Planning For Mental Health
Today, mental health is spoken and thought about far more than it was in the past. We have finally accepted in today’s world that it’s ok to “feel the feels” and not put on a show. I think especially in our post pandemic world, mental health awareness is more important than ever. I for one have experienced more anxiety since the Pandemic than I ever have before. For example, since I didn't drive far from home, I found that I was scared to get back in my vehicle and get out on the highway. I detest having to leave my house to run errands; my heart rate accelerates when I’m around people and I sometimes feel like I’m having a panic attack. Is this normal? Maybe, but it’s certainly new to me because I never felt that way in the past. Whatever way you look at it, I’ve found that certain things help my anxiety, sometimes depression and my son’s ADHD. One of these is routines and another is planning. Let’s talk about how planning can help your mental health.
Routines: I find that routines help with my son’s ADHD more than anything. It’s the knowing ahead part that sets his mind at ease and he can more easily adapt to what the expectations are. For example, He knows at 8pm, he can have a bedtime snack and his bath, but that also means he has to stop playing his game and start thinking about getting ready for bed. 9pm is bedtime. It helps when I give him a forewarning, saying “you have ten more minutes before you have to start getting ready for bed”. If I do that, he has less freak outs and is more calm and collected. I have a routine section in my planner for my routines and for those of my kids. It helps to provide a reference for whatever it is you want to create a routine for. You might want to write down your morning or evening routine, at least until you start remembering what the steps are. For example, a night routine that I would follow if my kids were (ideally) in bed would be: journal with herbal tea at 9:15pm, roll down bedsheets and set alarm, skin care, take meds; 9:40pm read for 20 min, and lights out by 10pm. Another idea is to plan in the same place, at the same time every day. This helps you to focus, and to relax. You don’t have to “think” or worry about where you are going to plan. It reduces the stress of the task, and is especially important if you are trying to create the habit of planning.
Planning ahead: I usually plan my day the night before. I usually speak of this as saving me time (which it does), and it allows me to get a head start on my work that morning. There’s something about having a plan set in place for the next day; while I’m sleeping, my brain gets used to the idea of having to do those certain tasks straight away the next morning. I also use this technique if I have an appointment the next day. For example, say my appointment is downtown and I’m planning on driving there. I already have a lot of anxiety around driving, specifically around downtown Edmonton (there’s a lot of one way streets, no parking, and lots of construction). I will map out using Google Maps an exact way to get there the night before, along with possible detours in case of construction. Maybe that seems overkill, but it really helps me to feel organized and it helps me feel less anxious about it. I used to do the same thing when I had an oral presentation at school the next day. I would present the report to my family, and practice what I was going to say until I had it perfect. I would write notes on index cards for myself just to be “extra” prepared. Then, going into it, I would have less anxiety and (hopefully) score a greater mark.
Review the day: I use Franklin Covey Planner pages, day on two pages, and so there is a notes page for every day. You could use that page to write a review of your day (especially if you find yourself never using the notes pages in your planner). I use my journal for this step. It helps to write about your day because sometimes you can look back and realize things that you didn’t in the moment. You can learn from your mistakes (which is our greatest way to learn!), and figure out a better way going forward. It helps to write about how you feel, what you could have improved, or even what the highlights of your day were. Maybe the highlight was that you made it out of bed and cleaned your house. That’s amazing! Write it down, and if you go back to read it on a bad day, it just might inspire you or make you feel better!
Focus on the important things: You know that feeling of being so busy, but then you realize you haven’t done the thing you actually have to do? (This is called procrastination, and I used to do it all the time when studying)! If you have some way of sorting through your task list and obligations, it can make it easy to focus on what’s important. I use the Franklin Planner, which has a built in method of listing your tasks in order of importance. You could do a weekly run through of the Eisenhower Matrix, or, more simply, you can list your top three to five most important tasks of the day. If you were to get those few things done, you would be happy. This is the easiest way to ensure that you get those important things done first. Once you do these tasks, you can either do less important things, or simply, relax.
Self-care: Yes! you can plan self-care. When you have a business, or a full time job and/or kids, sometimes it’s really hard to find the time to spend on yourself. For someone who suffers from a mental health issue, it’s really important that you give yourself some “me” time, whether that is sleep, skin care, reading a book or just resting. If you suffer from migraines, you might need to enclose yourself in a dark room for awhile. Another thing is to track your medication. Habit trackers are amazing for this. Keep it in your health section of your planner! Scheduling appointments for the dentist, doctor, chiropractor or physiotherapy is equally important. Track all the dates on your monthly calendars. You can basically keep track of anything your heart desires when it comes to self-care. Just be sure to block out time for the important things that will keep your cup full. Remember, if you can’t help yourself, you can’t help others either.
Thank you so much for reading! I hope this blog helped give you some ideas in how planning can be a helpful tool in managing mental health. See you next time!
💕 Sandra
