2025 is a new chapter and taking care of your mental health is more important than ever.
Mental health is a journey, not a destination. It involves continuous growth, learning, and adapting. We encourage you to embrace this journey with kindness and compassion towards yourself and others.
At Anchored Counseling, we are dedicated to providing you with a safe harbor on this journey. We believe that prioritizing mental health is an ongoing endeavor, one that involves recognizing the importance of our well-being and taking actionable steps to nurture.
To help support you in taking care of yourself, here are four ways you can prioritize and nourish your mental health.
1. Understand the Multifaceted Nature of Health
Health is a comprehensive term encompassing various components, much like pieces of a pie. When we think of health, our minds often default to physical health. However, true well-being includes multiple facets: physical, emotional, relational, mental, and spiritual health.
Each aspect plays a vital role in overall wellness. Prioritizing mental health is just as important as caring for any other part of our well-being; just as we care for our physical health, it is crucial to attend to our mental well-being with the same dedication and mindfulness.
2. The Value of Therapy
If you have not gone to therapy, it is a worthwhile investment in your mental health. Therapy is not solely for times of crisis or distress; it can be beneficial even when life is going well.
Therapy helps us understand ourselves better, build self-awareness, and develop insights into our behaviors and emotions. It’s a protective factor for mental health, offering support in setting boundaries, practicing assertive communication, and learning to tolerate and navigate our emotions. Therapy also provides a safe space to work through trauma or parts of our story that feel messy.
Whether you attend weekly, biweekly, or even monthly, therapy can be an invaluable resource. If you feel any shame or stigma around seeking therapy, discussing these feelings in therapy can also be helpful.
3. Identifying Helpful and Unhelpful Patterns of Behavior
To prioritize your mental health, it is essential to identify what habits and behaviors are or are not serving you.
Unhelpful patterns might include excessive social media scrolling, engaging in comparisons, poor communication, lack of boundaries, overworking, substance misuse, and negative self-talk. Recognizing these behaviors is the first step towards change.
Conversely, identifying habits that support your mental health can also be helpful. These habits might include going to therapy, setting boundaries, taking mental health days, limiting work-related activities outside of work hours, and fostering supportive relationships.
4. Embrace the Journey of Mental Health
Please remember that none of us have “arrived” when it comes to mental health. We are all continuously learning, growing, and evolving. Practice self-compassion on this journey. It is a process of understanding and caring for ourselves; it requires patience and kindness.
Let’s continue this journey together, striving for balance and embracing the fullness of our mental health.
To further support you, please explore the additional resources below to cultivate compassion and care.
Additional Resources
Permission for This New Year to Be Different
On the Becoming Anchored podcast episode, licensed therapists and hosts Laura Deneen and Lauren Jackson discuss setting resolutions in a way that is supportive of your mental health.
We also explore how to evaluate personal progress, adapting with compassion, aligning actions with values, and intrinsic self-worth.
We believe that you are enough, regardless of what you accomplish or how others perceive you, and hope you can embrace your innate self-worth this new year.
You can listen to the episode here. Join us as we explore how to approach goals with intention, self-compassion, and a focus on what truly matters!
Mindful Affirmation:
“I acknowledge my past achievements and challenges, understanding that each experience contributes to my strength and resilience.”
Becoming Anchored in Hope,
Laura
LPC-MHSP, CEDS-C, ACS, NCC
Owner + Director
Laura is committed to guiding individuals along their path to mental wellness and has carefully gathered a team of skilled, knowledgeable, and committed therapists at Anchored Counseling Co. to assist in this mission.
The professionals here create an environment that is supportive and affirmed, informed by an understanding of trauma. At Anchored Counseling Co., there’s a shared belief in the fundamental worth of each person, and therapy is delivered with warmth and empathy. The therapeutic philosophy here is built on the premise that every client has the natural ability to enact meaningful and enduring change in their life.
To connect with a therapist who aligns with your unique needs, please contact our office at 615.510.3797 or contact us here.
