How to Continue Caring for Your Mental Health This Summer

In the midst of a global pandemic, many of us are struggling with mental health in ways we haven’t before – giving a whole new meaning to the importance of pausing to take stock of how we are coping. While we can be generous in the support we offer to others who are suffering, we’re often slow to evoke the same level of compassion when it comes to how we treat ourselves.

As a followup to Mental Health Awareness Month, we’ve curated a series of recommendations, tips and practices from different experts to help you navigate a time when it’s easy to feel down and discouraged by things outside of your control. Here are five ways you can show yourself more kindness:

Don’t Compare Productivity

Dr. Laurie Santos, Yale psychology professor and host of The Happiness Lab podcast, recently did a Facebook Live Q&A focused on COVID-19’s impact on mental health. She talks about the importance of validating what you are feeling while also downgrading expectations: all of us are going to be less productive than usual right now, and we need to be accepting of that. Along the same lines, Phenomenal Woman published a list of COVID-19 Principles as a powerful reminder of what compassionate leadership looks like during this crisis – hint: it’s about embracing the fact that we shouldn’t hold ourselves to the usual standards of productivity and success.

Try a guided meditation exercise

Dr. Kristin Neff, co-founder of the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion, offers several guided meditations and exercises designed to help evoke self-kindness and mindfulness through different techniques such as writing, affectionate breathing and supportive touch. Her key tips for evoking self-compassion are to acknowledge that suffering is present, to remind ourselves that it is normal to feel this way and to be kind to ourselves in the moment, the same way you would for a friend. On a similar note, some of the most popular meditation apps, like Calm, Headspace and Ten Percent, also have created free exercises and resources specific to COVID-19 that are worth checking out if you need to give that voice in your head a rest.

Seek out help

The value of talking to a therapist or counselor during this time cannot be understated. Psychology Today is a great resource to locate a professional in your area (including those who offer teletherapy) based on your needs and insurance type. Even if you can’t afford therapy right now, you do not have to go it alone. Bustle offers good advice on low-cost alternatives to consider and Crisis Text Line offers free 24/7 support to text a Crisis Counselor. People have even taken to Twitter to share crowdsourced advice from their therapy sessions in this uplifting thread that discusses what’s helped people most or made things a little easier. You can also find a therapist for remote sessions using services like BetterHelp.com.

Reinvigorate your notion of self-care

Girls’ Night In, an online community focused on reimagining how people take care, has created an amazing Stay Home, Take Care site that is chock full of social-distance approved activities to help you stay in and take care of yourself and others during the pandemic. They have a category specifically devoted to mental health, offering tips, articles and ideas to help you reflect, unwind and adjust to new levels of functioning, as well as one on self-care, listing creative ways to stay active, start a new hobby and mix up your routine while working from home or quarantining.

Follow inspiring mental health accounts

While nothing can replace professional help, sometimes it’s nice to see a reminder that “You’ve got this” as you scroll through your social feeds. Some of our favorite accounts for just that include @thrive, @myselflovesupply, @femalecollective, @themindgeek and @morganharpernichols. Goop also has a great list of wellness practitioners, writers and mental health experts who are offering words of wisdom on social media during this time, and so does Girls’ Night In. Plus, Instagram just rolled out a new feature on mobile called Guides that you may have started seeing on wellness-related accounts, like TheSkimm, where content on supporting well-being is all housed in one easy-to-find place.

We hope this resource helps you continue to keep mental health top of mind into the summer and beyond, when our to-do lists and social calendars may look much different than we had hoped. Let’s all encourage each other to treat ourselves with grace while taking things one day at a time.

Erin Cornell is a twenty-something communications professional and blogger living outside New York City, still trying to figure out this whole “adulting” thing. Follow along at www.abrowneyedberry.com and @abrowneyedberry to read more of her wellness, style and career advice geared towards millennial women.