In South Africa, the month of October has been declared Mental Health Awareness Month, aiming to educate the public about mental health. Worldwide, we commemorate the 10th of October as World Mental Health Day with the aim of creating public awareness and making mental health-related issues a global priority.
These two initiatives highlight the importance of prioritising mental health at government level and in our lives. The initiatives inspire us to seek to know more about mental illnesses, how we are potentially affected and how to maintain our own mental health.
So, what can you do at an individual level to maintain your mental health? In this article I will share some basic ways to maintain your mental health beyond awareness. Whether you are reading this article as a professional, business owner, parent, part of an interest group or just a member of a community, these tips will serve you well in more ways than one.
First Things First
We are physical, mental, emotional and spiritual beings. It is therefore important for us learn or understand how each of these aspects of our being impact each other. What happens to you physically will affect you mentally or emotionally. In the same way, what happens to you emotionally, can affect you spiritually.
For example, physical exercise produces happy hormones (endorphins) which have a positive effect on your mental and emotional being.
So maintaining your mental health is not a stand alone but an integrated process. Maintaining your mental health will require you to maintain your whole wellbeing: Spiritual Health, Emotional Health, Mental Health, and Physical Health. I call this SEMP Health.
Why is SEMP Health important?
Maintaining SEMP Health gives you a better chance to perform your different roles optimally. To perform at your peak, you need energy. One of the best ways to create the energy resource necessary for optimal performance is through SEMP Health.
The idea is to keep yourself full and overflowing with energy. To be full and overflowing with energy, you will need to have some daily rituals in place. These rituals can be customised to suit you, your lifestyle and your schedule. There must, however, be some basics in place to start the process.
The Basics of SEMP Health
The basics of SEMP Health are things we often take for granted but have a big impact on our wellbeing.
We are physical, mental, emotional and spiritual beings. It is therefore important for us to learn or understand how each of these aspects of our being impact each other. What happens to you physically will affect you mentally or emotionally, and what happens to you spiritually can affect you emotionally.
For example, physical exercise produces happy hormones (endorphins) which have a positive effect on your mental and emotional being.
So maintaining your mental health is not a stand alone but an integrated process. Maintaining your mental health will require you to maintain your whole wellbeing: Spiritual Health, Emotional Health, Mental Health, and Physical Health. I call this SEMP Health.
Why is SEMP Health important?
Maintaining SEMP Health gives you a better chance to perform your different roles optimally. To perform at your peak, you need energy. One of the best ways to create the energy resource necessary for optimal performance is through SEMP Health.
The idea is to keep yourself full and overflowing with energy. To be full and overflowing with energy, you will need to have some daily rituals in place. These rituals can be customised to suit you, your lifestyle and your schedule. Some basics however need to be in place to guide the process.
The Basics of SEMP Health
The basics of SEMP Health are things we often take for granted but have a big impact on our total wellbeing.
Spiritual Health
Your spiritual health is about what gives your life meaning and purpose, being connected to something bigger than you, and what gives you hope. Carving a life of meaning has a way of giving you a sense of direction in your life. Having meaning for your life helps you come up with principles or values to live your life by. These will guide you whenever you are in doubt or you feel lost.
Whenever you experience doubt or you feel lost, it is helpful to ask yourself this question: What gives my life meaning?
So to maintain spiritual health, you need daily rituals that will help you connect to your life’s meaning and what gives you hope. These rituals will be different for everyone and they will evolve over time.
Examples of such rituals may include:
- Spending time in quiet reflection.
- Spending time in service of your community.
- Spending time in prayer.
- Spending time in meditation.
If you have not identified what gives your life meaning, spending time reflecting on what gives your life meaning will be a good starting point.
Emotional Health
Your emotional health is about having a healthy sense of self, the ability to cope in tough times, the ability to acknowledge and manage your own emotions and to acknowledge the emotions of others. How you think and feel impacts your emotional health. A healthy sense of self will help you with what you think of yourself as an individual and member of different collectives you are a part of.
To maintain emotional health, there are emotional needs we need to satisfy. These include the need to feel worthy, fulfilled, appreciated, and a part of a community (sense of belonging). When these needs are not satisfied, we will feel unhappy, frustrated, unappreciated, or lonely.
So we need daily rituals to satisfy these emotional needs.
These may include:
- Practising gratitude.
- Breathing exercises.
- Connecting with friends and family.
- Making time for humour (time to laugh).
If you don’t know which of your emotional needs are not being met, spend time in self reflection. Being self aware is important in knowing your emotional needs and whether they are being met or not. Then you can determine what ritual works for you to meet these needs.
Mental Health
Our mental health is about the state of our mind, which affects how we think, feel and behave. It impacts how we make choices, relate to others, manage stress and cope with mental illnesses. So what we feed our minds, who we surround ourselves with, and the content we consume is important to help us manage our mental health.
To maintain mental health, revisit what you should do for your emotional health above. In addition to the emotional health rituals, the following daily rituals will benefit your mental health:
- Daily reading of uplifting content.
- Playing games that exercise the mind.
- Learning to play an instrument.
- Listening to soothing music.
If you have no idea which ritual is best for you, begin with the one that matches your interests. Start small and build up over time. For example, with reading, you can start by reading 30 minutes per day or a specific number of pages on a topic that interests you but does not agitate the mind.
Physical Health
Our Physical Health is about the state of our physical body, how it feels, responds and copes with everything it gets exposed, including illnesses and diseases. So what we feed our bodies and what we do to our bodies is important.
The daily rituals that will serve the body well includes the basic things necessary for our survival:
- Nutrition – eating well.
- Hydration – adequate daily intake of healthy liquids.
- Movement – some daily exercise.
- Rest – adequate quality sleep and recovery.
If you don’t know where to start, start by observing how you doing in each of the four basic aspects of physical health.
Conclusion
To maintain SEMP Health you need not complicate your life. Keep it simple. As a start, identify daily rituals that are of interest to you, are enjoyable, can serve multiple purposes, and can be done at the same time.
As an example, spending time in community service may satisfy your life’s meaning and your sense of belonging. A jog can serve your physical and emotional health. Physical exercise can be done at the same time as listening to music. Learning a musical instrument can be done with a group to help with connecting to community. Starting a healthy eating plan can be done with family or colleagues.
So as we begin October, reflect and identify which aspect of your SEMP Health needs your attention, and what rituals you will incorporate in your daily routine.
Wishing you SEMP Health this October. Remember to ask for help whenever you feel overwhelmed. You don’t have to do this alone.