“A mental health day is a personal day set aside to prioritize mental, emotional, and physical wellness. Whether that day is on a weekend or setting aside time during the week, a mental health day allows you to take a break from the strains of your daily responsibilities and work...”
Do you need a mental health day?
Check out the link below to see when a good time to take one.
What I’m Letting Go of Right Now:
What I’m Welcoming in From Now On:
With even the slightest belief that I am worthy of healing, I believe that I can overcome the deepest thoughts that I’ve learned to live with. I will become new in this discovery.
I am ready for this breakthrough.
It’s 3:53 in the morning and I can’t help but realize that I see myself in you.
We may see something inadequate, or something broken. We notice all that is wrong yet have no idea how to feel like we’re worth something spectacular.
That’s the thing, we can’t see how worthy we are of life sometimes. We define who we are by what we’ve done or how bad we’ve screwed up something. Over and over we may come to a place where we can’t see the value we possess.
Here is a message I tell myself daily and would like you to know too: You are of value no matter what you are doing or what you’ve done. You wake up with purpose and will always have purpose. Adequacy, worth, value, peace, joy, calmness, balance, and wholeness is all that is you already. You just have to believe it to be true. Believe in your healing. Believe in your recovery. I love you guys.
Find it on The Mighty here
Sparkly is a space where I not only write to inspire and motivate, but it’s also a space where I make tangible the obstacles I face in hopes of finding balance and understanding. With that being said, I’ve been experiencing an inner battle with myself (and often see it in others who I care about).
Finding love and acceptance is difficult in the 20 something ages. We often feel like we have to find love and begin the process of building bonds with anyone who comes our way and sparks even the simplest of interests. The issues in this process, however, especially those who are caring, sensitive, and good hearted is we let our guard down in hopes of making that interest work even if that person is not good for us.
As we fear being alone, rejected, neglected, abandoned, or even starting over, and in pursuits to “fix” the broken pieces of potential love, we often forget self-care, boundaries, and our worth. We convince ourselves that our “love” for that potential is what will somehow change and evolve the toxicity of the relationship that’s been built. We create this love with the small growth we see in something that we want so bad to work.
We care too much about the other and not enough about ourselves.
With even the most common of sense, or the conversations that we think will help the other understand us, not everyone has good intentions, not everyone is good for us, and not everyone can/wants to change. Some people see no issues in what they do.
Whether it’s built up trauma from childhood, their own defense mechanisms, or “just how they are,” we are not responsible for igniting growth or enduring pain and abuse from anyone. Just because we can see how much someone can grow does not mean we have to be the stepping stones to that growth, if that growth is even authentic.
While we ourselves are responsible for our own happiness, growth, and self-development, so are the ones that we take up that responsibility for. If they see that they are hurting someone and continue to hurt them, let them go. You are way too valuable. They need to grow on their own, without latching on to anyone to guide the way for them. Making them feel good or allowing their toxic behavior to persist without consequences will enable them to continue in their destructive nature.
In the slightest moment where you feel uncomfortable, or confused listen to your body signals to understanding what to do. Stop ignoring the signs of doing better for yourself.
I know we have so much love to give, and we want to be accepted in order to nurture another (as it may nutures us and our trauma/people pleasing tendencies) we have to find peace and acceptance within ourselves. We can attract those who are hurt and in your conflicting intentions and personalities create something unhealthy.
My Inner Child and Perfectionism
Growing up I was a perfectionist. And while I’m now able to regulate my impulses to go well past my emotional and mental limits, as a child my self-worth depended on overachieving to feel seen and heard. Whether it was a school assignment, cleaning my room, or comparing myself to everyone else, I found that my high expectations built an inner bully that still rests in the inner child inside me.
Depression, Connection, and Growing in Self-Awareness
The more I grow in self-awareness, the more I’m able to connect and identify the situations, experiences, self-talk, and thoughts that hurt my inner child. Much of my depression, I now realize, rest on the pain and experiences of that hurt little girl. I’ve learned that the more in-tune I am with soothing my inner child, the closer I get to understand the best ways to take care of myself through depressive episodes.
Connecting with my inner child is a bit painful, but it allows me to begin to let go and progress to a more workable and healthy relationship with myself. I want to love myself more in my recovery with depression. As I feel the pain resurface, I’m learning to let it go. I imagine speaking with my inner child while building trust and honesty with myself.
