With the resurgence of Covid and all the uncertainties that accompany it, my mental health has been poor for the past few weeks. I bet I’m not the only one feeling this way. (How are YOU doing, reader?)

However, at 40, I’ve been working on my mental health for a long time, and I have some tricks up my sleeve. I have a mental health checklist– two, actually. There’s an “ALWAYS” list for everyday maintenance, and an “IN CASE OF EMERGENCY” list if things start to feel worse. (Do you have a mental checklist like this? I highly recommend it.)

ALWAYS:

• Sleep 7.5 hours a night
• Exercise almost daily
• Track vegetables– aim for 7 servings a day
• Track protein– aim for 6 servings a day
• Meditate or play music on my flute (I find they serve similar purposes)
• Write in my journal
• Go outside

IN CASE OF EMERGENCY:

• Cut back on sugar
• Take extra naps
• Download feel-good books (generally beach reads, romance, or nostalgic re-reads)
• Cut back on news and social media
• Implement gratitude practice
• Implement mindfulness practice

Last week, I had a downward spiral that triggered the second list. I knew I needed to focus on gratitude and mindfulness if I was going to stay present and positive for my family. So I set an alarm, three times a day, that flashes the words “Self-check” on the screen. That’s a trigger for me to pause and do the following:

1. Think of 5 sensory details (what I see, smell, hear, touch, etc.) about the present moment that grounds me in mindfulness.
2. Think of 5 things I am grateful for.

After a few days, I realized that gratitude and mindfulness were helping, but they were only getting me so far; I was still stuck in an anxiety spiral because I didn’t have any faith that things would get better. I was reminded of this when a friend texted me about an upcoming camp that my son is attending. “We got this,” she said. She had faith that if we took the right precautions, it would all be okay. And while I’m more skeptical than she is, I understood her attitude to be healthier than mine.

At that point, I decided to add faith and hope to my self-check. After I do my mindfulness and gratitude practice, I say to myself, “I have faith in myself. I have faith in my family. I have faith in the good of humanity. I have hope that things will get better.”

I don’t always believe it, but saying it helps me believe it more.

“Faith, hope and love,” the proverb says. Love is as natural as breathing for me. Hope works well with my natural optimism. Faith takes the most work.

What’s on your mental health list?