Another year, another mental health week. As we all know we don't have great stats for mental health in Aotearoa, especially with men. We are stubborn mules refusing to show vulnerability. Here are five things I do for my mental health.
Shaving
Sure it sounds cliché, but it is something I do for myself that makes me feel good. I think I look better after I shave which makes me feel better. It is also me time. It's the same reason why Michael Jordan used to wear new shoes for every game. That feeling of putting on new shoes made him feel good.
Unfortunately, I don't have Michael Jordan money yet so I can't constantly get new shoes but a shave gives me a new face.
Making my bed
Anyone who knows me knows this is a lie. I never make my bed. It is more about the principle of having a win at the start of your day to get you rolling. We choose what success looks like and there is lots of research that starting your day out with a win can do great things for your mood.
Working out
Now, this is one that I do do. After my injury, I got really irritable and annoyed at everyone. I made everything out to be a competition so that I could win. Everything became an argument. I was probably not a lot of fun to be around.
I know that working out, be it going to the gym to lift or doing my mobility work makes me a better human being, and isn't that the goal?
Eating
Good food, you are what you eat. Lots of research on eating shitty food affects your gut microbiome and makes you feel worse. It gives you a quick high and then you feel like shit. Cooking well and making myself good quality food helps me have better energy and better moods.
There is a slight caveat to this, you still gotta treat yourself, just don't make treats be the meal.
Therapy
I am going to my first therapy session on Tuesday, and I am nervous. What will I find out? Will I like the person I find out I am?
I have spent my whole life searching for people smarter than me. I always wanted to be the dumbest person in the room so I can learn the most. I had many coaches teach me about basketball and volleyball. They weren't better at the game than me but they understood it in a different way that could help me learn more.
I got my undergrad degree and my MBA by learning from professors who knew more about their fields than I did.
I seek out people to ask for their understanding about topics that I don't have a full grasp of, or even of topics I know well but want a different point of view.
So I felt it strange that i had been so resistant to going to a therapist. It is probably the NZer in me.
But I reframed it, I have always sought out knowledge and people better than me to learn from. Going to therapy is not an admission of failure it is a process of learning and improvement.
So I am taking the plunge and I hope they are ready for me.
Moment of Gratitude
I had a few of you lovely Straightface members email in last week to say how much you enjoy these emails. How it was worded was that they were the best of the many emails that they get every week,
So more of a best of a bad situation, but I will take it.
It felt really good to hear you are enjoying them. I really appreciate it.
Shave well, be awesome, go give someone a compliment for no reason at all, you might just make their day.
Luke
