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In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, DLC Children’s Outreach Specialist Jessica Lira, M.S. provides these helpful tips to strengthen and protect your mind:

Prevention is Essential

The correlation between prevention and wellness is understood in many aspects of our daily lives to improve and protect our health. For instance, we wear a seatbelt when riding in a vehicle to prevent injuries in a car accident, and we brush our teeth to prevent cavities and maintain good hygiene. Our mental health needs prevention too! Be sure to take time for yourself to decompress and practice self-care regularly. Just 15 minutes throughout the day can go a long way!

Listen to Your Body

Emotions and stress have a large impact on overall health and contribute to how we think, feel, and act. Muscle tension, body aches, and headaches take a toll on a person’s overall mood and how we interact with others.

Spend a few minutes during the day relaxing your muscles and take a few slow, meaningful breaths. Pairing this with some light stretching increases oxygen and blood flow throughout the body. A win all around!

Experience the Present

While some traditions may not be possible during this time, reflect on what changes can be made to the usual routine. Establishing new traditions is a great way to improve family bonding time and to focus on something fresh and unique.

Set Future Goals

In addition to focusing on the present, maintaining a positive outlook for the future further strengthens our mental health. Set healthy goals for yourself, and identify the steps needed to achieve them. Whether it is a short-term goal or a long-term goal, keeping our mind focused on achievement and progress continues our personal growth. Everyone defines success differently, so be sure to set your own goals and what success will look like for you.

Be Open to Change

Just as important as setting goals is knowing when adjustments need to be made. We are ever-evolving, and the environment around us is as well. This means that constant evaluation of our goals and progress is needed to ensure that we still have the passion and realistic capabilities of reaching what we set out to do. Altering your course for the better—or making necessary edits to stay within the boundaries of what you can achieve—is part of the journey!