Soothing as a Process of Moving Forward
Workable self-talk and writing are two soothing tools I use when experiencing mental turmoil. Detaching my thoughts from my mind onto my phone or paper helps me to see what I’m going through using words. I’m able to soothe myself and create something positive as I switch negative thoughts into more positive ones.
The more I write, the more I can show my inner child that it’s okay to feel hurt. My worth is no longer connected to what I do but to who I am. In my journey of healing and recovery, I’m accepting all parts of myself without judgment. An increase in self-awareness is also an increase in self-love. Self-love means I will do what I can to be better and feel better.
Find it on The Mighty here
Often times we find ourselves stuck and unable to move forward. Whether it’s a split second of confusion or longer amount of time, we grapple with obstacles both conscious and unconscious that are prohibiting us from achieving what we want.
How we approach those obstacles, however, will guide our next steps and will help us to be more proactive in who we want to become. Asking insightful questions and motivating ourselves to do better can help to push the change we want to see.
When feeling unable or unfit to achieve a goal, we may already be telling ourselves we can’t achieve what we want. This may be in the form of procrastination, lack of motivation, negative self-talk, avoiding responsibilities and tasks, or constantly feeling discouraged/depressed when it comes to picking up new opportunities.
Because limiting beliefs are ingrained in how we think, its often difficult to identify them. To combat this issue in identifying how we are holding ourselves back, we must practice self-awareness and critical thinking. How are you really feeling? Who do you want to be?
Here are 8 questions you can ask yourself if you feel stuck due to limiting beliefs or self-doubt and want to move forward:
Now that we are thinking about our limiting beliefs and goals we want to achieve, how do we change our mindset to wanting and striving to be more of who we want to be? Affirmations and new ideas are some ways we can get ourselves in a more workable mindset.
Here are some affirmations you can practice to get started:
Changing how you see yourself in your current situation will help you to move ahead despite challenges and obstacles.
You can also build on those affirmations by creating something new. Writing a poem or article, drawing, creating your own blog, practicing arts and crafts, cooking can aid in feelings of accomplishment boosting your sense of self-worth.
The more confidence you build, the more active you will become in believing you can achieve what you want. Move and become active in your progress. Belief in yourself is the first step in achieving goals.
Become who you want to become. You are your biggest critic but can also be your biggest fan. Prove to yourself that you can.
“Here is a simple letter. This letter thanks the person who wakes up every morning barely wanting to, but does anyway. This letter is to the survivor, the warrior, and the one who keeps pushing through. This letter is for you...”
Have you ever felt “weird” or uncomfortable around a person, situation, experience, or place? Has your body ever told you that something isn’t right but you didn’t know whether you were being paranoid, nervous, or anxious for no reason?
In most, if not all experiences you will evaluate what’s going both consciously and unconsciously. Your intuition is a sudden feeling or reaction that tells you something about what’s going on that’s not always conscious or logical. Once you become in tune with how to navigate your intuition, it will become easier to protect yourself and your boundaries.
Listen closely to what your body is telling you. Know when you are anxious, nervous, uneasy, or not feeling “right” and what that means. Take the time to strengthen that “gut feeling.” It will only get better the more you listen. Stop ignoring your body’s signals.
Enter new situations with an open mind. As much as we think we are similar to those around us, we all have different experiences that shape how we behave and what we believe. The important part when it comes to new experiences, however, is to separate what we believe will happen or want to happen based on those preconceived beliefs from the reality of what’s going on. At times we may attach our expectations on these situations and in turn, ignore what is actually going on.
Sit back and observe instead of leading the experience with expectation. Who are we talking with? Where are we? How do I feel? Being mindful of ourselves and what is happening will allow us to make a decision whether this is a situation we want to continue engaging in or exiting.
Adjust to what is presented and allow the experience to flow as it may. What fits, will fit. What falls, will fall.
Keep going despite the bad days. Love yourself through the moments that are hardest. Even if no one understands what you are experiencing, you do. Get to know yourself, and in that process become gentle and compassionate.
Thank you for existing and continuing to try even when you are struggling. Some experience a silent battle and don’t understand how strong they are.
If no one told you today, I love you. Whoever you are, whatever struggle you think no one sees, I see it and I’m immensely proud that you are constantly fighting. Your life is worth far more than you can imagine.
Check it out here on The Mighty.
