5 Habits which can help you being Mentally Fit in 2023!

Mental health is as essential as Physical health, many of us pay keen attention to our body, what do we eat, how do we eat, when do we eat, etc. but very few of us pay attention to our Mental health and things associated with that such as what do we think, what do we hear, what do we see or do we overthink sometimes?


Like our body and its fitness depends upon the food we put under it, our mind and its fitness depends upon the thoughts we put under it. The more toxic food we eat the more prone our body will become to diseases, likewise the more toxic thoughts we put in our mind the more prone we will become to mental illness.


According to various Medical health experts most of the people suffer from diseases like Depression, Anxiety, Bipolar disorder or Suicidal thoughts due to the toxic environment, continuous stress, overthinking, jealousy, competition, anger, dissatisfaction with one's performance, comparison with others and negativity in their lives. Some people do not express their thoughts and suffer from overthinking while some have a habit of surrounding their mind with fear and negative thoughts in their idle time. But what most of us don't realize is that apart of studies, job or business their are some activities which we must involve in our daily life.


Therefore, whether you are a student, professional or a housewife you must involve some activities in your day to day life which can help you to stay more motivated and mentally fit. So, let's have a look at these 5 tried and tested habits which you must inculcate this year 2023 in you daily routine:-

1- Reading Books

Reading books has been considered a very good habit since old times, be it for children, youngsters or old it is an outstanding way to grab knowledge, utilize leisure time or get entertainment. People in old times generally used this medium to gain knowledge about anything when their was no internet. Children used to read stories for entertainment during their leisure time. While some used to read spiritual books in order to make their life more meaningful.


However in today's time it have become underrated as many people take it as dull and boring. In place of reading books people involve in gossip of others which in return makes their mental state more insecure, jealous, worthless and negative. Some have a habit of sitting alone and indulge their mind in overthinking, this is even more disastrous as most of the times when we overthink about any problem 90% of our thoughts are negative. On the other hand most of our young generation give time to social media in their leisure time which in fact turns out to be a very negative place for some, where people indulge in competition, copying others, feel inferior, dissatisfaction from oneself, feel jealous and worthless when they fail to excel from others.


Reading books on the other hand will only give you positivity, where you will learn something new, read any great story or get motivation. So, apart from being active on your social media sites, sitting idle and overthink or engaging in gossip of others keep it in your habit to read any good novel, story book or any spiritual and religious book where you can engage your mind or divert yourself from various negativity. In place of a manual book you can even have an E-book or use various apps available online to listen any book summary. This will work and help you to stay away from toxic thoughts which can make you mentally weak. Books are after all our "Best Friends" for a reason.

2- Writing down your thoughts before going to bed.

Each day we have different experiences some good or some may be bad. Sometimes we do not have a say in certain things, we can't express our thoughts and tend to think about it again and again in our mind, we want to say so much but we cannot and keep those feelings in our heart. On the other hand sometimes we over react in certain things, we say too much and later regrets. This may also differ in personalities where some people are very expressive while others are not. In the latter type of personality it often happens that people indulge their mind in overthinking regarding a particular situation for several hours, days or even months. This may lead them towards various mental health problems.


Thus, it is recommended to write down your thoughts so that before going to bed you can express yourself and finally can get rid away of all that overthinking which was continuously going in your mind. Writing down your thoughts may not seem that much helpful to you in your first attempt but practically when you make it a habit then you realize the importance of it. Specially before going to bed before sleep it is very essential for us to have a clear mind and positive energy because it is a proven fact that the energy that we carry just before we go to sleep is carried on for the next day as well. So just think if every night you are carrying some grudges in your heart, then for how long it will be carried on? If you are carrying self doubt or negativity then for how long it will be carried on? For days, months or whole lifetime. Thus, it is very important to clear your mind and energize yourself with positivity before sleep as sleeping is not just a routine but your entire inner self also rejuvenates during this process. Specially for those people who often speak less and feel shy to express themselves, this can be an outstanding medium to open their heart and also one can become good writer by involving writing in their daily routine.


However, it is not necessary that you can always write down your feelings or thoughts which are traumatizing you, if you have any pleasant experience then also you can write down that as some events and memories are so precious for us that along with photos we want to memorize each moment that we have spent.


Some may write down what are their plans for the next day, any targets they want to achieve or plans to achieve the desired targets. Through this you can memorize your work and it will help you to relieve from work stress before sleep. So, writing down your thoughts is a habit which you should include in your daily routine and as time passes you will see it's marvelous results.

