We all have those days when nothing, absolutely nothing, is going as per our plans, and life seems to be ungracefully falling apart in front of us. It could be a bad day at home, work, or even school. It’s even worse when something or someone tips you over the edge enough to ruin your mental state. Emotional exhaustion, stress, and the feelings of burnout are real (and normal) reactions that might happen anytime, even in the middle of your already busy days.
In these moments, taking care of your physical and mental health is essential in order to feel okay and get back to your routine.
Because otherwise, this downward spiral is pretty fast. A bad can lead to a bad week. A few bad weeks can become a bad month. Gradually, it just gets increasingly difficult to find the right way back.
When life gets tough, it’s easy to fall back on bad habits. Be it binge eating, dwelling on worst-case scenarios, or engaging in negative thoughts – we have all been there more than once.
That’s why having a strategy, a go-to plan, or a healthy way to cope with your emotions is EXTREMELY important. When you are struggling with a mental health issue (big or small), it is beneficial to have your mental health kit, one that will help you calm yourself down in a safe and easy way.
Hence we share our top five mental health kit ideas to help you build one for yourself. It could be of great help when you want to relax, unwind, or just catch a breath when life isn’t exactly on your side.
But First, What is a Mental Health Kit?
Different people refer to it with different names – mental health kit, self-soothing kit, crisis kit, etc. The primary meaning of all remains the same.
A mental health kit is a collection of items that might help you work through your overwhelming feelings. The most important motive of every component in this kit is to provide healthy coping-up options.
You might feel like you don’t need a mental health kit right now. Because, pfft, you have been feeling on top of the world lately!
However, wait a minute.
Do you have a physical first aid kit at home?
We often carry a few items in anticipation of an unlikely event. It could be a band-aid, a cough syrup, or something for heartburn.
Similarly, a mental health kit might not be helpful for you right at this very moment. But it doesn’t hurt to be prepared. Right?
While we vouch for the importance of mental health kits for well-being, these ideas might not really be the ‘end-all’, or ‘cure-all’ type means for a bad day. Because, let’s face it, self-care ideas for every person are different.
However, these ideas might help you find the right mix for your mental health kit or at least serve as a motivation to get you started.
Mental health kit Ideas for adults
The only perfect way to start building a mental health kit is to know that it is a process of trial and error. You might not find the right mix in the first go. However, you can start with the things that feel less daunting to you or that you think you might enjoy. Begin slowly by incorporating them into your day. If you find them not working, you can always switch to something else.
Here are a few things that you can add to a mental health kit for adults:
1. A Calming Fragrance
It could be a candle, an essential oil roll-on, or any other scent that you associate with calmness. If you like a certain fragrance, use it a few times when you are in a particularly good mood. This way, your favorite scent will get associated with happier times. Hence, when you reach out for it during the hard days, your muscle memory or scent recognition senses might take over and help you feel better.
2. A Childhood Memory
A comfort item from childhood (or even a newer version of it) can be of great help when you are feeling down. It could be from a happy memory, a sad one, or just a souvenir from when you were young and carefree.
If you can’t find something, just add a reminder about the tv show you watched as a child. The nostalgia and warmth of childhood works like an old-comfy sweater on the hard days.
3. A Letter from Someone you Love
A letter or, even better, a collection of letters from the people you love that you can return to in overwhelming moments are a blessing. It could be birthday letters from relatives who are no more, notes from your best friends, or actual love letters from so-and-so. Just the feeling of holding a written reminder of how much you matter to someone is more healing than you might think.
4. Books
One of the mental health kit ideas that we swear by is books. Your favorite book, the one that’s funny, light, and helps you forget whatever that is going on around you, is a perfect addition to your mental health kit. However, it can also be a book that has helped you the most in difficult times.
Alternatively, if you aren’t too big on reading books, you can swap them with tv shows or movies that help you feel better. No pressure here!
5. Someone you can call
A phone number of somebody you can ring up or who will come over for a chat is a big help. Sometimes, it gets overwhelming to deal with the issues alone and having someone to talk to might help you feel better. You can also add the number of your therapists or a professional to the list. Just have someone who you are comfortable getting real with.
Conclusion
Life is a cumulative result of the ups and downs that we face.
What we have to think about is not letting our well-being slip irrespective of where we are on this roller-coaster journey.
We hope these mental health kit ideas find space in the one you curate for yourself.
Self-care is a continuous journey. The more you invest in it, the better you become.
Still on the fence about the importance of self-care? To find out more about its benefits, click here. To learn more about mental health, subscribe to Your Mental Health Pal.