Maintaining Your Mental Health

I am a huge supporter of maintaining your own mental health. If we don't do it ourselves, will anyone else do it for us?? Yes, we have family and friends who will always help elevate our moods when we're not feeling good, but in general, I truly believe our happiness is in our own hands.

The hard part is finding what makes you happy. I'm lucky. I know what makes me happy. Writing, reading, dancing. A funny movie, some great music. If I'm in a bad mood, shopping always helps too! (Typical woman, I know! But I truly believe in retail therapy!)

I get depressed like everyone...I have bad moods. But I know how to get myself out of them.

Something that helps me is always having something to look forward to. We are huge believers of the therapy of going on vacation. I know some people who go years and years without even a weekend getaway. For us, vacations are key to a happy life. Just the act of getting away from our home and our responsibilities, does wonders for us. We thrive on being able to spend quality time with our kids-- no housework, no homework, no alarm clocks. Sometimes we take day trips, and that is a quick fix. Weekends away are great. But a whole week...so so awesome!

And just looking at pictures of past vacations helps me too. I can flip through albums and I'm right back there, reliving the fun!

My hubby knows....I'm miserable when I don't have a vacation to look forward to. It's my way of maintaining my mental health. When I'm feeling down, I simply look over our vacation plans and I feel better. Knowing that some day soon, I will get away from everything that brings me down makes it all better and I can breath again!

What makes you happy? What do you do when you're not feeling the greatest??