3- Meditation

Meditation is generally a kind of mental exercise which is based on continuous concentration on something without diverting your mind to any other thing, be it concentrating on your breathing or concentrating through repetition of mantra. Under meditation your mind must pay attention to one specific thing, some people often try concentrating on how many times they are chewing their food. While some who have already reached a level of spiritual awareness do not need a specific thing to concentrate, they just sit and close their eyes and focus on the point in between the forehead (often recognized as soul).


Meditation has been considered as an outstanding practice from the ancient time, even our scriptures and religious texts mentions its various benefits. Now, the science and modern technologies have also acknowledged it. Through meditation you can improve your concentration, if your mind gets diverted easily towards unwanted things it is an efficient technique which can teach you how to stay focused on your work. If you at times feel anxious, uneasy, angry, worthless or empty, it is an excellent mental exercise to calm your mind. Overall meditation is like a medicine for mental health and like jogging, walking or cycling it is an mental exercise which must be practiced regularly to keep our mental health good.


Thus, this year Meditation is a compulsory activity which you should include in you daily routine. Whether you are a student, businessman, housewife, worker, this habit will you benefit in each way. Make it in your habit to meditate each morning or evening by sitting in a room or any quiet place alone and try to meditate by focusing on your breath or repeating mantras, as you like. For beginners even 10 minutes of meditation is proved to be enough. However, as the time passes you will learn how to meditate for a long period of time.

4- Feeling of Gratitude

Gratitude is a feeling of being thankful or grateful for whatever yo have and what others have done for you. It is a thought of appreciation for what we have in our life. Now many of us stood at the time where people are never satisfied for what they have, neither they feel thankful for whatever they have done or achieved in life till today. The feeling of continuous comparison, jealousy and dissatisfaction makes them anxious and full of stress. One common example of such cases is our Television and Film industry, where each day we hear the news of depression, anxiety or suicide. Though they have name, fame and money still they have feeling of emptiness under themselves sometimes which lead them towards mental illness.


This thing has now become very common in small cities also where people are not content for what they have in their life. In day to day work and competition they do not take a pause some day to appreciate and be thankful for what they have achieved. This problem may seem to be very simple and some may also say that in order to be successful one must never get satisfy and keep on improving. But the problem doesn't lies in doing hard work and improving yourself, in order to achieve success one must keep on improving himself but in the name of improvement when you lead yourself in a continuous stress and dissatisfaction or in comparing yourself in accordance to others is where you get yourself in trouble. In fact you can attain true success and perfection when you will try to make yourself better, not in comparison to others but to your own. Try to improve yourself to achieve success and you will see by concentrating to your own performance you will ultimately prove yourself.


Thus, keeping this simple habit in your daily life will help attain peace, security and confidence. Relax and sit each day for a moment and try to recognize what all good things you have in life and thank the god and destiny for those things. Gratitude can be felt towards anything like if someone have helped you or said something good to you, your house and money, it can be your parents who are supportive, your job and office, your friends and even your own talent and any hobby which makes you different from others. Each day sit and take a pause whenever you feel inferior or jealous from others, see the positive things happened in your life and thank the god and destiny for it. This simple habit will fill your heart with happiness and contentedness. Although Gratitude is not just a road to peace and happiness but a moral value as well.

5- Having Self Confidence

Self confidence is an positive attitude where you believe on your capacity and skills. It means you have faith on yourself, your knowledge, your strength, your skills. It is all about keeping a positive view of your own. In the world of cut throat competition this is a important habit which you must include under your personality, however like reading and writing it is not to be practiced but it has to be under your mind each and every time when you face any challenge or responsibility.


Self confidence is not just a tool to work with more efficiency but it also at many times works as shield whenever someone throw any negative or demotivating view at you. There are occasions when you get scolded for something or get a negative feedback about your performance or your relatives and friends tell you that you can't do something. But if you have self confidence then you can alone make that thing possible. Most of the times when unsuccessful people have signs of mental illness it is because they do not have enough self confidence and when they get negative feedback the feeling of hopelessness and worthlessness surrounds them which leads them further into depression. On the other hand those who have self belief try to bounce back with more capacity and eventually succeed one day.


People who have high talent but low confidence may fail in life. But those who have self belief but average or less talent can improve and achieve success in life. It is a proven fact that with self confidence the productivity of a person increases, even an average person can work with higher capacity if he have confidence. Therefore, it is a compulsory thing which each one of us have in our life, without confidence you can't take risks, handle new responsibilities or face any challenges. So, this new year make it a resolution to develop self belief against all the odds and you will see how positively your life will evolve.