Leadership Skills

Mental Health

Mental health is about your emotional and psychological wellness. The state of your emotional health determines how well you deal with stress, your ability to maintain quality relationships, and your behaviors. That means having good mental health will help you feel better about yourself, allow you to have a positive attitude, and enable you to make better choices.

According to MentalHealth.gov, almost everyone is affected by mental health issues whether that is your own issues or those of someone you know. This section covers mental health issues that you can control without medical experts. If you, or someone you know, cannot modify behaviors, please consult a professional in your community.

Here are some early warning signs that you may need to make changes to improve your mental health:

• Changes in eating habits (too little or too much)
• Changes in sleeping behaviors (not enough or too much)
• Withdrawing from friends, relationships, and activities
• Feeling helpless or useless
• Decreased energy level
• Not caring about yourself or others
• Yelling, fighting, or crying excessively
• Extreme smoking, drug use, or drinking
• Dwelling on the past and not seeing a future
• Thoughts of suicide or harm

Everyone has life changes, and how we bounce back from them varies from person to person. Rather than withdraw and deal with stressors and issues on your own, rely on your support network. Here are some suggestions for getting yourself back on track:

• Stay positive
• Talk with friends and family
• Develop your coping techniques
• Take control of your eating and follow a scheduled plan
• Develop a sleep routine to improve your sleeping habits
• Get into a phsycial activity
• Monitor your bad habits
• Sign up for a class or activity that you enjoy
• Get into a new hobby
• Volunteer in your community
• Seek professional help, if necessary

To take a self-assessment about your mental health, go to Psychology Today. The assessment contains 10 questions and should take about 10 minutes. Remember that answering the questions honestly will give you the most accurate results. At the end, review the graphs, details, diagnoses, and advice. You may even want to print or save (that information for future use. (Personally, I print to a PDF and save that file.)