Mental Health Awareness

I mean, what helps you to stay well and healthy in the winter months? Any particular, I know you have touched on some of the points here, but really we're keen to hear that you have any specific strategies, habits or resources that you rely on during the winter months? Yeah, so I think during the winter months for me because I do struggle with it mentally quite a lot and I do know that I'm really aware of it and because of that I think the strategies that I use are to kind of link things with friends. So say I think getting out and about is so much harder than we actually think in winter or for me personally like getting out and kind of exercising at the weekend is the last thing I want to do but I think I really try and intentionally do that with friends, so we'll make a plan to grab a coffee and go for a walk, and it's kind of those sorts of things, so linking things that I might struggle to do by myself, but creating it or kind of turning it into a fun activity with friends kind of makes it something fun, so you're kind of getting the benefit of seeing friends and that kind of social connectedness that we've spoken about, but also getting out and about and it's kind of linking those things to make them less, making them seem like less of a big deal or less effort almost because it's fun. So I think that's a strategy that I would really employ. I think as well like I listen to a lot of podcasts as well, I'm really invested in a lot of kind of healthy podcasts and people talking about the things that they do. So I kind of use that, I think I would kind of use that as my kind of informational source over other things. and I think that varies by age group as well, it's kind of like where we get our information from, but I quite listening to those kind of like conversational things around autumn winter and kind of drawing inspiration from that. I don't think I really have like particular strategies but it's kind of like just see how you feel at the time and you know drawing inspiration from other people and other sources and really trying to link things with friends as well so it feels like less of a chore. Sure. And do you find that your emotional or mental health shifts during winter? And if so, how does that impact your motivation or health choices? Yeah, massively. I mean, I struggle with my mental health anyway. And I think during winter, I'm very very mindful of the fact that you know you can kind of sort of take a nosedive without really realizing and I think sometimes you don't realize that you're there until you're in the trenches. Well I've kind of had that before and I've worked with clients where they haven't actually realized that they've slipped so far into kind of feelings of depression in specific specifically winter I think. I think obviously it can happen all year round but I think winter in particular you know there's there's a huge amount that goes on I mean obviously it depends on the things that people celebrate but we do have Christmas and there's a lot of kind of seasonal events that can come with a lot of kind of guilt and shame and family difficulties and like these seasons can be really difficult for people and I think sometimes we forget that you know for some people it's kind of like the best months ever and for a lot of other people it can actually be really challenging. I kind of was made really aware of that through my work as a social prescriber that these months can be really really difficult for people and I think it can bring a lot of heaviness. And I think I kind of fall within that category a little bit. But I think it's just, if you can be really mindful of that, I think you're already one step ahead of the game. I think if you're already kind of putting in those protective behaviours and, you know, looking out for signs that you might not be doing so great and reaching out to people and maybe making those efforts to kind of protect your health in whatever ways you need to, I think that's really key and I think if you're aware of it that's sort of the first step. But as you said, I think once you start declining in terms of mental health that affects everything, that affects your energy, your motivation, your kind of will to even leave the house or even get out of bed in the morning, it has such a knock-on effect. So I think for me I'm very very mindful of the fact that I need to look out for those things during winter and as I said particularly for me, January, February, March time, where things can feel a little bit bleak, you know, you've got financial worries, there's a lot of things to stress about at that time of year, but I think for me, as I said, it's kind of scheduling things with friends. For me, if I'm surrounded by people, I think it really, really boosts me and it really helps me, and I know that doesn't work for everybody, but I think it's finding your thing that really fills your cup and leaves you with a smile. I think sometimes, you know, you go do an activity, whatever that might look like. For me that would be kind of going for a walk with friends or something and on the way home you're just sort of smiling to yourself and you feel so full and kind of like nourished in a way and I think it's really important to find that thing for you and really schedule it quite heavily in those sorts of months to kind of carry you through and just being really aware and in tune with yourself I think is the most important thing. Absolutely it's all about being aware. you