By Jake Zabski
Practicing mindfulness and positive mental health is a good practice all year round, but I find that especially at this time of the year it is important to take the steps to become mentally positive as the days grow colder, shorter, and darker. I’ve recently discovered the power in the concept of daily little joys and find that I now wake up every day looking forward to the positive things that are waiting for me. While I try to be optimistic, I’m realistic as well. I know that not every day will be the best, but I’ve learned that as long as you try to find some good in your daily life, you’re better off. I want to remind anyone reading this as well that it is okay to struggle with your mental health no matter what the circumstance is. We are all human and are not perfect and should not strive to be all the time.
If I’m being honest, writing this feels a bit ironic for me since I'm just getting over a pretty rocky period when it comes to my mental health. For a few weeks, I was putting myself under a lot of personal stress and felt that the hard work and effort that I had been keeping up over the semester was not enough. I was starting to overload myself with things to do, spending hours upon hours working with no breaks, making obligations and plans that I knew were far too much, not getting as much sleep as I should have, and overall just living a very stressful lifestyle. During this period of time, I also turned to bad habits to get me through these long days of stress by drinking multiple coffees, skipping meals, skipping the gym, and overall just not taking care of my body or my mind as well as I should have. I don’t necessarily regret all of the decisions I made, because it forced me to grow and learn from my mistakes, but I certainly never want to go through that again.
When it came down to it, I had to have a deep conversation with my inner self. I realized that all of the stress I was putting myself under was because I wasn’t appreciating or taking the time to acknowledge all of the great things going on in my life. Academically this semester, I’ve excelled and completed a semester-long research project for my major. I’ve had my journalism work published in several different areas around campus. I’ve been putting work into The Summit’s social media platforms while also juggling my two jobs back home for most of the semester managing the social media for two small businesses and achieved amazing results in all of those areas. All while doing this, I’ve managed to get the best grades I’ve ever received in a semester and my personal and social life has never been better. When I was able to look at all the positives I’ve accomplished, it made me realize that my hard work has gotten me to achieve great results and that I didn’t need to stress myself out so much. I was already on the right path and perhaps I just made a small mental detour.
The only thing that seemed to get me back on the right path again was looking at those positives and embracing all of the things in my life that make me happy. It was almost perfect timing that I learned about poet Ross Gay and his concept of little joys when I was at my worst. The concept of little joys is that it is a daily practice of finding all of the good things in our lives and embracing what makes us happy on a daily basis. It’s a step towards living a positive and happy lifestyle where we can find joy in actions as simple as holding the door for someone or things a little more “complicated” like getting together with friends to celebrate a long week.
Since I’ve started practicing looking for daily little joys, I have found that the stressful environment I was once putting myself through no longer exists. My favorite way of practicing my daily little joys is by helping someone or treating others with kindness. I’ve been on a kick lately of getting my roommate or my friends a treat while I’m out and about, as we all are working hard and deserve to treat ourselves with a nice donut or chocolate bar after a long day. I also try my best to be there for my friends and check in with them to make sure they’re doing okay, especially during this time of year with finals and holiday stress.
Another favorite daily joy of mine is the downtime that my roommate and I spend together watching our favorite shows, listening to our favorite music, going for drives, and just laughing and having fun together. I always look forward to knowing that after a long day of classes and work, I can come back to our room and just relax and unwind by doing some of our favorite things together. In that way, I’ve come to appreciate our close friendship even more and I am super grateful that I can call someone like him a true friend and brother to me.
I’ve also been starting to find joy in the moments with my friends that we find ordinary every day. These small moments are things like getting dinner together at the Commons or doing homework at a table in the Atrium or around the New Hall common spaces. While these things may seem to be normal for most students, I’ve come to appreciate the time that we can spend together even if it's just doing our daily assignments and tasks. It makes me feel a little bit more at ease tackling my busy work assignments with my friends around me rather than doing them alone.
Lastly, I’ve started to put little joys into my daily routine. As of a few weeks ago, I’ve started to wake up every morning to a positive reminder on my phone. This reminder is usually the first thing I see when I wake up and it helps me to start my day on the right foot. I’ve also started to set aside at least an hour a day of time where I can either relax or be alone to recharge. Usually, during this time, I’ll work out, run errands off-campus by myself, take a nap, or play my new obsession Animal Crossing. Even if I’m busy with work, I still try to make sure I have this time as I find that it actually helps me get my work done more efficiently. By allowing my brain to chill out for a second, I’m able to get the rest that I need to take on whatever tasks I have left for that particular day.
I understand how hard it can be sometimes to find any sort of positive in an overwhelmingly negative situation, but I think I am living proof of someone who has been through some pretty rough times but still tries to find the good in them. I am always looking for how I can be my best self even at my lowest, and it’s not necessarily always an easy or seamless process. I’m not perfect, I still make mistakes, and my journey towards a more positive mental state has not been an overnight thing. Regardless, I think that finding methods and ways that we can pull ourselves out of our roughest moments is the only way we can move forward. Everyone’s journey with their mental health is different, and no treatment or way of thinking is the same or should be seen as the “chosen” path but I do think this concept of practicing our daily little joys can only help you even if it’s just one small thing a day. Find the things in your daily routine that make you happy, or adopt something new that you think would make you happy. We all deserve to have a little bit of joy in our lives, and we are all worthy of feeling happy, even when life may get a little too crazy.