Making Time for Your Strongest Muscle

As a cancer survivor, Special Education Teacher, SPIRIT Club Personal Trainer, and just generally someone living this thing called life, mental health has always been something I strive to be aware of and seek to improve in myself and others. Like any muscle in the body, your brain works best when it is used, entertained, challenged, and given the right fuel and care to work to its optimal potential. While the month of May is Mental Health Awareness month, it is important that we consistently check in with ourselves and each other to remember what is important in keeping up with our mental health and making sure our minds are constantly growing and thriving! 

With this in mind, no pun intended, here are some tips that I use throughout the year to keep an active and positive mindset;

1. Make time for YOU!
   • Get plenty of good sleep (6-8 hrs for adults)
   • Eat a balanced diet consisting of a variety of proteins (chicken, fish, nuts, legumes,), carbohydrates (rice, bread, potatoes, oats), and fibers (greens and fruits) as well as about 64 ounces (8 bottles) of water a day 
   • Do something fun and active like exercise, playing sports, going for walks or hikes
   • Give yourself time to prepare and reflect. Things like meditation, prayer, journaling, and self-talk can help plan out and reflect on your day and reduce anxiety that leads up to or precedes an event in your day.
2. Unplug!
   • Social media can be a wonderful way to keep us all connected and gives us access to people and places across the world! It also has given us more information about more things and places than ever before, and that can be very overwhelming for us humans!
   • Whether it’s keeping up with trends, world news, having FOMO or doom scrolling through other people’s “life lens”, social media can take a heavy toll on our anxiety and in what our reality looks like
   • Take a night out of the week to put down social media for a bit and connect with the world around you and people in your life with board games, ice cream nights (my fave!) or bird watching.
3. Give even the simple things meaning
   • Find joy in the things around you with activities like hiking, gardening, caring for loved ones or pets, joining a sports, gaming, or SPIRIT club!
   • When you aren’t on a social media break, find some groups nearby who are into the things you are, there’s a group for everyone and every hobby, or create your own! 
4. Have your person
   • Whether your therapist, best friend, partner, SPIRIT trainer or dog, have someone who you can talk life with, good things and bad.
   • You are likely someone’s person too!

I hope you all enjoy and practice these tips! Like any other muscle, it takes time, dedication and practice, and some things may come easier than others. But with a strong support system and even stronger minds, we can all achieve better brain health! 

Be well my friends! 
Tim Murphy
MS.Ed, NASM-CPT