A therapist can be extremely helpful and useful for everyone but not everyone can afford, have time, or feel the need to get a therapist. Some people go to therapy for the hard times in life and now feel that they can do life without a therapist but still want to keep up their healthy habits and mindsets. For those people who want to gain a healthy mindset and can't afford it or for those who want to keep their healthy mindsets after finishing therapy, there are alternative options that can have the similar helpful and useful effect on your life that a therapist does.
Find therapists to follow on social media that can give you advice, tips, and tricks: With the rise of social media, there is a lot of therapists that want to help as many people as they can so they post tips and tricks on platforms like Instagram or Tik-Tok. Not only is this helpful to you and your mental health, but it also is making your social media environment a healthier place for you. Picking out which therapist you choose to follow and take online advice from, depends on who you feel is going to be the most helpful to you. So, instead of giving you therapists to follow, we will give you a way to find therapists on social media. To start with, search up therapists of (insert the platform here). Ex: #therapistsofInstagram. From there, a few therapists will come up and you can look through them until you find one that you think their tips and advice will be helpful and pertain to your life. You don't want to follow a therapist that talks about getting through a breakup, if you aren't struggling with a breakup currently.
Read self-help books: There are tons of self-help books out there that all talk about certain aspects of life and mental health. To find these books you can go to bookstore websites and search mental health or self-help books or see if they have a section for self-help. Sometimes, like on Barnes and Noble, there is sections that are dedicated to self help books for teens and young adults that you can look through and find which one is best fit for you. There are also self-help workbooks for those who don't enjoy reading too much. You can find these online or even by searching for them on amazon or a bookstore. For those who are struggling with self-confidence, we have a blog post: BOOKS TO INCREASE SELF CONFIDENCE IN TEENS, that has five amazing self-help books.
Journaling: Journaling has amazing effects on the mind and body. The act of writing things down and letting your brain flow onto paper is like talking to a therapist and telling them what is going on in life. From there, you can reflect on your journaling and better your mental health. If you are new to journaling, we do have AN INTRODUCTION TO JOURNALING blog post that you can check out. It has the benefits, ideas, and the "when, where, and how" of journaling. For those who already have a start to journaling and want to learn new ways that might have a different type of positive effect on your mental health and mind, you can check out our THE BEGINNING TO GRATITUDE JOURNALING blog post.
Move your body: Your body is made to move so give your body what it needs. Dance around the house, stretch your body in the morning, take a walk at sunset, do an afternoon run, whatever you prefer, move your body around. The act of moving your body can better your mental health. Whether it is a brisk walk or a afternoon yoga session, moving your body can battle symptoms of anxiety, depression, stress, ect... For those interested in starting yoga, you can read our BEGINNER YOGA POSES FOR DEALING WITH YOUR ANXIETY.
Be kind to your body's needs: Every human needs sleep, water, and food. Having a lack of any of those three main components can worsen or cause a development of mental health issues. When you don't give your body enough of what it needs, your brain can misfire and send the wrong signals, making you more stressed, irritable, upset, anxious, emotional, ect... For teen girls, you should aim for 9-10 hours of sleep per night. For young women, you should aim for 8-9 hours of sleep. It is also important that for some, you should cut down on your sleep. Some sleep out of boredom or as a symptom of depression but it can worsen those symptoms. So, instead of taking a 5 hour nap in the day and then sleeping for another 9-10 hours at night, you could try to replace that nap time with a walk in the sunshine to increase vitamin D levels and boost your "happy hormone". As far as supplying your body with adequate food and water, it depends on the person. Food is a source of energy, minerals, vitamins, ect... for the body. When you don't eat enough food or you don't eat the proper foods, you can decrease your bodies overall health. Some people eat what they feel that their body needs or craves, and that can help them figure out what those "proper" foods are for them specifically. This is called intuitive eating, and as women you probably do this around your period. On your period, lots of women crave chocolate, unaware that they are craving it because their body needs it. For some, they crave it because of the need for higher sugar amounts, and some crave it because they are need of the magnesium within it. Either way, that is a form of intuitive eating, where you listen to what your body is saying you need, and you give it to your body. If you are interested in starting intuitive eating there are 10 basic principles of it that you can research about online.
Learn and set boundaries: Whether these are personal boundaries or specific relationship boundaries, all boundaries can improve your mental health. A major topic that therapists talk about is creating and setting boundaries but you don't need a therapist to learn and set boundaries. Setting boundaries in relationships or friendships can improve, strengthen, and protect your mental health and possible theirs as well. To learn about setting boundaries, there are books that focus on setting boundaries as a young woman or teen girl and there are free podcasts you can listen to on Spotify. Once you learn how to set the boundaries, you can set and apply them to your life.
We hope that you find this post useful, and you can apply it to your life. Remember: Healing is a process and doesn't happen overnight. Healing comes in waves and some days might be better than others. No matter what it is, you can get through it. Have a wonderful weekend!
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