There are lots of things I do on a daily basis to make sure I stay in a good mood. I’m at university at the moment and one of the most important things I do every morning is to make my bed straight away. Before I came to Uni my Dad told me that getting into a made bed at the end of a bad day can really boost your mood. I’ve done this almost every day for my time at Uni and it does genuinely help me feel more relaxed. I struggle to concentrate if my room is messy, so I always make time to make the bed and have a quick tidy before I start my day. Your room, whether you live at home or on your own, is your personal space and I think it should be somewhere that you can come and escape to at the end of the day, so it’s really important that you make it a place where you can relax. I find that I’m happiest when I get up at a good time, if I get up before 9am I feel like I’ve got the whole day to get everything done. It’s not always easy to get up early, but I think having a good sleep schedule is really important to staying happy. I look forward to my first cup of tea every morning, and this usually helps me get out of bed quite quickly.
In the past I struggled a bit with my self image, and this led me to restrict my eating a bit to try and get to a weight that I was happy with. The way I looked at food and myself wasn’t very healthy, and it brought me down quite a lot, and affected my mental health. I felt weird talking to people about it because it felt like something that most teenagers go through, but talking to my friends about my feelings helped me realise that I didn’t have to feel that way. I think the best thing that you can do to get past things that are worrying you is to talk to someone who cares about you, because they won’t make you feel worse for telling them.
If I’m having a bad day I always give my parents a call, I don’t always tell them that I’m having a bad day but talking about silly things sometimes helps distract me from whatever’s upsetting me. I like to go for a walk too, I find that getting fresh air is a good way of keeping your mood up. Staying in one room all day makes me feel rubbish and I try and get out of the house at least once every day, even if it’s just to walk to the shop and buy milk. I always find that walking to a café and having tea with someone I care about boosts my mood too, because I’ve got the enjoyment of spending time with someone, but I’ve also got lots of fresh air into my system. When I’m home from Uni I spend a few hours playing video games with my little brother, I don’t see him very often and I think it’s nice to spend time with him.
What’s your advice for other young people?
Don’t compare your mental health worries to everyone else’s, it’s easy to think that your worries aren’t real, but it really doesn’t matter how your worries compare to someone else’s. I’d also tell young people to try and create good habits, like drinking lots of water, getting regular exercise, and meeting friends or family as often as you can. You can’t always control your mental health, but there’s lots of small things you can do to help make it a little better.
