Foundations of Mental Health: Make Time for Self-Care

by Jackie Reese, Employee Assistance Program Director | 2024-05-20

This Mental Health Awareness Month, the Johnson Space Center Employee Assistance Program has an important message for all team members: Self-care is the foundation of health and is NOT a luxury.

Too often we put off our own care to attend to work and family, with the result that we don’t get around to it. While that is necessary sometimes, letting it become a habit is detrimental to both your physical and mental well-being. Taking care of ourselves is a daily commitment to attending to both.

We cannot take care of other things well if we are not taking care of ourselves.

The following tools are proven to be effective in improving well-being.

Three friends sit and eat fruit at an outdoor picnic.

Be willing to ask for and receive support/help: We are all human and learning as we go. Over our lives, we experience situations that we are not prepared for and find ourselves needing support and assistance. It is important not to look at that as a weakness or flaw. It takes a great deal of strength to be vulnerable and acknowledge your humanness. And when others see us struggling and offer support, they feel less helpless, so it is good for their mental health as well. When we ask for help and lean on each other, we strengthen our bonds and build a more resilient and caring community.

Take time to see the beauty: Given our high-performance work environment, and the perfectionism that is so common in our workforce, it is easy to become over-focused on the mission, tasks, challenges, and problems to be solved. Taking time to pause and enjoy beauty honors the wonder around us and rewards us for our hard work. Enjoying nature, art, music, and the immense variety of living things around us is a restorative treat for the senses and gives us balance.

A woman stands in a field with her eyes closed and her face tilted up to the sky while the sun rises in the background.

Have mindfulness of this moment: When we are stressed and get caught up in the responsibilities in our lives, we tend to worry about what is ahead or revisit the past. When that happens, we lose the gift of this moment. An important part of managing stress is shifting away from reaction to take a deep breath, consider what is happening right now, and pause to decide how to respond to it. This important tool takes time to master as adrenaline is driving that reaction, but practice makes permanent. Giving yourself time to be in the moment allows you to take in important information that influences your perceptions and actions. As Viktor Frankl noted, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

Recognize what you can and cannot control: As a workforce that strives to control processes and outcomes, we want to have a firm grasp of control over many aspects of our work. That often extends into other areas of our lives and can cause us trouble if we cannot or will not recognize the limits of our control. The bottom line is that we can only control our own thoughts and behaviors and may have some limited influence over others. Taking time to recognize and accept those limits, and to focus on what you can control in a positive way, is an important tool for interpersonal success and peace of mind.

A group of five diverse individuals does yoga in a park.

Utilize the power of positive influence: While we cannot control most things outside of ourselves, having a positive influence on those things gives us a better sense of connection and contribution, and is good for others as well. Remember that your presence is enough and is meaningful for others. Your thoughtful words of insight and encouragement are a way of connecting that will resonate and impact more than you may realize. Keep this in mind with negativity, too – spreading it can be detrimental to you and others.

See your worth: Our first impression of our value comes from our parents and early caregivers, and while most of them intended to reflect positivity back to us, that did not always happen when they were feeling stress and pressure. Mixed messages can lead us to look for reassurance from others throughout our lives. While feedback is helpful, when we let others decide our value, we are vulnerable to manipulation and exploitation. Remember that you matter and that you are worthy of respect, consideration, opportunity, recognition, and care.

An Asian man wearing a white t-shirt sleeps in a bed while snuggling a black-and-white cat.

Embrace the value of mistakes: EVERYONE makes mistakes. It is part of being human and is an important part of learning. None of us knows everything and does everything perfectly all the time. What matters is what you do after you make the mistake. Beating yourself up is completely unconstructive. Learn from it, correct it if you can, and move on. Give yourself and others grace for making mistakes. Growth is a life-long journey.

Accept responsibility for your actions: It can be difficult and painful to own up to a negative behavior, but owning it, apologizing, and making amends are the first steps to change. We cannot change what we do not acknowledge. Addressing our cringe moments also helps us heal.

Be kind: Take the high road and do the right thing even when it is not the easy thing. Kindness is not only good for the people around you, it is good for you, too.

A chart lists different types of self-care, including physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social.

Our health, including our mental health, is the foundation everything else builds upon. Recognizing that you need preventive and restorative care, committing with intention to daily self-care practices, and utilizing the tools listed above will provide a deeper sense of well-being and more optimal health. And remember, practice makes permanent.