and we tend to get caught up in the moment leading to stress, being burnt out, depressed, and even irritated. Balancing mental health in our daily lives has to be practiced; it’s not always going to be perfect. Self-esteem is apart of mental health and can lead to mental health issues if it’s failing. I myself have suffered low-self esteem and it has affected me mentally and physically. This story I will share in another post for a later time. When low self-esteem isn’t treated right, it can really damage a person’s outlook of life and their personal image. One suffering from low self-esteem can also become a substance abuser as well. If you never suffered or experienced low self-esteem, I applaud you because it takes a strong person to actually accept themselves fully and accepting what is in their lives. But if you are looking for new ways or other ways to improve self-esteem, then continue to read this post. Actually I encourage you to read this post because this is an important topic.

Here are five ways that you can improve your self-esteem. If you are suffering from low-esteem, this is for you!

• Think about what you are good at- What are your strengths you may ask yourself. Everyone has some type of strength besides all the weakness they can probably name really quick. Once you identify what your strengths are, focus on them and see how you can use those for positivity whether it’s within yourself or with others. As for me, one of my strengths is writing. I’ve been writing since the age of nine and it’s something I’ve been strong at doing. My creativity can go a long way. So with that strength, I have written several books, written for publications and so forth. Focus on the positivity of yourself rather than the negative.
• Focus on the things that you can change versus the things you can’t. I’m guilty of this one because if I don’t like the outcome of something, I always try my best to control the situation and change the outcome of it. Mentally that isn’t healthy and it has affected me along the way. So now I try to only focus on the things I can control like the career I want, how I want people to see me as, or speaking positive things to myself. Those are the type of things you should be focusing on.
• Don’t be with people who will bring you down. You definitely don’t want that negative energy around you, so surround yourself with positive and like-minded people who have your best interest at heart!
• Celebrate the small things in your life- How often are you celebrating yourself for all the small things in your life? Even if you finished a hard level of a game, that’s still something to celebrate. You might think that’s crazy, but it really isn’t. If you accomplished cleaning your whole house in two days, that’s something to celebrate as well.
• Volunteer to help people- I remember volunteering at a nursing care center years ago near my house. I volunteered there for two whole years. It was good helping out the elderly people whether it was pushing them down to the dining room for lunch or dinner, helping them with bingo, or painting their nails. When you are helping people it makes you feel good about yourself. If you haven’t done so, try volunteering somewhere in your community.

Of course there are more ways to improve your self-esteem, but I thought that these were helpful as well. If you know someone that is struggling with self-esteem, please share these helpful tips with them. There is always room for improvement so don’t ever think you have it all together when it comes to your own self-esteem. Indeed it’s a process but we can all get through the difficulties in our lives one positive thought at a time.