May 2025
Mental Health Awareness + Action Month
It’s wonderful to make people aware of mental health and its importance. My hope is that, someday, mental and physical health will be viewed with equal significance and respect. There is, after all, a bidirectional relationship between our minds and our bodies. What we think influences how we feel and vice versa. Regarding how we feel, there are 5x the amount of neurons in our guts than our brains (per a friend, unsure of the original source, but it sounds legit). So, what do we do with that? I’m no expert on nutrition but I do know that there’s no onesize fits all; everyone responds to various types of food differently (some prefer more meat,others go vegan, some are gluten-free etc). I think that “intuitive eating” is a good place to start; what foods give you more energy than others? Which ones seem to promote easy digestion? Which ones make and keep you full?
When we take care of ourselves physically (through proper nutrition, adequate exercise and good sleep hygiene) our mental and emotional states are drastically improved. In May, in particular, we may hear suggestions, i.e. “Go talk to the school counselor if you need; they’re there to listen and help.” However, from my observations, the awareness often falls on deaf ears. Why? Because it sounds too abstract. The idea of talking to someone (particularly a stranger) may feel intimidating or odd if one is not accustomed to that practice. Furthermore, it may not feel like a priority if most of the messaging around mental health is centered around the “talking” aspect. “Why would I go talk to a counselor when I can talk to my friends? How would a counselor actually help me?” are perhaps some of the thoughts swirling around when presented with the opportunity to seek counseling. Awareness is great but it needs to be followed by action-oriented steps that people can take to improve their mental health and wellbeing, such as these:
1. Mental Flexibility ~
It is vital to strive for mental flexibility because it is associated with openness; trait openness is associated with intellectual curiosity, higher creativity, and strong social relations. Mental flexibility allows for us to clearly see and evaluate our options for change (if change is needed).
2. Acceptance and Change Dialectic ~
We must accept that most things are outside of our control and focus on what IS within our control. But, before trying to control/change anything, it’s important that we first and foremost accept what is: what IS internal (a sensation, emotion, thought, etc. that we are able to identify) and what’s occurring around us (who we may be with, where we are, etc., and keeping those observations as neutral/fact-based as possible). Adopting this “acceptance” stance alleviates strain/tension in the body and allows us to more naturally pivot to our mental evaluation of change options..
3. Self-regulation tools ~
We can all benefit from more relaxation and less stress. When in doubt, utilize a self-regulation tool to promote the parasympathetic nervous system. This is where we want to be most of the time (more specifically in the ventral vagal state within the Autonomic nervous system (though there are certainly circumstances that warrant dorsal vagal and sympathetic states and we shouldn’t fight those. More information on the ANS below this post)). Exhaling for longer than the inhale (paced breathing); 5,4,3,2,1 (activating the five senses by scanning and noting various stimuli around you); imaginal exposure therapy (say, for instance, that you have an anxiety-provoking exam coming up — what would be the best way to respond, physically (i.e. taking some slow, deep breaths) and mentally (i.e. “you got this; you studied and are going to do your best — the outcome is out of your hands so just be present with the material and forget the rest”). There are countless tools that you can utilize to regulate your nervous system (and thereby your emotions) — I encourage you all to try out different ones to see what works best for you.
4. Co-regulation ~
In the context of relationships, we can apply self-regulation tools (co-regulation). More specifically, co-regulation is an unconscious process, on the nervous system level, that we can tap into and alter, through intentional, conscious attention. Essentially, co-regulation demonstrates that our nervous systems are constantly scanning to detect cues of safety/threat. I encourage you all to learn how to tap into a stance where you’re able to “offer” co-regulation to others, who may be dysregulated. While we can never force someone into nervous system regulation, we can increase the likelihood that it will, if we’re embodying a sense of calm and safety for others. For more “how to” regarding co-regulation, I have linked, at the bottom, another article that delves deeper into this concept/skill.
5. Conflict Resolution Technique ~
When we’re able to offer co-regulation, we are much more likely to resolve conflicts with others. When we’re dysregulated, it’s easy to gravitate towards a stance of “You vs Me"- and what happens? We don’t listen to each other, we point fingers, cast blame and judgment. Nothing gets resolved. But, if we can slow down, we can seize the opportunity to define the problem, together — we want to stray away from defining each other as the problem (because all that does is just promote more defensiveness) but rather define what’s leading to the conflict (i.e. ineffective management of anxiety). Try this technique out with your partner, friend, parent etc.!
6. Distress Tolerance ~
Lastly, I encourage everyone to learn into discomfort. It’s important to constantly challenge ourselves and to not avoid negative emotions/scary situations. While we, of course, want to keep ourselves safe, most situations that we find ourselves in, day-to-day, are not life-threatening (just scary and anxiety-provoking). Fortunately, those emotions decrease in intensity and frequency the more that we work with them, through them, rather than against or away from them. We don’t want to suppress, resist, fight; we want to align, be with, allow. I used to hate public speaking by default. I can’t say that it’s my favorite thing in the world to do now, but, I have a lot more fun with it and the nerves level has gone down astronomically. Practice what you’re afraid to do; don’t overthink it. We’re all a lot stronger than we initially think that we are.
Mental Health Awareness + Action Month. That’s how I propose we start looking at it. And it’s great to have a day/week/month dedicated to awareness of something, but at the end of the day, it’s up to all of us if and how to apply the things that we’re being made aware of. Hopefully this post gave you some concrete ideas to think about and to practice!