Why It’s Important to Prioritize Your Mental Health

Wondering why you should prioritize your mental health? You’re in the right place!
The first 6 months of 2022 were a wild roller coaster ride for me… and no, not the fun amusement park kind.
The deterioration of my physical health from 2021 continued, and my mental health jumped on for the ride.
Just when I felt a small improvement, my mental and physical body would join forces and abruptly spiral downwards.
I was utterly confused and scared of what was happening.
My doctor sent me for numerous tests, all of which came back negative. Great.
She thought maybe I had developed anxiety because of the stressful year I had.
Although I was not fully convinced, I was determined to listen and help my body in any way I could. And that is exactly what I did.
Over the next 4 months, I tried various approaches including cognitive behavioral therapy, EMDR, and hypnotherapy.
This post is a continuation of my journey… my desperate search to mend the broken pieces and take care of my mental health.
A little disclaimer here, I am not a doctor nor a psychologist, nor do I claim to know everything about anxiety or how to treat it.
Instead, I want to share my experience and what strategies helped improve my anxiety and mental health.
Please talk to your doctor to find out what strategies may work for you.
Why It Is Important to Prioritize Your Mental Health
Putting Myself First
Following the crazy year I had in 2021, I knew something was wrong inside me… I just didn’t know what.
It was extremely overwhelming and terrifying. I felt like I didn’t have any control over what was happening.
And, if you have been following my journey, then you know I enjoy planning. What was happening to me was not in my plan… I needed to dig deeper and fix what was wrong.
Unfortunately, that meant I had to take some time off work. There was no way around it.
My entire body was crumbling, and I needed to do something.
It was time to put myself first.
I had never taken an extended period off from work before. And I felt that I was somehow weaker than others for doing so.
But I had no choice, I refused to fall down the rabbit hole any further.
My body was not able to handle things as it once did. All my energy needed to be devoted to figuring things out and finding my way back to myself.
I was determined to take back control.
That meant learning positive coping strategies to help with my anxiety and prioritizing my mental health.
And to do that, I was willing to try every avenue of help I could find.
How to Prioritize Your Mental Health
Talking With a Psychologist
When my anxiety came knocking, I started seeing an amazing psychologist, Dr. C.
I am a strong believer in talking through difficult events in your life. It helps heal your worries and anxious thoughts every time you share your difficult story.
Plus, they can offer a different perspective that you cannot see because you are still living it and working through everything.
After sharing my past year, Dr. C suggested we try Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).
I was happy and ready to try both.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
CBT is talk therapy that focuses on the relationship between our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
She drew a Cognitive Triangle and explained how these 3 areas are connected. Our minds and bodies significantly influence and affect one another.
Therefore, one simple thought can create a negative chain reaction in our body.
It can start a negative cycle that can be difficult to break. And it can be applied to every situation we face.
This was starting to make sense.
She explained how our initial thoughts influence our feelings.
If your first thought is negative, then most likely your associated feelings and behaviors will be negative as well.
For example, when I felt a wave of anxiety, I thought something was seriously wrong with my body. My mind would immediately jump to the idea that I might be having a heart attack.
This horrible thought triggered intense feelings of fear, which our bodies naturally respond to.
When I feel afraid, my chest tightens, and my breathing rapidly speeds up… and this is exactly what happened.
This negative feeling then impacts our behavior, which is our physical response to the situation.
Once I felt my chest tighten, other uncontrollable body sensations would occur, like feeling lightheaded or dizzy. These unsettling behaviors from my body would then trigger more negative thoughts, which of course, compounded my fear…
This vicious cycle led to my terrifying anxiety incidents, as I liked to call them.
Despite all the anxiety incidents I experienced, I never actually had a heart attack.
Crazy right!! (I know… I shouldn’t use that word, but it’s been my expression for as long as I can remember, so just go with me.)
It’s unbelievable (crazy) that we continue to let ourselves have the same horrible thought although we know the outcome to be untrue.
