11 Concrete Ways To Improve Your Mental State

Changing your life might not be as impossible as you think. There are realistic ways you can make every day easier. Here are some ways that real people have improved their mental state:

“Walking, even when I’m waking to go somewhere, helps my mental and physical state most of the time. When my feet are moving my mind moves too, it’s very helpful.” — Jeramy_Jones

“Learning to leave work at work. It used to consume my entire life. I couldn’t sleep, was always unable to sleep, and went in the next morning already upset at what the new day was going to bring.” — flaming_poop_chute

“We got a house keeper. It’s not very expensive. I can just relax on my days off without beating myself up for not scrubbing the shower.” — JustGenericName

“Stay away from Twitter and Instagram. I definitely felt disconnected the first couple of weeks after completely removing myself from social media having been a heavy user of those platforms for almost a solid decade, but it subsided once I began to fill my time with healthier and more productive things like regular exercise and taking up some new hobbies to keep my mind busy. While I do still keep in touch with friends and family through Messenger, I no longer feel the need to immediately reply all of the time nor waste hours scrolling through a feed of things that really aren’t that important and tend to consume more of my mental bandwidth than they are worth.” — Kamzeride

“Leaving the town I grew up in and thought I loved. I realize now how always going to the same place to do the same thing wasn’t getting me anywhere and leaving, even if it was to a similar town, really helped. It also helped me realize who my real friends were, who cared to keep in contact and who didn’t.” — Ginger-Beefcake

“Finding, importantly, the right therapist. There is a huge variance among therapists. I got really lucky with the two I’ve worked with, but I know plenty of folks who’ve had shitty therapist after shitty therapist.” — BlueMountainDace

“Letting things go. Whenever I’m grooving with the universe, it’s always when I’m able to not dig my claws into every comment, work issue, driver who cuts me off, etc, etc…” — Gameofadages

“Keeping my house clean. Set a timer for 15 minutes and clean solid for those 15 minutes every day. Got to the point where I am dusting baseboards because I am out of stuff to do. Coming home to a clean, organizing space is immensely better than a disorganized messy house.” — Electric__Milk

“My dog. He gives me a reason to get out of the house he is always happy to see me and be around me.” — Cliffcommander

“Switching careers. Was stuck in mine for a decade ever since I got out of college. Felt like I couldn’t leave it despite growing to hate it simply because of the decent salary and having to provide for my family. Screw the money, there’s more important stuff. I’m sure I’ll be able to get back to that level in a few years anyway. It’s more important for my family now for me to be present, sober, and in a good mood. Hard to do that working 8-6 in a field I detest, now I actually get to do something I enjoy for a living and it’s improved my mental state, lifestyle, health, and my relationship with the people around me.” — Salty_Negotiation688

“Two things, waking up 15 minutes earlier than I was. This allowed me to not have to rush, which allowed me to leave on time and I didn’t freak out about traffic making me late. I found this made start my days better which made me happier The second thing was letting go of hate. I was a angry toxic person, I hated everything and everything was screwing me over. One day I realized nothing I was doing was making me happy, being mad was comforting but I wasn’t happy. I stopped using the word hate and forced myself to articulate what I was feeling. I started letting go of the anger because I would question myself and ask ‘is this really worth getting mad about, will it fix the issue?’ Once I forced myself on this path I started to be happier and people wanted to talk to me. I still have a short temper but instead of flying off the handle I’m able to control myself easier.” — Psyco_diver