Mental Health Advice

From the least qualified person on earth

I’ve observed that my mental health on any given day is dependent on four factors:

1. getting enough sunlight,

2. interacting with other human beings,

3. leaving the house, and

4. exercising.

This list is so obvious to anyone with even half a walnut for a brain that I’m embarrassed I had to reverse engineer it through observations of my daily circumstances and moods.

These aren’t exactly “rules” or habits that I follow, but just a general list I keep in mind. I’ll elaborate on each briefly.

Barbossa agrees

Getting enough sunlight - I mean, apart from how awesome it feels to be out in the sun, seasonal depression is a real thing people have here. Winters in the northern hemisphere suck. Sunny days are precious and make me happy.

Interacting with other human beings - underrated. The surprising thing is even small talk with strangers makes a difference. While I do consider myself more introverted than not, I can never relate to people who go days without talking to anyone else. We’re not built to be that isolated.

Leaving the house - again, we’re not built to sit on chairs in air conditioned chambers while typing instructions into magic rocks for ten hours every day. We need fresh air, we need to touch grass, if only to watch the same TikToks outdoors that we would’ve seen at home anyway.

Exercising - duh. (I haven’t been to the gym the last couple of weeks so obviously I’ll write about how exercising is super important.)

LOL

All four factors are necessary on a regular basis for me to be able to function; go too long without even one, and life starts to fall apart. One cannot substitute for another. It’s not (1 or 2 or 3 or 4) but rather (1 and 2 and 3 and 4).

The easiest way to combine these four horsemen of health (urgh) is to go to the gym in the evenings or to play badminton or something with friends.

Of course, this isn’t medical advice. But based on my (limited and primitive) observations, if ever in the future I think I’m having mental health issues, this is the first checklist I would consider fulfilling before even considering any other option. It sounds too simple to be true, but then again, most things are.

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