Tag: mental health matters

Mind Talks with That Riverz Gurl: 5 Ways you Can Improve your Self-Esteem

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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!

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  • 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.

Mind Talks with That Riverz Gurl: Tuning out Negativity

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Negativity is like a disease that spreads all over the world and people spread it to others without thinking about it first. The one thing about negativity is, it can’t be cured unless its being covered by a gratitude of positivity. Easy to believe? Nope! I’m with you on that one because as easy as it is to spread negativity, it is much harder to spread positivity. Why is that? some of you may wonder. A lot of people enjoy seeing others suffer in their own problems, trauma, and struggles without a care in the world to uplift them with encouragement and speaking positivity in their situations. There is more bad than good; at least that’s what I see on the evening news. We are all sick and tired of living in a world filled with hate, violence, and negativity. You can’t even walk in peace in your own neighborhood without getting shot or even if you look at someone wrong, they are ready to fight. So the question I want to ask you is “How do you tune out the negativity?” In this blog post, I will be talking a little bit about how you can tune out negativity and how it is healthy for your mental health.

Have you heard of the phrase: “Music is my therapy”? Well trust me, it is pure therapy listening to some of your favorite songs on your playlist even playing some meditation music to calm down your mind and to get into a mood of relaxation. When you are dealing with negativity whether it’s in your workplace, home, with friends or even via social media, step away and dive into a musical scene. The workplace can be pretty hectic and with a lot of pressure, projects, and deadlines going to, things can be pretty crazy. Your boss may sound aggressive because he/she wants that memo typed by the end of the day and you have like five other priority projects that needs attention as well. Or co-workers may be jealous of you or someone else because you got promoted, so now they are saying negative things behind your back. When you are dealing with all that, the best thing you can do is close your eyes, count to five and take deep breaths. Allow your mind to calm down. I’m not going to lie, it’s difficult to do at times when faced with these adversities at work. By doing this, you are practicing safe and healthy mental health skills. You don’t ever want to get to the point where everything is bottled inside and you don’t release it through meditation or calming down. You will feel stressed and burned out with anger raging and irritability snapping at you every chance it gets.

That is why it is very important to tune out negativity to avoid feeling stressed, burned out, irritated, and angry. You want to try to tackle it before it boils over the flames causing a big fire. Trust me, doing this faithfully and consistently isn’t always easy and it’s going to take some practice to get the hang of it. For starters, you can just stay away from negativity if possible and from toxic people. Hope this post was helpful. Please feel free to comment, like, share, pin, and save this post for future reference.

Mind Talks with That Riverz Gurl: The 3 Different Types of Stress

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Do you often find yourself stressed that it’s starting to become a regular pattern? This month is Stress Awareness Month where I wanted to highlight the three different types of stress.

  • Acute stress can be caused by a car accident, loosing a loved one, witnessing/being a victim of an attack or even being diagnosed with an illness. This type of stress isn’t long-lasting but can have some type of effect on a person mentally and physically.

  • Episodic stress refers to frequent, consistent periods of stress where the stressful experience occurs on a regular basis. This type of stress can occur when you’re impacted by more than one consecutive stressor or worried about a negative experience or event.

  • Chronic stress is an ongoing and constant stress. Dealing with chronic health issues or a disability can cause that.

What type of stress do you deal with mostly. Just remember to take care of yourself along the way when you do start to feel overwhelmed or stressed out. Take breaks as much as possible so that you won’t feel mentally drained.

Mind Talks with That Riverz Gurl: 10 Ways to Boost Your Mental Health

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A lot of people don’t realize how important your mental health is. It’s always in constant rotation and a reminder that you need to slow it down a bit. For instance, if you deal with a mental illness and have certain things that may trigger you, try to diffuse the situation or get out of the situation if possible. No one likes to be triggered and for me it’s a very well-known feeling and I start to feel very irritated. Here are some tips to boost your mental health daily.

