By Jeremy Godwin.
Hello and welcome to a new issue of Mental Health Talk! Let’s get into this week’s newsletter with a round-up of practical advice for improving and maintaining your mental health and wellbeing – this week I’m sharing articles about microsteps, working through difficult transitions, turning frustration into kindness, and more. So, let’s talk!
This week’s Episode of Let’s Talk About Mental Health…
This week’s episode/post of Let’s Talk About Mental Health is Let’s Talk About… New Beginnings. It’s all about why we crave change, why we can be terrified of it, and how to make changes that stick. Read here or listen below:
Also, please take a moment to click on the ‘follow’ button (like the one in the player above), because the more followers my podcast gets the easier it is to help other new listeners find it (search engines are only interested in stuff that other people are interested in!). Thanks! 🙂
Articles of the Week…
Learning to Do Less During Challenging Transitions (Inside Higher Ed, 6 January 2020): The writer of this article, Adriana Bankston, recently reached out to me and we’ve been discussing mental health advocacy, and I was particularly impressed by this article about the challenges associated with transitions, both personal and professional. Read it here.
Microsteps: The Big Idea That’s Too Small to Fail (Thrive Global, 27 February 2019): Thrive Global Founder & CEO, Arianna Huffington, is really passionate about ending stress and burnout, and this article about microsteps – the notion of making small changes that are too small to fail, rather than biting off more than we can chew – makes perfect sense when you think about it. I am constantly saying to take things one day at a time, and by extension taking things one step at a time, and this article gives you practical advice to make it happen. Read it here.
Five ways to flip frustration into kindness (ABC Life, 2 January 2020): One of my worst personality traits is that I’m easily frustrated – which might seem funny to hear coming from someone who is focused on writing and talking about good mental health and wellbeing, but it’s further proof that none of us is perfect and we all have things that we can work on to improve. This article gives simple advice for turning frustration into kindness, and I am making a conscious choice to be more empathetic and to practice more compassion. Read it here.
Support for those wanting to give up drinking alcohol as a New Year’s resolution (ABC Life, 19 December 2019): I know, I know… I’m a week and a half too late, but regardless here is a link to an article that includes a round-up of different support tools if you’re quitting/thinking of quitting alcohol, whether for Dry January or for good. Read it here.
National alcohol guidelines revised down as experts warn of strengthening links to cancer (ABC News, 16 December 2019): I fully respect everyone’s right to make decisions for themselves and alcohol consumption is a personal choice, however I’m also not going to shy away from talking about the negative effects alcohol can have on both your physical health and your mental health. This article talks about new research that is exploring links between alcohol consumption and cancer, and the reduction of national guidelines in Australia for safe alcohol consumption. Whatever your choice, it will certainly make you think. Read it here.
YouTube Video of the Week…
Getting stuck in the negatives (and how to get unstuck) (Alison Ledgerwood, TedX UC Davis): Why does failure seem to stick in our minds longer than success? It’s a question I’ve asked myself many times and this fascinating talk by social psychologist Alison Ledgerwood breaks it down, and provides simple advice for reframing your perspective to a more positive one. Running time: 10 minutes. Watch it here:
Favourite Instagram Post of the Week…
Quote of the Week…
To finish up here’s a quote I absolutely love this week:
“Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly, and most underrated agent of human change.”
Bob Kerrey
Next Week on Let’s Talk About Mental Health…
Next week’s podcast topic will be Let’s Talk About… Balance. I’ll be talking about how finding balance in all areas of your life can serve to improve and maintain your mental health and wellbeing, and I’ll be discussing how to work through the struggles often associated with giving up things that throw us out of balance.
Podcast and transcript/article available Monday morning (Australian time) – find it and all past episodes here (where you can also subscribe to have it land in your inbox each week). Podcast available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and others (see my Podcast page for links) as well as an audio-only version on YouTube. And if you like it, please leave a review and tell your friends/family/etc!
Random cat photo/Meme of the week…
Until Next Time…
Thanks for reading! If you liked this newsletter and you haven’t already subscribed to Let’s Talk About Mental Health, please do so at the bottom of any page on the website.
If you have any ideas for what you’d like to see/hear/read more of on Let’s Talk About Mental Health or in this Mental Health Talk newsletter, you can get in touch with me via social media using the links below.
Have a brilliant week, take care of yourself and remember: be kind to others, you never know what their struggles are and what you put out comes back to you!
JG 🙂
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LET’S TALK ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH.
BECAUSE THE MORE WE TALK ABOUT IT, THE EASIER IT GETS.
Let’s Talk About Mental Health
© 2020 Jeremy Godwin
