How To Make Changes In Your Life That Support Your Mental Health 

Accepting that change is inevitable can be the first step in making a change in your life. It may not feel easy to do something different, and the rewards are invaluable.

You may have planned changes or unplanned changes, and both can help to support your mental health. When an unplanned change happens in your life, it may lead to stress or anxiety.

However, you can build your toolbox to help you become at ease with changes in your life, which can lead to improved mental health, less anxiety, and less depression.

You are a human, and you will outgrow your circumstances eventually.

Life may start to feel uncomfortable, and that can be an indicator that you are ready for a change.

When you feel ready for a change due to poor mental health, mental illness, or impacts on your mental wellbeing, a healthier lifestyle can help.

This may mean developing new habits with your physical health or making changes with your mindfulness like deep breathing. When you make positive changes, positive feelings and improvements to overall health can follow.

The rewards of change can include self-trust, increase in self-esteem and self-worth, spiritual growth, improved career and salary, and connectedness with friends and family.

There are many ways to improve mental health with changes, even if they are a surprise.

With an unplanned change, you may find yourself asking for help from a trusted friend or family member. Asking for help can be a way to practice humility and build your confidence when you don’t have all of the answers.

Read More: “You Aren’t Perfect – Have Compassion For Yourself Anyways”

You can turn to mental health and other health professionals in your time of need. You won’t be able to do everything by yourself, and that is okay. Humans are social creatures who need a sense of belonging and making a change can be an opportunity to do just that.

To help yourself through sudden change, it can be important to make small changes in your life that are expected. That way, you can become familiar with your reaction and reflect.

Safe changes may include trying a new toothpaste, selecting a brand at the store that you’d like to try, creating distance with friends and family who no longer make you feel safe, and taking a different route to work.

Creating safety in your life is important, and small changes can help you to identify your patterns in your life so that you can continue to support your mental health.

When change does happen, there are ways to handle it while you maintain emotional regulation.

Ways To Support Your Mental Health With Change

Become Familiar With Your Perspective:

If you tend to be optimistic and find the positive in everything, this may be a time to acknowledge your true feelings to help you overcome the challenge.

If you experience anxiety when it comes to change, hold space for yourself so that you can be clear headed while you navigate.

Read More: “Anxious About Change: 5 Tips To Manage Life Transitions”

However, you have handled change in the past doesn’t mean that you have to continue the same patterns if they are no longer serving you.

Become familiar with your reactions to and your stories about change.

Often, we create stories about change that serve to protect us from uncomfortable feelings, like anxiety or fear. We can get stuck in inaction when we stay in patterns that don’t work well for our mental health in attempt to avoid feelings.

Avoidance of these feelings lead to staying stuck and amplify the uncomfortable feelings of anxiety and fear with change.

Learning to understand where these stories come from about change, your perspective on making change, can help you navigate these feelings and keep you focused on your reasons for wanting a change.

Stay Consistent.

If you are in the middle of a big change in your life, stay consistent with the small things. You don’t have to create chaos or upheaval with every element of your life even if one major component of your life is no longer the same.

This can be a time to watch a show on television that you love or spend time with loved ones who make you feel safe. These actions can help you to reduce anxiety and depression during change.

Remember, making a change doesn’t mean changing everything at once. Taking one step at a time is the most effective way to make changes. Stay consistent with what works for you, challenge stories about change that don’t support change, and start small.

Learn and Practice Flexibility.

When changes are happening, you have options even when it feels like you don’t. Try being flexible and allow yourself to lean into outcomes.

You may not get an intended outcome, and it could lead to something that better suits you.

Read More: “The Secret To Accepting Your Anxiety”

When you are flexible, it allows for possibilities to occur that you may not have been able to conceive. It can be anxiety producing, and it can also be incredibly rewarding.

Learning to incorporate flexibility takes time if it is not something you are comfortable with.

With flexibility comes freedom to make change and to try a new way of doing something that may benefit you.

Learning flexibility with emotions and reactions provides more freedom from your emotions having control over you.

Consistently making changes in your life can support your mental health. Humans are not meant to be stagnant, so opening up to possibilities can be beneficial to your overall well being.

When things become overwhelming, a professional therapist can support you. You don’t have to make changes alone. A mental health professional can help you to develop long lasting habits that support you through change.

If you feel like you are ready to make a change with your mental health, our clinical team of Colorado therapists in Denver specialize in a trauma-informed approach that can help you to tap into the tools that are already within you. You are worth the effort.

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Written by: Randi Thackeray, MA
Clinically Reviewed and Edited by: Julie Reichenberger, MA, LPC, ACS, ACC