  • Take a break if needed- We all need to take a break from tasks, from home duties, from work, projects, our personal life and so forth! Just step away for a few minutes or even an hour to recuperate and readjust again.
  • Make yourself a priority- You should always come first no matter what! Can’t no friends, family and others say otherwise!
  • Find purpose and meaning- Do you know what your purpose is in life? What is the meaning behind it? We all have a purpose. Make sure you find it and fulfill it.
  • Get enough sleep- This is something that I have trouble a lot of times because I tend to stay up late to watch some of my favorite television shows and also I do sometimes have trouble falling asleep. Try to set a bedtime goal. If you plan to go to sleep at 10:00 p.m., at 9:30, start to wind things down and get ready for bed.
  • Stay active- Keep an exercise schedule or attend a dance class like Zumba.
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Whatever tips you decide to work on, work on it for at least a week to see if you noticed any change or difference within yourself. It is best to practice good mental health and self-care skills so that we can learn to handle situations better when stress and distractions decides to pop up. What are your mental health tips? What does mental health mean to you? Feel free to comment below. I would love to see your comments! Until next time, have a great day!

Mind Talks with That Riverz Gurl: When to Let Go

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Have you ever experienced some things in your life that was traumatizing and you just couldn’t let go of it? How did you handle the situation? Or was it handled at all? Letting go sometimes is very hard and can be mentally/emotionally draining if it is something that may acquire more time. I can think about all of the times where I’ve been in stressful situations that I was trying to control the end results, just to put myself in a deeper situation where I couldn’t let go of the problems. Let’s take a look at some steps when letting go.

  • Create a positive mantra to help with painful thoughts: Writing positive affirmations for yourself is a great step.
  • Practice mindfulness: Focus on the present instead of the situation or person.
  • Be gentle with yourself: Instead of talking down on yourself, tell yourself all the wonderful things you are. Don’t beat yourself up too much.
  • Allow the negative emotions to flow: If you are feeling angry, disappointed or even sad, feel those things instead of holding them all in. Be in your emotions.
  • Engage with self-care: What better way to take care of yourself then to focus on you! Take a mental health break and focus on you.
  • Talk about it: Don’t keep it all in! Talk with someone you trust such as family, a close friend or seeking a therapist is ideal. Whatever you do, don’t keep it bottled inside of you.

Mind Talks with That Riverz Gurl: Spring Forward to a New Season, a New Beginning

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Spring is officially in the air and as the new season changes, it’s also time for new beginnings as well. The one thing I hate about Spring is the smell of the flowers and pollen that comes on it. Who else can agree to that? While the pollen is only a distraction in this new season, think about distractions in your life that is causing you to fall back, stress or even loose interest in things. You see while the pollen continues to fall and cover cars filled with the yellow mess, think about things that aren’t right in your life and where distractions continue to fall. Mental health is so important that sometimes we all forget to declutter some things in our lives that doesn’t belong there. As we spring forward to a new season, consider these things to take along the way with you in a new beginning.

  • Clean out the pollen in your relationships. Whoever doesn’t have your best interest at heart anymore, sweep them away.
  • Avoid distractions as much as possible. Ask yourself what distracts me the most? When you answer that question then go the other way when the pollen tries to come near.
  • If you are planning to start a new business, blog or write a book in this season, remember to stay focused and don’t be too quick to share your ideas on social media.
  • Have confidence that you can do it! You can and you will!

Well, I hope you all enjoyed reading this post just as much as I enjoyed creating it. So, let’s all spring forward together to bigger and better things in this new season!

Self-Check One Two One Two!

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Welcome to Mind Talks with That Riverz Gurl and I want to say thank you for stopping by to my column where I will be talking about everything mental health, self-care and more! Let’s talk about self-care because I feel like self-care is very much needed in today’s society. I want to ask a question really quick. “What does self-care look like to you?” Some may say sitting on the beach with a glass of wine on site playing some reggae music or relaxing in bed listening to music. For me it’s watching my favorite shows on Netflix, doing nothing, (I enjoy doing that the most LOL), reading a book on self-care, and listening to music. Whatever it is that you enjoy during your self-care moment, indulge in the moment and allow your body to relax and soak up the positive energy around you. Let’s really get into the post where self-checking is important in daily routines. Here are some things you should be checking on a day-to-day basis.

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  1. Checking your environment: Do you have people or situations that you have to get rid of so you won’t get distracted? If so, cut them out!
  2. Have positive energy: Make sure that you are displaying positive energy around you. I know sometimes that may be hard, but when you are displaying positive energy, your days will become better.
  3. Make time to take care of your mind: Don’t overdo it! Take a break when necessary.
  4. Take deep breaths throughout the day: Sometimes we all have to pause, close our eyes and take some deep breaths for relaxation.

“Learn to care for yourself because no one else will?”

That Riverz Gurl

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