Mental Wellness

By: Heather Bright

It’s time to start protecting your mind. It’s time to understand the correlation between your mental and physical health, and protect both so you can live longer, live stronger, and live more fulfilled.

What if 2020 is the year you decide to take care of your health by taking care of your mind? A clear mind doesn’t come naturally. With 34 gigabytes of information being processed daily, it may seem impossible to manage your mental health.

But it’s not.

A few days after this past Thanksgiving, I was mindlessly folding laundry when I realized that I had enjoyed the holiday without anxiety or feeling overwhelmed. I was shocked. Family dynamics, among other things, can make the holidays mentally exhausting for me.

After this realization of my calmer mood, I immediately remembered that I had deleted my social media apps from my phone before the holiday. On a whim, I decided to take a break from scrolling, liking, and posting. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, this was the beginning of a breakthrough for my mental health.

I don’t have very many ‘friends’ on social media, and I regularly filter these online connections so that I’m only sharing information with people with whom I’m currently doing life. I love that we have the ability to stay in contact with childhood friends who moved away, or a relative who we would otherwise only see at a special event. But, without even realizing it, I could see a photo or a post, and it triggered a negative feeling. Although I believe it is good for us to acknowledge those triggers, and attempt to reconcile the root of those feelings, there are some negative emotions that we can and should avoid.

As I stared at my folded laundry, I became aware of the adverse affect of my constant scrolling. Turns out, I’m only confirming recent research. The University of Pennsylvania conducted a study that proved the detriment of unbridled use of social media. Psychologist Melissa Hunt concluded, “Using less social media than you normally would leads to significant decreases in both depression and loneliness.” I may not be able to explain the science behind it, but I experienced the difference.

I’m back to occasionally checking my Facebook feed and sharing a photo. I still haven’t added the app back to my smartphone. Chances are, I probably will. But I need a little more time to enjoy this unintentional balance I’ve created.

Perhaps you could benefit from taking the challenge of limiting your time on social media this month. If you’re looking for a boost to your mental wellness, this could be the fresh start your mind needs this year.