Invest in your Mental Health

What should I eat for breakfast? Should I brush my teeth first or should I wash my face first? What should I wear today? Everyday, I wake up deciding about these questions. Apparently, I am not a lone person who wakes up every day having these aforementioned question.

The questions above are just some of the questions that I need to decide about, that comes up to me in the morning yet we have 24 hours a day. According to a survey by Columbia University decision researcher, Sheena Iyengar, the average person makes approximately 70 conscious decisions a day. This indicates that a person has a kit of thoughts racing through his mind on a daily basis. Some of these are simple to decide on, but somr of these brings us stress before opting into a decision. It is a normal part of life because we are a conscious being - we are gifted with human consciousness.

Though, researcher shows that positive stress can strengthen the immune system, enhance memory and learning, and improve decision-making skills; if we do not know how to handle our stress appropriately, it can severely impact our lives in a variety of ways. Stress has the potential to negatively impact our healtg and physical well-being. When we are stressed, we mat be unable to be productive because it creates bodily pain such as muscle tightness, headaches, tummy aches, and other symptoms that prevent us from functioning and going about our everyday lives.

In addition, stress not only influence our body, but also influences our mind. It can cause irritability, anxiety, insomnia, and depression which are serious matters. When we reach those severe problems, it will be hard to cure that is why it is important for us to manage our stress and invest in our mental health aside from our physical health.

Stress is normal especially now that we are amidst pandemic. Some of tge issues that make it hard for us to ve resilient are the issue on recognition of the pandemic crisis; the denial of difficulties, failures, and frustrations; the fear of getting contaminated with COVID-19; and the inability to learn the new praxes of educational deliveries. It is normal to feel stressed so we should not be denial about it. The recognition of stress is the first step for us to deal with stress.

There are countless things that may cause us stress but there are also numerous ways that we can do about it. We should not succumb to the stressors in our lives. We can do things for us to distress such as exercising, eating, and taking care of ourselves. Self-care can be in different forms like asking for help, spending time alone, putting yourself first, asking for what you need, setting boundaries, staying at home, saying no, forgiving yourself, and taking a step back.

For a student like me, taking care of our mental health is critical because the goal is to be a successful student without jeopardizing my sanity or well-being. Moreover, good mental health has a positive relation with academic performance. It enables us to be attentive during discussions and retain the things we have learned. Poor mental health causes trouble with focusing and remembering things. How we think, feel, and act is determined by our mental health. If we do not invest in our mental health from the beginning, we might end up having bad grades which will lead to increased stress then more mental health related problems in the future.

Your mind matters.