Throughout our lives we have decisions to make that put extra pressure on our mental health. Picking a university whilst studying for the exams that will get you there is one of those times.
It’s at these times that it’s extremely important to look after your mental health, you can find more tips to combat signs and symptoms in this blog.
Not knowing exactly what the future will bring can send your mind into overdrive. When there are a lot of variables up in the air that could impact your future in different ways, it’s natural to find yourself scanning the environment for every potential threat in a bid to prepare. These thoughts often gives rise to unnecessary feelings of stress and anxiety. You can find yourself worrying about worst case scenarios or ‘catastrophising’.
Though you can’t remove stressful events from your life, practicing mindfulness is a way of loosening their grip. It’s a way of letting go and bringing your awareness to the present, removing your focus on the past or future.
Mindfulness helps you to become more aware of your thoughts and feelings so that instead of being overwhelmed by them, you’re better able to cope with them.
Mindfulness might sound simple but it has been proven to have a big impact in reducing levels of stress and anxiety. The NHS every mind matters has more information on ways to help your mental health.
Mindfulness doesn’t tell us that certain thoughts are right or wrong, it just teaches us to be in the present, appreciating what is happening and enjoying the simple things in life.
Once you are used to practicing, mindfulness is a tool you can use anywhere, anytime, to improve your lives and manage stress. You can entrench it into everyday life.
For example, when brushing your teeth or putting on make-up in the morning, bring your attention intensely into that moment, paying attention to each brush stroke and how it feels.
When you take a shower, focus your mind intensely on the stream of water, the sensation of individual drops as they hit you and the sound of the running water as it splashes.
Doing this often can make us conscious of how often we worry about the past or fret about the future.
