10 Tips to Create Better Mental Health Habits as Latinos

Since May is Mental Health Awareness Month, it makes sense to think about our mental health habits as Latinos a bit more closely. The topic of mental health is still quite stigmatized in the Latino community. While strides have been made, many Latinos still grow up with a narrow understanding of mental health. That’s why it’s not uncommon for us to lack mental health habits. The good news is that we can change that and here are 10 ways to get started:

Nurture supportive relationships

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Developing healthy family and interpersonal relationships can have a positive impact on your mental health. Latinos are known for being close to their families and friends, but it’s important to go beyond the surface. Strong social connections can help reduce the risk of anxiety and depression, so it’s important to build upon the connections we have with the people around us. Life can get hectic sometimes, so make time to spend quality time with the people who matter most to you, practice being more open about how you feel, and build a support system you can rely on.

Prioritize your self-care

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When you’re living life and things get overwhelming, self-care is often the first thing that goes out the window. However, you have to make time for taking care of yourself because that’s just as important as work or any other responsibilities you may have. Schedule time for exercise or physical activity, prioritize good sleep, pay attention to the hobbies that fill your soul, and create healthy habits that support your health and well-being. Also, treat yourself, that’s also a form of self-care!

Find a healthy way to manage stress

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Sorry to say this, but stress is unavoidable. In fact, the more you try to avoid it, the more likely you are to stress yourself out. It’s a common part of life, but learning how to manage it is essential to avoiding chronic stress, which can increase the risk of anxiety, depression, substance abuse problems, and even physical issues like muscle tension. The best way to manage stress is to take stock of the sources so you can develop healthy coping mechanisms. Such as breathing techniques, mindfulness, or just doing things you enjoy, and strategies like problem-solving, delegation, improved time management, and more.

Work on your emotional regulation

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Emotional regulation is all about learning how to control our emotions and emotional responses. No more bottling things up until you explode or avoiding actually feeling your emotions. Instead, you need to find healthy ways to acknowledge, process, and manage them. This will require practicing self-awareness to identify your emotions, learning to create space for yourself so you can feel them, pinpointing triggers so you can reduce them, engaging in positive self-talk, and even seeking therapy if you need support with emotional regulation.

Engage in regular physical activity

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When it comes to mental health habits, there’s no way around physical activity. You don’t have to go to the gym if that’s not what you enjoy, but any kind of regular physical activity will do wonders for your mental health. Whether that’s dancing, home workouts, CrossFit, yoga, Pilates, hiking, going on walks, or anything in between, moving your body will release feel-good hormones, reduce the risk of anxiety and depression, improve your mood, and support your overall well-being.

Get into mindfulness

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Mindfulness is quite the buzz word and it refers to being fully present in the here and now. This practice can help reduce stress, improve focus, and increase self-awareness, all of which will support your mental health. There are many ways to get into mindfulness and the easiest one is to practice meditation. Just sit in a quiet room, control your breathing, and practice letting your thoughts come and go. Another great mindfulness practice is journaling, and if you want to engage your body, yoga is an alternative.

Nurture your self-compassion

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We can be very hard on ourselves, especially when things aren’t going well. Also, negativity bias exists and it means our brains react more intensely to negative information as a way to keep us safe from potential danger. That was useful back when we were living in caves, but now it’s not, so we have to focus on the positive consciously. Moreover, we have to make sure that the way we talk to ourselves is kind, empathetic, and loving. Negative self-talk opens people up to mental health struggles and it just makes life harder than it needs to be. Practicing self-compassion is a healthy habit to work on and it can change your entire mindset.

Learn to set boundaries

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This is particularly necessary if you’re a people-pleaser. That’s often the case for many Latina women who are brought up to be self-sacrificing and putting everyone else first. However, self-sacrifice leads to neglecting yourself and constantly pushing yourself to the limit for the sake of others. That’s a surefire path to burnout, dissatisfaction, unhappiness, chronic stress, and more. You must learn to set clear boundaries in personal and professional settings. Prioritize your self-care, learn to say no, and stop putting more on your plate than you can handle.

Break the worry cycle

If you tend to overthink or dwell on things for too long, learning to break the worry cycle is a good mental health habit to work on. The easiest way to stop your mind from spiraling is to distract yourself. This may require some discipline because ditching the habit of ruminating can be difficult, but the effort will be worth it. You can give yourself 10 to 20 minutes to mull things over but find something else to do once that time is up. Whether that’s listening to music, reading, playing a game on your phone, etc., it will get your mind off whatever’s causing your stress. Once you’re more cool-headed, you can think things through more productively.

Teach yourself to find something beautiful every day

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It may sound corny, but looking for a bit of awe in your daily life is a simple habit that will help maintain your mental health. Whether you’re taking a walk, having lunch with friends, or just doing something as mundane as your groceries, try to be fully present and you may find little things to appreciate. It could be the chirp of a bird, a Latina baddie with a stylish outfit, the smell of freshly baked bread, etc. There’s always something and training yourself to notice the little things can be more restorative than you think.