When you’re directly involved in a traumatic event, it can lead to confusing, frightening, and intense emotions. These emotions aren’t just felt by those who experienced the event. Traumatic events come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from actual or threatened death to a threat to one’s beliefs. They can include severe car accidents, assaults or having to flee your home because of war or political problems. Symptoms of trauma include sadness, feelings of loss, anger or irritability, guilt, self-doubt, and many other negative feelings. These symptoms often disappear after a short period of time. If time has passed and you’re still experiencing trauma, there are several things you can do to help yourself heal.

Exercise and Movement

Exercise and movement help to repair your nervous system as well as burning off adrenaline and releasing endorphins. Aim for 30 minutes or more every day. It needs to be an exercise that’s rhythmic and uses both your arms and your legs. Good examples are running, swimming, walking and dancing. Focus on your body while you exercise as this helps you feel better.

Don’t Isolate Yourself

You might not feel much like socialising after a traumatic event, but it’s much better than being alone. Isolating yourself will make you feel worse. Just because you’re connecting with others doesn’t mean you have to discuss your trauma. Simply get comfort from being accepted by others and feeling engaged.
Try to keep to your normal routine, doing normal activities with people. Joining a support group is something that many trauma sufferers choose to do, because it allows them to connect with others who are going through similar issues.
If you don’t live near any of your friends or family, you should try to reach out to others and make new friends. Sign up for a local class or club, or reach out to neighbours or work colleagues.

Calm Yourself

Being able to calm yourself is an important part of the healing process. It helps to relieve the anxiety you’re feeling and make you feel like you’ve got more control. Try mindful breathing or find a sensory input that makes you feel calm, such as stroking a cat. Stay grounded by sitting in a chair, feeling your feet on the ground and concentrating on certain objects around you.

Take Care of Your Health

If you’ve got a healthy body, you’ll be better equipped to cope with the stress of trauma. Avoid drugs and alcohol, get lots of sleep, eat a well-balanced diet, and find ways to reduce your stress.

Seek Professional Help

When it comes to healing, people tend to do it at their own pace. If it has been several months since the traumatic event and you’re still not feeling better, help from a professional may be the answer. One of the best drug treatment centers Los Angeles can offer, for example, will be able to help you talk through your feelings, resolve any unpleasant thoughts, discharge pent up negative energy, regulate strong emotions and trust other people again. They will use a number of different approaches and techniques to do this.

Self-care can appear just another buzzword but it is really important. Women tend to keep giving to others with not enough thought for their own wellbeing. There are jobs to do and children to raise but there is also the unique individual you are who actually deserves me time whether that is a Champneys spa day or a trip to the theatre.

Boost your immunity

When you do not take time out for self-care, you become stressed with the business of life. This means you are pretty permanently in a state of flight or fight. When you are in this state your body is less well-equipped to protect you from illness. If you become ill, you are less able to handle the things you have on your plate so you become even more stressed. Surely it is better to invest in your health with some mindfulness or relaxation techniques.

Get better sleep

How do you feel when you have had a great night’s sleep? How does that differ from when you have had a disturbed night tossing and turning? If you are like me, good sleep helps you handle your day more positively both in terms of getting stuff done and in terms of mood. Simple self-care like reading rather than scrolling through other people’s apparently perfect lives on social media enhances the chances of good sleep. So not only do you do an activity that you enjoy but you also reap the benefits the next day.

Develop a sense of calm

Do you ever feel overwhelmed with the things you feel you should achieve? Sometimes the emotions of life changes such as relationship breakdown or bereavement can appear all too much. Self-care activities such as a walk in nature can help you focus just on the present moment and put your worries aside for a while.

Have fun

Self-care can bring a sense of fun your way. In the busy world of being a grown-up, that childlike sense of wonder can disappear. This is to the detriment of our mental wellbeing. Try and think back to what made you happy all those years ago and incorporate more of those things in your day. It might involve getting back to an old hobby or even jumping in a puddle like a toddler!

Acknowledge that you matter too

Have your lost a sense of self entirely somewhere along the way? Women get so many labels with associated duties in a lifetime that it can result in us forgetting who we are as individuals? What makes you tick? You do matter and if you don’t invest in yourself, who else will? Value yourself appropriately and see how others start to treat you better too. If you find it difficult to acknowledge that you matter too, consider some counselling. Finally, if you are still not convinced that it is high time your put some self-care into our daily routine, remember we can only give fully to others when we are looking after ourselves.

Abusive relationships, whether they last a few months or a few years, can have a detrimental effect on the rest of a person’s life. And whilst you may never forget what happened, there are ways you can find strength and courage to move on and make the best of your life.

One way you can do this is claiming compensation from the CICA scheme, which allows victims of abuse to gain some independence and use this money to set up a new life, take a holiday, find a new home or even just treat yourself. It can be a difficult process but CICA UK can make the claim on your behalf to take away some of the stress.

