Overcoming the toil of daily grind

The daily grind of life can be a real toil. The kids, the job, the spouse, the list goes on and on of the things that can drive you completely batty and make you think of throwing in the towel and giving up. You ask yourself, is this all there is? Every day the same thing, over and over again? Did I get (educated/married/this job) to come to this mundane existence that seems to be going nowhere, or is it me? you may ask yourself? Is there something that I could be doing differently so I don’t feel so hopeless and useless with my lot in life? Stress undealt with can kill you and destroy your mental health.

You are not alone. We all experience what many call “brain farts” in our lives, and the thing is, if we don’t get help, these types of feelings will not go away, but will fester and grow into sores that cannot be healed. Although outside help is good, many of us just do not have the time to take to care of our mental health because were too busy caring for everyone else around us.

Therefore, here are five habits that you can develop to keep your sanity in an insane environment.

1. Read this story every day until you memorize it and pass it on, thereby helping someone else that is having trouble mentally.

There was a woman who wanted to stop hurting. She travelled far and wide in search of a famous guru who was supposed to be the wisest of the wise. It was told that he was the one that would be able to teach her how to stop hurting. After travelling many, many miles, across many, many mountains and rivers, she finally found him. Exhausted, she asked, “Teacher, I have come from far and wide, please tell me how I can stop this pain that keeps me from thriving, it seems to envelop my very soul.” He replied simply, “follow me”. He took her to a mountain above his home, put her into a cave filled with books, more books than she had ever seen in her entire life, and he locked her in with a candle so she could see, water to drink and a rock to lay her head upon. She was afraid, but thought that in these books there must be the answer, so she began reading and reading and reading. Two days later the teacher came back and asked her, “have you found your answer?”, and when she told him no, he raised his staff and began to hit her with it, three long strikes. She screamed from pure agony as he locked her back in. She could not understand why he did that. She kept on reading, looking for the answers. Three days went by, and he came back. “Have you found the answer?” he asked, she was afraid but she said, “no”. This time he raised his staff and struck her six times showing her no mercy. He calmly walked out, locking her in as she whimpered in the cave. Seven days later, as the door opened to the cave, he found her sleeping next to the rock, thirsty, looking so weak and pitiful. She opened her eyes, lips parched, blinking at the invading sun. He asked her, “have you found the answer?”, she replied, “I have read through these books until my eyes could not read anymore and I still do not know how to stop the pain.” He raised is staff to strike her but this time she threw up her arms to stop him from hitting her, and he declared, “My child, now you know how to stop the pain”. And he left her there. (realize the if you are in pain, the first step is to look in the mirror and know that you are the only one that can stop it)

2. Get Rid of Toxic People in Your Life.

Wait you may say, this is supposed to be easy habits to develop. If grab a hold of a bit of bravery (get some balls), there are toxic people that are easy to get rid of. The guy in class that constantly asks for your notes and never takes any. The girl at the job that comes into your office to talk about things that just don’t help you get the job done. It is not rude to tell people like this, “I am busy”. Get in the habit of saying “no”. Most people that are feeling mentally drained are people that are pleasing other people. Are you taking on more than your fair share of work, just because you want to be pleasant? A team player? Stop it! Be the one that leaves early some days, especially since you will have more time because you got rid of the people that are hanging around your desk sapping away your time.

3. Go to bed early and relax.

Sleep is important for good mental health and physical health also. Turn off your phone, the television, and your laptop. Turn it off?? Yes, off!! Turn off the lights and sit in quiet. Find a good meditation coach, or a meditation CD that you can listen to, as opposed to watching violence, the news, or playing video games that are filled with too much for the mind to be still. When you develop this habit, and remember, anything that we do for more than two weeks becomes a habit, you will find yourself looking forward to this time of peace and quiet. You will demand it from those in your household that never gave you a moments peace.

4. Get Up Early.

The old truism by Benjamin Franklin, “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.”, comes to mind when thinking of your mental health. You may not become wealthy, but wealth is relative. Some say that a man is rich that has good health, and what you want is good mental health. The time of day that is quietest in the house is early in the a.m. before anyone is awake in the house or the neighborhood. Use this time to do number five on the list, exercise!

5. Exercise.

Get in at least 30 minutes of exercise a day. If this has not been a habit and you find yourself with a bit of a bum and gut due to overeating, get up, it is time to change. Talk to your doctor before starting anything strenuous, but you can take a walk for now every day until you talk to him/her. Endorphins are waiting to help you feel better, and there is nothing like a workout to get them jumping around in your brain.

There really isn’t concrete proof that these things will wash all the willies out of your head, but you can be assured that they will get you moving in the direction of healing. When we go up the stairs in life, each step is dedicated to so many things that take over our time and energy, if we carve out the corner of each step for ourselves, when shit starts hemming in on us, we can run in the corner because we saved it for our own mental health stability. Here’s to your beginning.