Shift Your State of Mind!
By Susana Marquez, Mommy In Los Angeles® Magazine Wellness Contributor, MFT & owner, Me, Myself n Mommy
Our mental wellness is crucial to our health. So much focus is placed on our physical health but if we don’t take care of our mental and emotional state and only focus on the physical, are we truly healthy?
Being mentally healthy is a journey; it’s not something that can be done overnight. You can definitely get into a daily routine of how to care for your mental health— whether it is personal affirmations or quotes, we can use them to shift our state of mind.
Here are 5 of my favorite quotes that inspire me to focus on my mental health:
1. “Taking care of myself doesn’t mean ‘me first.’ It means ‘me too.’” –L.R. Knost
It’s common to hear that you’re being selfish when you put yourself first. Well, I’m here to tell you, that’s not the case! We should be our own priority; we should take care of ourselves because if we can’t take care of ourselves, how are we supposed to take care of others? Make yourself a priority. A mother who is well rested and taken care of, will be more productive and beneficial to her family.
2. “Sometimes the people around you won’t understand your journey. They don’t need to; it’s not for them.” –Unknown
This is my mantra for everything I go through! It’s about me and only me, regardless of what people think or believe, it doesn’t matter. I will grow from what I experience. It may not be easy; As a matter of fact, it may be the hardest part of your journey but remember, this will make you stronger in the end. Don’t get into the habit of giving explanations or justifications for what you are going through, if others don’t understand it, how supportive can they really be? This quote truly helped me cope with loss after my father’s death, when I was questioning everything and filled with anger. Nobody understood what I was going through. This quote became my daily affirmation and I repeated it frequently to remind myself that the difficulty of my experience was part of my journey and I did not need to explain myself.
3. “Mental health…is not a destination, but a process. It’s about how you drive, not where you’re going.” –Noam Spencer, PhD
This is one of my favorites. We talk about mental health like its wrong or negative. We don’t realize that in order for us to be mentally healthy we have to do the work and it may not be easy or fast but it will lead us to a healthier, better version of ourselves.
4. “The less you respond to negativity, the more peaceful your life becomes.” –Unknown
How much quieter is life when you don’t respond and/or react to everything? People may want to get a reaction out of you, they may want to shake you and remove your peace because misery loves company. Don’t give others the pleasure of controlling your mental and emotional state.
5. “You never really see how toxic someone is until you breathe fresher air.” –Unknown
When you surround yourself with toxic people, it’s hard to maintain a healthy state of mind. Those types of people can drain you, suck the life out of you and make you question who you are. In order to be healthy one must let go of those toxic people. You will thank yourself for this.
Working on our mental wellness may seem new to us since we are not taught to give it the attention it deserves. We can incorporate those changes ourselves to practice being healthy mentally and emotionally and pass those same practices to our children. Our mental health deserves to be nourished, taken care of and supported. In order for us to be a better version of ourselves, heal from past trauma or losses, we have to go through the darkness but in the end you are a healthy whole person.’
Feel Empowered. Feel Strong. Feel Validated, Mamas.