Whilst you might move on physically it can take a long time to do this mentally, especially when it comes to trusting someone new. When it comes to these hard times it’s important to take some time for yourself, a little bit of simple self care can make the world of difference.

This simple care tips can help you to relax and refocus so you’re not focusing on the past.

Take a day for yourself

Sometimes taking a day off from work, or switching your phone off on the weekend and staying in bed could be all you need. There’s no problem in taking time for yourself, whether it’s to catch up on some good Netflix shows or just taking the time to read a book.

See friends or family

It can be easy to think that being alone is the best option when you’re feeling down or anxious, but sometimes isolation isn’t the best option. Seeing your friends and family is a great way of reinforcing the fact that you’re not alone. You don’t even have to leave the house, a simple phone call or nipping round for a cup of tea could be all you need to lift your spirits.

Get outside

Talking a long walk outside can help to clear the mind and give you a fresh perspective on life. If you’re looking for a reason to get outside more, may be a dog could be what you need, a couple of walks outside a day with a pooch could be what you need to help boost your mood.

Take a trip

Is there a place on your bucket list you’ve always wanted to visit? Then take a trip. This can be alone or with friends or family if you prefer. Giving yourself this independence to visit a new place can do wonders for your confidence and make you feel like your own person again.

Give yourself a pamper

Don’t underestimate the power of a long bath, a face mask and some new pyjamas and what it can do for your mood. Just taking a little time for yourself, such as painting your nails can be really therapeutic and relaxing.
If you’re feeling really indulgent you could even take a trip to a spa for a real pamper.

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Thankfully, mental health awareness is on the increase due to efforts to de-stigmatise mental health. It is therefore important now to offer advice to those who feel like they are struggling with their mind and wellbeing. Whether you are going through a difficult phase in an ongoing struggle with your mental health or you have been experiencing the occasional down day… some of these ideas may help.

Physical activities

It is a known fact that being physically active is great for your body. There are proven and noticeable benefits like weight loss and increased fitness level. However, it is less of a known and advertised fact that being active is also really great for your mental health and wellbeing. When you think of physical activity, you may get an image in your head of a sweaty, stuffy and busy gym, but it doesn’t have to be. Go for a quick walk or bike ride, attend a class like yoga or join a running club… There are so many opportunities available for you to try and figure out the type of physical activity that you enjoy the most. The endorphins released when being active help increase alertness, energy and mood. So if you’re having a down day or feel groggy, why not just get yourself outside and go for a quick brisk walk down the road? Physical exercise is one of those things that although you might dread it, it is impossible to regret afterwards.

Travel

Another idea for an activity which may help with your mental wellbeing and state of mind is travel. This doesn’t have to be booking a flight to a country on the other side of the world, you just could go on a road trip to a new place in Britain. Seeing new sights and having new surroundings for a while could be a great way to improve your mood and distract yourself from any niggling negative thoughts. SLV GLobal offer worldwide mental health internships opportunities for students and graduates wanting to gain experience working in the mental health sector. The work experience they offer is original and great for spreading mental health awareness as they allow students/graduates to travel abroad to countries like Sri Lanka, Bali and India.

Leisure activities

Another tip for making yourself feel better mentally, whether you have struggled with mental health long-term or are just having a bad day, is to make time for your personal hobbies. It is a great feeling when you find an activity that you thoroughly enjoy, so an easy way to make yourself smile is to invest time in doing these things. Whether your favourite leisure activity is gardening, window-shopping or something more adventurous like rock-climbing… Make the time. Part of improving mental health awareness is acknowledging the fact that people do need time away from work to focus on their personal well being.

 Meditation and less screen time

Recently, alongside a rise in mental health awareness campaigns, there has been an emphasis placed on meditation. There are now even a range of apps that you can download on your phone which give meditation tips and instructions so there is really no excuse to give it a miss. The basic gist is to find a quiet room to sit and focus completely on your own thoughts and nothing else. This mental health tip seems to go hand-in-hand with the notion of having too much screen time. Scrolling through your phone without even thinking at pointless rubbish could be replaced with meditation, reading a book or writing a daily journal.

 Sleep and eat

You might think that this goes without saying, but the benefits of getting a good night’s sleep can’t be underestimated. It’s a good idea to figure out the number of hours sleep that works best for you and get your body clock into a good routine. There’s nothing worse than waking up and having to start the day but feeling like you could sleep for another twelve hours. On the other hand, part of mental health awareness is understanding that sleeping too much and not getting outside enough can have an adverse effect on your wellbeing.

A final point but one that is still very important of these activities for your mental health, is eating. There is more and more research being done into how the health of your gut can affect your mental state. So be aware of the types and amount of food that you are consuming. You don’t have to go all out and become vegan, although if you do then congrats, but every little healthy decision you make with food makes a difference.

If you are someone who has just graduated and wants to be involved in helping to promote mental health awareness, why not gain some work experience in the field? Visit SLV Global at https://slv.global/ to see the opportunities that are available to experience a new culture and work at the same time.