May 12, 2024
Mental Health Awareness Week 2024: Your Mental Health Matters
This Mental Health Awareness Week, we’re here to encourage you to make your mental health a priority.
At BBare, we’re obsessed with natural beauty and redefining beauty standards. Shopping for beauty products should be about treating yourself to what you feel fits you, not trying to fit the mould that traditional beauty brands have tried to force upon us in the past. It’s a form of self-care for many, including us at BBare HQ!
We want our products to be used to enhance your natural beauty and make you feel empowered, whether you’re using our Frekii Pen to make your unique beauty spots stand out even more, or treating yourself to one of our TLC Creams for the feel good factor. Every single one of us is beautiful in our own way and we all deserve some self-love.
We've pulled together this latest blog to give you ideas on how you can prioritise your mental health and find support when you need it.
Schedule Time for You
It's easy to get carried away in the rush of the day-to-day and forget to take care of ourselves. Whether you have a hobby you're passionate about, you fancy a facial or you have a book you keep meaning to read but never get round to, schedule time in your calendar specifically for some 'me time'. Treat it like you would any other plan or appointment - if it's in the calendar, then it's happening. Making time to lose yourself in some self-care is key to giving your mind a break, which your mental health will thank you for.
Affirmations
Trust me, you might feel a bit silly the first time you do this, but speaking affirmations to yourself can really help to stop you from getting stuck in a negative rut when you're going through a stressful time. Affirmations are positive statements that you make to yourself, usually when looking into a mirror. They help you to challenge and overcome self-doubt or other negative thoughts, by reminding yourself that you are and can be what you want to be. Start by thinking about what you're struggling with that you want to counteract, or existing positives that you aren't struggling with, but that will help to reinforce that positive mindset you're seeking. For example, it could be as broad as "I am enough", or more specific to a goal you're seeking to achieve, such as "I am hard-working and worthy of the promotion I want". Most people will repeat these affirmations to themselves twice a day - once in the morning, and once in the evening before bed - but you can repeat them more frequently throughout the day. When paired with other mental health improvements techniques, affirmations can help you to believe in yourself more deeply, which in turn can result in more positive actions.
Get Outdoors
It doesn't matter how you do it, just make sure to get some time each day outside. I know all to well that for those of us who work 100% remotely, it's easy to stay inside the house all day for several days. Our bodies acquire vitamin D from direct contact with sunlight on the skin, and a lack of vitamin D can result in various mental health conditions, including depression and seasonal affective disorder. It doesn't mean you need to be going on a 10 mile hike every day, but go for a short stroll when you can, or even just make a point of sitting outside to enjoy your lunch break.
Yoga & Meditation
Not only can yoga be a great form of physical exercise, but it can also give your busy mind a break and time to destress. By incorporating this with meditation techniques, you can increase the positive impact on your mental health. Research shows that yoga can help to counteract declines in memory, cognitive skills and overall mental health, whilst meditation can help to improve executive functions such as reasoning, mental acuity, decision-making, learning and more. The best part is, you can do it for free from home. There are countless home yoga and meditation videos on YouTube - one of our go-to channels for all experience levels is Yoga With Adriene.
Seek Help When You're Too Overwhelmed
Sometimes, self-care just isn't enough anymore and we need another outlet. There are several places you can seek help from, both paid and for free.
- Mental Health Charities: Some of the bigger charities offering support across the UK include Samaritans, Mind and MindOut, but there are also plenty of other local charities you can find with a quick Google. All of these charities offer free ways to speak to someone, for example, you can reach a Samaritans volunteer by calling 116 123, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
- NHS: Your GP can offer options for things like counselling free of charge. It's important to be totally honest with your GP about how you're feeling and what you're struggling with, so that can get you the best help possible.
- Counselling: NHS waitlists can be painfully long, so if you are financially able to pay for private support in the interim, it's definitely worth doing to get help quicker. Speaking from my own experience, it's much less scary once you've taken the step to book the appointment and sat down in the room. It's surprisingly easy to talk once you get started and you basically just get to spend an hour getting everything off your chest and having a good old rant. They can also take you through some exercises, or give you some to do yourself at home, that will help you to better process your feelings and maintain a more positive outlook, even through the hardest times.
- Speaking to Friends, Family & Employers: Whoever you feel you can trust, reach out to someone you know and let them know you're struggling. Speak to them about what you think may help improve your mental health and ask them to support you with it. A problem shared is a problem halved, and letting others know that you're struggling can help them to help you.
Remember, however you're feeling, there is support out there and you can get through this. Even if you're not feeling particularly down at the moment, adopting some of the techniques above can help you to keep negativity at bay and prepare you for any more difficult times in the future.
For those of you fancying a self-care treat today, we've got buy one, get one free on all our perfume products this week only, including Solid Perfume Pods, TLC Creams and our Perfume Bundles. Simply add two of the same type of product to your basket and the discount will be applied at the checkout. Offer ends 23:59 May 19th.