Daily walks are so simple but getting out does wonders
I agree, especially if it’s not in a built up area. There definitely something about being able to see the horizon.
Even if it’s inner city, getting out and being around a different energy than being alone in the apartment is so helpful. It’s difficult to get moving though
Going on a walk regularly.
a little bit of exercise is amazing for mental health. just half an hour, 2 or 3 times a week makes a massive difference
… Where there is greenery. It’s scientifically proven to improve mental wellbeing if you see greenery just 20 minutes a day.
I was just coming in here to say walking in nature or hiking. 🙂
Although I do also get some benefit in driving through nature too.
How do you know if you don’t have good mental health? I feel fine almost all the time.
In much the same way that almost no one has perfect physical health, almost no one has perfect mental health.
You don’t need to be a complete wreck to be able to benefit from paying attention to your mental wellness.
Eating well, regular exercise, mindfulness, forgiveness, good sleep practices are all worth practicing whether you feel unwell or not.
I do those things by default. Only have one body, I like it to be healthy.
You’d know, trust me
As a very stable genius, I completely agree with this.
I’d say anything creative, something which pushes the mind to focus on generating new ideas instead of just running through the same old ones - this worked for me, at least, as rumination and catastrophising have been stapled to my noggin my entire life.
To be more specific, painting miniatures, building stuff with Legos, drawing, writing poetry, composing songs, whittling, woodworking, stuff like that.
Another important aspect (at least from personal experience, ymmv) is keeping the hobby a hobby - what I mean by this is not falling into the trap of perfectionism or productivity with it, keeping it light and fun. I now strongly believe that the brain needs something “inconsequential” on which to chew if only to remind it that not every stimulus it receives is do-or-die.
Keep a hobby a hobby, yes! Don’t try and monetize it! You will kill all the joy you once felt for that hobby.
Yoga/mobility/flexibility of some sort. Counteract the repetitive, static positions many of us hold during work hours.
League of Legends /s
Yeah, totally! The best answer so far!
Only (former) League players will understand.
Lol
That is indeed the correct abbreviation
Jigsaw puzzles. Start with a couple of hundreds of pieces and then go with the ones of thousands. Also gardening, but you need to have a garden or enough space to have plants inside your home.
Cooking, it is satisfying enjoying the fruits of your labor and with cooking you can get that satisfaction every day if you choose.
Cooking can be fun, but it’s also a chore. It means
- finding 14 meals a week (sure you can have the same meal twice, but you still need to prepare that)
- making sure that your mealplan is at least a bit balanced
- groceries
- cooking
- dishes
And you do that every week of your life. I get it that cooking can be fun, but not the everyday cooking you need to do to survive.
I tend to cook larger meals and I’m not opposed to just chucking shit in a slow cooker to make a stew thing. I generally cook (complexly) three times a week. On Sundays we usually make something to last a few days (especially as my partner suffers from migraines) and we keep emergency meal stuff around like sausages to pan fry for a simple dinner.
I, personally, don’t really count pan frying some frozen perogies, eggs, or sausage as a “hobby” cook - that’s just ten minutes on auto pilot to achieve sustenance… so I guess my personal suggestion for fun cookery is to start with one big meal a week and step up from there as you’re comfortable. There are plenty of great recipes that you can cook a bunch of then enjoy over the next few days.
totally agree, home cooking from a variety of fresh ingredients is great for your gut and mental health
This is not an everyone thing: I for one get no satisfaction from it.
Hard disagree. The process is fun, and everyone loves to eat, but the cleanup is drudgery at its basest form.
Implement the golden rule: cooks don’t clean.
My cats aren’t gonna do the dishes
Tidy as you go. Don’t see it as a separate task. Tidying up is part of the cooking process.
That’s what I do - I clean as I cook because I’ve got ADHD and I will never conquer a big pile of dirty cookware… clean one at a time so it’s never an imposing task.
Lets all try beekeeping, it will teach you to:
- look
- observe
- think
- take your time
- gets you out doors
- and gets food for the table
I would love to try, seems like a pretty hefty investment to get involved though.
You could do like I’ve done–raise native bees. I don’t know where you are, but in my area, mason bees and leafcutter bees are both native, solitary species. This means that they don’t create hives but rather nest in holes/tubes. There’s no queen. No honey. Very little work compared to keeping honeybees and better for the environment (assuming honeybees are not native to your area).
As a bonus, if you grow any plants, they make great pollinators. And when you first get the bees and they emerge from their cocoons, they are tiny and adorable and a joy to watch. They’re also very passive and almost never sting.
It depends a lot on the person, but it always does me good to do something tactile after working all day on a computer. Cooking, baking, sketching, woodworking, Legos, hiking, that kind of thing. I’ve noticed it really helps me ground and be mindful.
Petting kitties.
Eating kitties…
… I mean, making stupid jokes nobody understand. It works for me at least.
We understand
Chess. I think it’s saved my mental health over the last year.
How did you get into playing?
talking to people. friends, strangers, idc. people seem too stiff these days and i think it keeps people lonely.
Strength training has such an incredible impact on your overall wellbeing everyone should incorporate it into their routine as much as possible
Reading. It doesn’t have to be much, but occasionally filling idle moments with a few pages read instead of doom scrolling social media can do wonders. It did for me at least.
I allways read a bit before going to sleep. It helps with shutting down. My sleep improved a lot
The Libby app with most public libraries is really good!
Installing an ereader app (ReadEra) helped me so much with this. I always have my phone with me anyways, and tapping the ereader app instead of Instagram takes away so many barriers.
Doing this actually got me back into reading. Started with Manhwa (Solo Leveling) and that spiraled into reading books such as Midnight library, Before Coffee Gets Cold, The Words We keep and now “1984”.
