Curious to seek some guidance from my ATRL brothers and sisters. How do y'all better your mental health in day to day life? Things you avoid for the sake of your mental health? 

I lash out on ATRL.net

By comparing female artists online

I honestly don't know, there's nothing I can really do for anxiety other than wait for it to (hopefully) go away

Masturbate 

Sleep, eat and do shopping 

Get better sleep, eat well, exercise, reevaluate my relationship with my phone on a regular basis

I watch cat videos.

It's taken a lot of practice and self-discipline, and still very much a work in progress, but I stopped drinking several years ago, exercise heavily 5 days a week, sleep at least 7.5 hours a night, spend time with friends and family, eat healthily, maintain a consistent self-care routine, and take my anxiety medicine daily. I truly cannot function at my baseline if I forego any part of this, but it sounds more daunting than it really is...just took time through trial and error.

I firmly believe it depends on the person. I know some people who didn't truly improve their mental health until they started taking medications, whereas I know other people who took medications their entire live but didn't feel better until they sought therapy.

 

For me, cognitive behavioral therapy helped out a lot. I don't see a therapist anymore but it really helped me when I was struggling in college and at my first full-time job. Now I keep it in check through journaling. I like this app called Daylio a lot where I can track my mood and also write down/process what I'm feeling. On occasion, I'll also read self-help books or psychological articles related to what I'm feeling. With self-help books you have to be really careful though and make sure it's written by someone who actually has credentials in psychology, as a lot of self-help books now are written by entrepreneurs and life coaches looking to make a quick buck.

Meditation, proactively doing things earlier in the day that I know will give me anxiety until I do them, practicing gratitude, rewarding myself when I do things that I find overwhelming or really dread doing, trying to spend at least a little time away from my phone/the internet, getting outside (touching grass works!), maintaining self care, intentionally doing things that feed my soul. 

Edited August 31, 2025Aug 31 by EnigmaticAndroid

I was just wondering this.  For me it's being self aware and consciously choosing to be more positive and confident. Easier said than done though. Also accepting how things are and not dwelling on stuff that is not going to change

I don't

By keeping your word to yourself, which builds self trust

Edited August 31, 2025Aug 31 by godmess

exercise has the biggest positive impact on my mental health.

shrooms and ket

there's some great suggestions in here already but i haven't seen anyone mention pets. having one can be a great motivator to get out of bed on a daily basis to feed it etc, & the companionship they provide have been shown to have positive health affects.

Mindfulness. Helps a lot. Once you learn it the foundations can translate to a lot of different situations. 

Edited August 31, 2025Aug 31 by jordanjm

Red books 

my mental health has never been worse 

Watch Hyunjin clips

Avoidance, which doesn't solve anything but does stop you from feeling awful about everything… until the self awareness sets in and you confront the fact that you're avoiding your problems instead of dealing with them, but you can just add another layer of avoidance on top of that. 
 

This is all from my experience that has helped, as this is something I've had to conquer after starting medical school and all the adjustments that came with it. Everyone is different but I hope at least some of this is helpful: 
 

- #1 by far is limiting social media and phone time. Keep your phone away from you when you wake up. As in: set your alarm the night before, and leave it in your bathroom or on a night table across the room. If it's next to you, you can reach over when you wake up and immediately start to doom scroll in bed before getting up. If you wake up and immediately begin scrolling, you get flooded with stimuli from feeds connected to thousands of strangers, your friends, the world news, etc. Instead of allowing your brain to start the day with structure where you address your own needs in front of you and your agenda for the morning, your brain just gets cramped with a bunch of distractions. This can make you feel scatter brained, which can exacerbate anxiety. Keeping my phone away, in my experience, has helped a lot with this. I'm less likely to stay in bed with an annoying alarm clock that won't stop beeping unless I physcially get up to stop it. And likewise, I'm less likely to stay in bed scrolling for 30 minutes of my precious morning time if I can't easily reach for the phone while wrapped in my sheets lol 
 

- Exercise. Especially weight lifting, but anything (even walking) does wonders. Exercise literally makes you happy and feel relaxed. It's the best thing you can do, and our body physiologically craves exercise. You literally are working the stress out of you, instead of keeping it built up inside. You can do it in the morning, or later at night (my preference after a long day). Not only does it make you feel good, it helps you look better which boosts your confidence. If you're confident in how you look, you're immediately more at ease in public when presenting yourself in front of others. It also improves your sleep and gives you so much energy - so you procrastinate less, and therefore deal with less anxiety. There's no bigger trigger for anxiety than a looming task you know you have to do, but just don't want to do it. Having that source of anxiety in the background just constantly chips away at you. Exercise lays the foundation in so many ways that help you tackle things instead of letting it cripple you 
 

- Dedicate time to a hobby you love. The internet or watching TV are fine to do, but they're not the main hobbies you want. They're passive activities of consumption, and half the time (at least in my experience) you can split your focus between your phone, what's on the TV, and whatever troubles you have on your mind. We're not meant to be connected to everyone at all times, and our brain isn't meant to passively consume media 24/7. Find something you enjoy that you can truly immerse your brain in, especially something that builds a skill. Cook, bake, lift, paint, even gaming (kinda contradictory to the consumption thing but in gaming you're at least actively immersed in something, especially if it's a competitive game). Constantly splitting attention rots your brain and makes you an anxious mess. But if you can dedicate a block of time of your day where your brain is fixed on something you enjoy, it helps build focus, and disconnects your mind from all the stimuli you have around you. This helps you not be as anxious

 

- Drink less alcohol. It might relax you in the moment, but once it's out of your system, the anxiety comes back harder. I love drinking a small glass of this strawberry marg mix diluted with sparkling water (mostly because it's my own combo I created that I have 1-2 nights a week as my sweet treat lol), but I almost never get drunk anymore. It's TERRIBLE for your anxiety, and if you drink more and more overtime your body just builds a tolerance to it and it just gets worse. Once in a while is fine, but limit it if you drink a lot consistently! 

 

- If all else fails, get medicated while doing all of this. A good medication that works for you can be life-changing. Talk with your doctor, there's lots of options out there 

Edited August 31, 2025Aug 31 by Finkypop

I force myself to get out. Sleep is important which I used to have insomnia and only SSRIs helped.

I've had some very bad lows in my life  Now I'm genuinely happy 90% of the time. Personally, I think the most important thing I have learned is that having good mental health is a daily active choice, and I have to work for my mental health to stay stable. 

 

Exercise + healthy diet + sleep + keeping my place clean and nice + routine is what keeps me afloat.

 

Alcohol tend to make me depressed for a few days after, so now I either drink little when I'm out, or I don't go at all. It's hard because drinking culture is crazy here. Alcohol is very common when being social and getting wasted on a night out is normal, but I don't want to pay with my sanity