A week out from my mental health week challenge and I am still feeling unsettled. As I mentioned in my last post, the week overall felt more like a failure than success. By creating such a contraining schedule I induced more anxiety trying to remain in the schedule I had created. I haven't reached a solution yet but I am still thinking on different ways I can improve my daily life.
Some positive take-aways:
1. Higher Test Scores: With a little more time I do have some academic results though. I saw a huge jump up in my test scores from this week. Being well rested and not going into the testing area tense and stressed definitely paid off.
2. More Friend Involvement: After feeling the support of my friends in this challenge I felt even more connected to them but I think the biggest thing has been the decrease in my social media dependence. I had friends over last night and didn't feel the need to post about it on any social media. Before I think I felt that I needed to somehow prove to people that I had friends, which is ridiculous in so many ways, but now I really just enjoyed my time with them.
3. Awareness: I have always been hyper-aware of my emotions and mental state but in doing this challenge I have a different awareness to it and a focus on not just what I am feeling but how it is affecting my life and how I can change that to be positive...
which leads me to social media...
The biggest culprit for stress in my life has been social media I have found. I need to find a way where I can enjoy it but not in a way that consumes so much of my life. Two ideas I have for combatting this is either a complete month without social media or deleting the apps and only allowing myself to check them for a certain amount of time or when I have absolutely nothing else to do. I am also looking into apps that will help me make this a good experience rather than more anxious like last week made me in the long run.
No matter what, finding a mentally healthy place is an ongoing process and I will continue to share my journey with you.
XOXO
Gretchen
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