The busyness of life, especially in your teenage years, can be overwhelming. Without planting the important seeds to prioritize your mental health, time to reflect or think about what you really want, it’s easy to burn out quickly, both mentally and physically. One of the most important steps in creating a balance for yourself is to cultivate healthy habits into your everyday life. By doing so, you are able to start taking care of yourself little by little, which can be much less intimidating than waiting until your struggles become overbearing. However, even if you’re at your breaking point, beginning to implement little habits day by day can go a long way.

In my life, I’ve found journaling to be one of the most essential tools when it comes to reflection and mental health. Although I still regularly struggle to write daily, and sometimes even weekly, having an outlet to write my innermost thoughts and hardships greatly helped me in reflecting on myself and finding solace in the smaller things. Journaling looks different for every person. It can take form in your regular written pages, but there are many creative outlets to put down your thoughts, such as recordings, video diaries, or even drawings in a sketchbook. Do what you find helps you the most, because, at the end of the day, your journal should not be something that you just check off a box, but hopefully, a piece that you become comfortable with and attached to.

Exercise is an activity I won’t touch too much on this week, but I have found that when done in moderation, any form of exercise, from walking to yoga to a school sport can be immensely beneficial to both your physical and mental health. Just 30 minutes of exercise three days a week can lower anxiety and reduce stress. I’ve found that walking in the mornings, at either sunrise or sunset can be a very relaxing time to set aside for reflection. The one most important thing to ask yourself when exercising is ‘What is my motivation?’ It can be easy to wrap yourself up in goals and achievements in exercise, but your priority should be a want for your mind and body to be the healthiest it can.

Other everyday activities that are beneficial to implement include setting aside just five minutes in the mornings or nights for meditation, getting eight hours of sleep each night(which as annoying and difficult as it sounds, has truly improved my days so much), and practicing self compassion. Being gracious with yourself can be difficult at times. I struggle, like many of my peers, to be compassionate with myself at times. However, I believe that planting the seeds for a well-nourished, healthy mind starts with speaking kindly of yourself. Give yourself a break if you need it. You do a lot. Sometimes your body and mind are just ready for a minute to relax. Let yourself have it.