Recently, I was invited to speak to a small group at a local behavioral health services facility. The week before, I had met with the group’s facilitator and she asked me three questions one of those questions was, “What inspires hope within you?”
I thought what an incredible question. Today I’d like to share my answer with you, and I’d love to hear what inspires hope in you!
A mental health toolkit
About two years ago, I came across this idea of Tiny Habits, and it amped up my recovery. You know, so often it’s easy to become overwhelmed and fall into the trap of racing thoughts that we become paralyzed, we can’t make any moves. We tell ourselves, “I have so much I need to accomplish,” and we try to take it all on at once.
The “take it all” on approach sets us up for failure. Tiny habits are tools to flip the script so we can tell ourselves, “Yes I can.”
We start by focusing on one task only, and we have lightening focus on that one task for a short period. This period doesn’t have to be all day; it doesn’t even have to be an hour, it can be as simple as making a conscious decision to choose a healthier version of yourself.
For me, I knew I needed to get back into shape, and that exercise was necessary for my mental health. I also knew that I would enjoy running, so I tried running. But I started small by walking and gradually getting to a jog. This jog would last for maybe two minutes, and I would fall over hacking up my lungs. But I didn’t give up. I tried again and again and again until I was able to jog half a mile and then two miles and then ten miles.
Noticing the change
And with each new milestone, it was like winning the lottery. It felt amazing and like I accomplished something wild. I took this same technique, and I applied it to writing. I committed myself to write, to show up each day and write. So that’s what I did, I wrote every morning for a year. Every time I sat down with my pen and paper I wrote five hundred words.
Over time, I began to notice that these Tiny Habits end up becoming substantial game changers and I applied them to my diet, to get better sleep and to a meditation practice. These Tiny Habits become powerful tools in your mental health toolkit. The more you practice these Tiny Habits, the stronger they become. It’s essential to develop more than one so that you have a fallback plan in case you get stuck or begin to feel anxious or depressed.
Tiny habits
I’d be lying if I said I woke up every day feeling like a hundred bucks. But on those days, when I wake up feeling bad, I take a minute before getting out of bed, and I make a conscious decision to flip the script. Sitting on the edge of my bed, I take a deep breath in and out and say thank you for letting me live another day, to have another chance to reach my real potential.
It’s as simple as that, choosing to flip the script, to remember I’m here to learn something, to open my heart more, that I’m okay just the way I am and that I have another opportunity to reach my real potential and that I have the tools to make that a reality.
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Originally Published on charlesminguez.com
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