“Take Time – for mental health” is the theme for Queensland Mental Health Week this year. Queensland Mental Health Week runs from 5 – 13 October, 2019. This week is linked to National Mental Health Week and World Mental Health Day, which is held on 10 October each year.
The Take Time – for mental health theme focuses on six simple actions which are based on the internationally recognised Wheel of Well-Being.
The six actions are:
- Take time to be active
- Take time to learn
- Take time to give
- Take time to connect
- Take time to enjoy the moment
- Take time to care for our planet
In this post I will focus on how you can take time for mental health by using these actions for yourself or your family.
Take Time to Be Active
Taking time to be active is good for your body as well as your mind. Practicing an activity for 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week is recommended. Walking is my preferred way of being activity and I often use a coin-toss app so that my walking route varies.
However there are lots of ways that you can be active. Any physical activity such as walking, running or dancing can be incorporated into your life. When my children were younger, I would often exercise early in the morning before my husband left for work. This exercise was either walking around the neighbourhood, skipping at home or uisng an exercise DVD in my lounge room.
There were also times we exercised as a family. When the children were very little they went in the jogging pram whilst my husband ran & I walked. As they got older they would ride their bikes with us. We also went on some family bike rides. Sometimes we would walk through the park to go to my daughters piano lessons.
Other ways that you can exercise with your family include swimming, having a dance party in your lounge room, jumping on the trampoline or any physical play.
Now, my daughter often goes to park run with her boyfriend and/or her grandma.
How do you take to be active for yourself or with your family?
Take Time to Learn
Taking time to learn can make you more confident as well as being fun. Life-long learners are some of the healthiest, happiest people around. I’ve been enjoying doing some formal study in the past year, not that I necessarily find the assessment part fun.
Learning doesn’t have to be formal. It may simply involve reading or learning about a topic that your interested in. YouTube and google can help with learning about just about anything. You might like to learn a new hobby, learn to play an instrument or learn a new game.
Even though children are often learning at school, it can be good for them to learn more about things that they’re interested in. Whether it’s a formal outside of school activity such as dance, sport or learning an instrument; or less formal learning such as exploring a museum or learning to cook.
How do you take time to learn for yourself or with your family?
Take Time to Give
Taking time to give could be through an act of kindness, volunteering your time, simply saying thank-you or giving physical gifts. Giving can help reduce your blood pressure,improves your sleep and helps you feel more satisfied with life.
For the past 18 months or so I’ve been volunteering in the playgroup at my local primary school. I also volunteer my time in lots of ways at church from helping with MOPS, to leading Bible Study and helping on the church roster in various ways.
Schools and many community organisations are appreciative of volunteers who help in many ways.
You can teach your children to give their time to help others by helping when you volunteer or getting them to help make a card for someone who’s sick. My children have often helped at church working bees or fundraising events. Children will often be willing to give away old toys and clothes if they know that someone else will benefit from them. In the past my children often helped us packed shoe-boxes for operation Christmas Child.
How do you take time to give yourself or as a family?
Take Time to Connect
Taking time to connect is important to everyone’s mental well-being. We are created to relate and connect with others. Close relationships with friends and family can add up to 7 years to our lives.
Last year for my mental health week post I focused on connecting for life. We still normally go to Mum and Dad’s for a weekly meal. Other ways to connect as a family involve spending time together at home for regular meals or a family night, or going out together as a family for a meal or outing.
Other ways that I connect with peers or people from other generations include Bible Study, lunch or morning tea with friends, Cuppa & Supper, WordPressMeet-ups and the volunteering that I mentioned above.
Meet-ups are a great way to connect with others around similar interests.
How do you take time to connect with others for yourself or with your family?
Take Time to Enjoy the Moment
Taking time to enjoy the moment by paying more attention to the present and the world around your helps relieve stress and makes you feel better. Savouring our surroundings gives us more breathing space.
Keeping a gratitude journal can be one way to take notice. Doing a mindfulness activity where you take the time to focus on your different senses can be beneficial. Stop and pause and notice what you can see in your environment, then close your eyes and notice what you can hear, feel an object with your eyes shut, notice what you can smell and if your eating take the time to notice the taste as well as using your other senses.
You can help children to enjoy the moment by discussing it with them and helping them to use their senses as well. You might like to use a sand timer that they can watch while they are taking the time to listen. This can help them focus and they can see how long they need to be silent for. Though I do think children are better at enjoying the moment and we can probably learn from how they play.
How do you take time to enjoy the moment for yourself or your family?
Take Time to Care for Our Planet
Taking time to care our planet is the best recipe for world well-being. Even small positive changes can make a big difference.
This year I’ve started taking my soft plastics back to Coles for recycling. There are many small changes that you can make to care for our planet such as riding or walking instead of taking the car, switching off appliances when not in use, recycling, buying less or drinking tap water.
Children are often even more aware of caring for our planet and can probably share their own ideas. My mother often tells the story of my son telling her she was wasting water, when she tipped a little bit of left over water down the sink. More than 10 years later she still has buckets to collect water in her sinks and shower, which she then uses to help water her plants.
How you do you take time to care for our planet by yourself or as a family?
How are you going to take time for mental health?