The month of May is the International Mental Health Awareness Month. May is the month in which the online and offline spaces are dedicating time for wellbeing, self-care, self-love and ways to facilitate people’s ability to care for their mental health. Numerous organisations, companies and governments have raised awareness about people’s mental health issues and how they can be tackled with practical tips and external support.
Mental health issues should be addressed all year round, every year. Attention to mental wellbeing should be integrated in all life spheres, be it personal, professional or otherwise. But in 2021, with all the extra challenges we all had to face, the importance of mental health becomes even more apparent.
We consider ourselves part of the mental health movement. At Naturally Granola, we are always talking about making self-care moments a true delight with the help of our products, but now we want to ask you if you are planning out enough of these moments dedicated to yourself. And most importantly, are you OK? We find it important to start a discussion about this, because oftentimes mental health issues are seen as an uncomfortable topic to talk about, even taboo.
This year, we want to highlight some useful tips that can help someone who is having a hard time. Naturally Granola’s team, Tiara, Lilly, Ilona, Bianca, Jodie and Shirley, thought about what would help them in harder times and decided to share it with you all. But first, an advice from Jodie: Listen to your body and accept that the bad days are part of life. Let such days remind you of how grateful you can be for the beautiful and fun days.
Write down thoughts, emotions, experiences.
Writing things down can sometimes provide clarity and help you feel less overwhelmed by your thoughts. Bianca uses writing as a grounding exercise, as it helps her gain control and clarity over her feelings!
Do Yoga!
It’s a perfect blend between meditation, mindfulness and exercise. It nurtures your body and helps you clear your headspace, leaving you feeling energised and relaxed.
Go for a walk; the benefits are both mental and physical.
Both Ilona and Lilly find it very helpful to go on a walk! Maybe you can explore an area of your city that you are not familiar with, or simply take a relaxing walk in your neighbourhood – whatever floats your boat! You can try leaving your phone at home, to help you disconnect from the digital world a little bit 🙂
Do little things that make you happy.
Sometimes it’s hard to do things, even if you usually enjoy them. But turns out, even if your mind is not necessarily in the right state of mind, pushing yourself a little to do activities such as drawing, writing, listening to music or seeing friends (anything you usually love to do) will actually improve your general mood!
Drink a cup of tea or something else you really enjoy having.
This is definitely part of the small things in life that bring joy on a daily basis. Ilona likes to make herself a cup of good tea if she is not feeling great!
Cook!
As simple as that! Cooking something you like is a great activity and it is indeed rewarding to make something nurturing for your body from scratch.
Cuddle with your pet, or a friend’s pet.
Having a loving animal that you can hug and love is a great mood-booster!
Buy yourself something nice!
Tiara loves buying herself flowers, almost on a weekly basis!
Listen to music and dance.
This is for everyone who wants to get their mind off something or release some of their emotions – movement in general and dancing in particular is perfect for this!
Gardening.
Having a little vegetable garden with tomatoes, strawberries, peppers and so on, makes Shirley feel completely at peace. You can watch everything grow. You can also do it on your balcony if you don’t have a garden.
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