_{One of the biggest struggles we are all facing right now is trying to keep ourselves together. It has gotten to the point where it’s basically impossible to judge anyone who makes irrational decisions – a friend can get a piercing on their armpit and we won’t even react to that. We are all just going through it.}

_{However, being a person who has always been easily triggered into depression and/or anxiety, I’ve always had to try and figure out what gets me there and how to get out to stay healthy mentally despite what I am going through. Everyday I challenge myself to do better and the following are challenges that I naturally apply to my day and they have been helping me stay sane and I am hoping that you find them helpful too…}

Stop Overthinking

_{If you are a natural overthinker, it can be quite hard to snap out of this habit. Here’s the problem with overthinking, you literally think yourself into a bad mood. Nothing good has ever come out of thinking too much about one particular thing – it makes you feel insecure, lowers your confidence, you lose trust in people just from assuming that they are planning on hurting you and overall you just hurt yourself. Overthinking also holds you back from living in the now because you are constantly in your head. Even if you are thinking about your future, overdoing it can either demotivate you when you realize that you have a long way to go or just waste your time because instead of getting work done, you are repeatedly thinking about what you should be doing.}

Don’t complain or say anything negative

_{Now, I understand that this can be quite tricky because people can really just test you and random things happen to us just to give us something to complain about. Growing up, I never ran out to things to complain about – if it’s hot, I complain about the heat, if it’s cold, I complain about that too. Basically, I was never satisfied with anything that happened. As you might’ve guessed, yes, I was super depressed. I was attracting nothing but bad things, I even made the good things bad. But over the years, I learnt how to complain less, matter of fact, I hardly ever complain. Make jokes about situations and people who inconvenience you and keep it moving.}

Be kind to yourself

_{I don’t think people actually understand what is meant when we say, ‘be kind to yourself’ or ‘love yourself’ because it sounds just so obvious right? It’s actually not, think about the things you say about yourself daily, are they kind? Are you a nice person to yourself? Do you treat yourself better than you would treat your lover? Do you impress yourself as if you are your crush? If you don’t do any of that, then I have news for you. You absolutely have to understand the importance of valuing yourself. Don’t try to be better than anyone but yourself! You are your own competition and the gag is that there’s no losing just winning. So be kind, be gentle, do better for you, be better for you.}

Compliment someone

_{When we applaud someone on their wins, we feel good inside. No one with a good heart doesn’t feel happy about congratulating or complimenting someone – whether it is a stranger or someone we know. However big or small the compliment may be, share it. You don’t know how much of a difference you will make in someone’s day just by throwing in a simple compliment. What actually makes us feel good about applauding someone is hearing them saying, ‘Thank you’ because in that way, we feel as though we actually did something bigger than just compliment. It’s honestly a win-win situation, you feel better about yourself and so does the person on the receiving end.}

Practice Gratitude

_{There is literally so much to be grateful for daily and yes, you might not think there’s much but let’s set up a little scenario real’ quick… You find yourself craving a McFlurry at night so you decide to drive to the nearest McDonalds to satisfy your needs. You get to the drive-thru, you order your McFlurry, you move on to the next window, pay and receive your McFlurry. That’s it, that’s all. You don’t see something to be grateful for there? You got what you wanted, they could’ve told you their machine is broken or it’s too late to serve ice-cream. You also could’ve gotten into an accident on the way there, hit a deer and damaged your car, had your card decline for absolutely no reason. These things happen, you know this. That is why you have to show gratitude to every little thing that happens daily so that more good things can manifest which will result in you consistently feeling good.}

Let yourself feel

_{You know those random waves of sadness that just attack you out of nowhere? You could be out with your friends at the club having the time of your life then suddenly you just zone out and feel sad. Let it be. When those moments or days come by, just let them. Stay away from friends for a while, stay awau from social media also. Do whatever it takes to just let yourself feel all the emotions. If you need to cry and you don’t even know what for, go for it!}

_{One thing that I priotize way too much in my life is my mental health and these are just some of the challenges I give myself daily to make sure that I don’t lose myself in the midst of everything happening around me. Every now and then, we all find ourselves struggling with maintaining our mental health but one thing you should never do is force yourself to be ‘grand’/good. Pay attention to what your mind and body is saying to you and act accordingly.}