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Discover different activities that can help you take steps toward better mental health.

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Build Resilience

Growing your resilience can make life’s ups and downs feel easier to manage. Try activities and tools to support your mental health.

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Build Resilience Practice Mindfulness Focus on Positivity

Write down a few things you're grateful for

When you're struggling, it can understandably be challenging to find the silver linings in the world around you. Our brains don't help us by being designed to notice the negative and the danger. But taking the time to physically write down the things in your life you feel grateful for—even things as simple as the food you eat and bed you sleep in—can have tangible health benefits. You can do this at the end of the day, noting the good things about your day as well. When you're able to channel energy towards things you're grateful for, it can make the things you're struggling with not feel as overwhelming. It is not toxic positivity, and telling you to ignore the hard things, it is just helping you to notice the good in the sea of bad.

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Find Connection Build Resilience

Volunteer

Aside from helping others, volunteering has amazing feel-good effects for you. You'll also experience elevated oxytocin levels and a dopamine release along with a sense of meaning that can help reduce stress and burnout. Volunteering is also a great way to build and strengthen social connections, which is increasingly important as social isolation is on the rise. In addition to making new connections when you volunteer, you might make existing connections even stronger when you volunteer with loved ones. (One study even shows that couples who volunteer together were more likely to stay together.)

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Build Resilience Practice Mindfulness Focus on Positivity

Think of the last time you felt a lot of joy

Visualization can have a powerful impact on your wellness or psyche. If you're in a funk or not feeling particularly inspired, try taking moment to think back on the last time you felt truly joyful. What sparked it? Is it a person, a place, a situation? Is there something you can do for yourself today that will maybe inspire that same emotion? Investing in your own personal joy is always worth it.

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Consider attending therapy

Find Connection Build Resilience
Consider attending therapy

Therapists and psychiatrists are trained to deal with a range of situations and can reliably hold a safe space for working through things together and develop helpful coping skills.

Check In With Your Feelings

Reduce Stress Manage Anxiety & Overthinking Build Resilience Practice Mindfulness
Check In With Your Feelings

Checking in with your feelings is important during the early phases of motherhood. You may be feeling all sorts of things, good and bad, sometimes all at once. These feelings can be confusing, but it's good to identify and acknowledge your emotions.

Pause and consider how you're feeling. Writing in a journal can help. If you're having trouble writing, even speaking into a recording app on your phone can help you express yourself.

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    If you're having trouble naming your feelings, a "feelings wheel", a visual map of the range of emotions, can be helpful and supportive tool.

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    If you're having trouble naming your feelings, a "feelings wheel", a visual map of the range of emotions, can be helpful and supportive tool.

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    You deserve support for distressing emotions. There are resources available to help you cope with the challenges that come with motherhood; discuss options with your support system.

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Reconnect With Yourself

Care for Your Mind + Body Take Care of Yourself While Caring for Others Build Resilience Practice Mindfulness
Reconnect With Yourself

After welcoming a new baby, it's important to take time to connect with parts of yourself that aren't about the baby or your family. Nourish your spirit through peaceful, meditative activities. Continue to show up for yourself and your needs.

Some simple ways to care for yourself in your free time include:

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    Deep breathing, meditation, and calming exercises

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    Connect with someone in your support system

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    Listen to calming music, an audiobook, or a podcast

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    Practice journaling, expressing and documenting your feelings

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    Engage in a creative practice, like music, photography, or another outlet

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    Celebrate small wins, like feeding yourself, taking a shower, or asking for help

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    Treat yourself with the same kindness you'd offer a close friend or your child

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    Practice self-gratitude and affirm your positive qualities

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Cope With Guilt And Shame

Build Resilience Focus on Positivity Care for Your Mind + Body Manage Anxiety & Overthinking
Cope With Guilt And Shame

Becoming a mom is not easy, and it often comes with unexpected and unwarranted feelings of inadequacy. Some mothers experience shame when asking for help, thinking they need to "bear it all" and be resilient. The truth is, a good mother isn't defined by self-sacrifice.

To cope with guilt and shame associated with motherhood:

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    Practice affirming yourself and giving yourself grace, rather than judging yourself or feeling guilty for having common struggles. The more you treat yourself with kindness, the calmer and more confident in motherhood you'll feel.

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    Release yourself from unrealistic expectations and comparisons. Not every dish will be washed right away, and you won't always be able to put on a smiley face. Motherhood is complicated, and there's no perfect way to be a mom.

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    Therapeutic support and help from your loved ones can be powerful. Sometimes, you'll need an outside reminder that you're doing the best you can, (and your best is often enough). Therapists can also provide tools and tips to use when situations get overwhelming.

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