The power of the mind is amazing!
Taking Back Control
This exercise reminded me that I was still in control of my thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. I just needed to retrain my brain to not jump onto the sinking ship so fast.
It was vital to change my initial thoughts from negative to positive, so I could stop this cycle.
Instead of convincing myself it was a heart attack, I needed to think… well, that is an interesting sensation.
Reminding myself that the uncomfortable body sensation would pass, changed my feelings from fear to acceptance.
Finally, my new behavior or reaction would be to take a deep breath because I knew that I would be ok.
This cognitive triangle can be applied to any difficult situation we are facing.
Finding Confidence
I loved this exercise; it was very enlightening. It all made sense… and it amazed me how much power the mind has over our bodies.
And although I am a smart person, I somehow allowed my thoughts to run away to the dark side!
Experiencing these new body sensations was frightening, but I lost confidence in myself to know the difference between real vs perceived fear.
Of course, retraining my brain didn’t happen overnight. It took me many attempts and fails to convince myself that I really would be ok.
Now, I can use this strategy when I feel anxiety approaching.
I am so thankful Dr. C taught me this crucial strategy. It helped me regain control over my thoughts and body once again.
EMDR Therapy
Just to preface again, I am not a doctor or a psychologist. This is only my interpretation of my experience.
EMDR, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, was initially developed to treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
However, it is also an effective treatment for trauma, anxiety, and panic disorders.
EMDR therapy targets when a traumatic memory is stored incorrectly in the brain. So, whenever this memory is recalled, it can stir up difficult emotional and physical elements with it.
In my case, this would result in the anxiety or panic I was experiencing.
Dr. C explained how we would use EMDR and made sure I was comfortable with the process.
She started by asking me to recall every trauma in my life. Of course, I talked about the car accident that forever changed my life and a few more.
I thought I was done.
But apparently, trauma can be defined as any event that causes distress. She explained that a kid who is laughed at while giving a class presentation can be referred to as trauma.
Uh oh… this might take a while!
After some brainstorming, I created a list of all my traumas as I saw them. We then discussed and prioritized my list. It was time to start.
Retraining the Brain
Dr. C would sit in front of me with her right hand 2 feet away from my face. As my eyes focused on her hand, she had me recall a specific moment of a traumatic memory – for example, just before the impact of my car accident.
She moved her hand from side to side while I focused on this specific event. Then, I allowed my brain and that memory to take me where it needed to.
This only lasted for 15 – 20 seconds. But during that time, your experiences can be so vivid and emotional.
For example, picturing the moment right before the impact, sometimes brought up my thoughts or feelings at that second.
Other times, my mind was like a movie reel – projecting positive moments or people currently in my life.
And sometimes, I would feel an intense body sensation.
How crazy is that?!
We then discussed what I saw or experienced. Sometimes, she would ask me interpretive questions.
It is difficult to go into detail here. Although each session was brief, it was incredibly enlightening and vivid.
We would repeat this about 10 different times. Sometimes, we continued from where my mind left off, and other, she redirected me back to the initial memory.
I am happy to share this crazy revelation… During one session of recalling the impact, I felt intense chest pain on my left side, just as I do during my anxiety incidents.
Well, Dr. C asked if I had any previous injuries to my chest. I quickly responded no. Then she commented that the left side of my chest was exactly where my seatbelt would have been in the accident.
OMG! She was able to make an amazing connection that I was not!
The frightening chest pain I experienced during an anxiety incident may have been my brain recalling the terrifying pressure of the seatbelt on my chest during the impact of my car accident.
I did have a horrible bruise from the seatbelt, but it never seemed significant until now.
We repeated the exercise until I no longer associated or experienced fear and chest pain when recalling the accident. Crazy!
Honestly, I loved my experience with EMDR Therapy!
While I won’t divulge all my horrid memories, I will say that I found this treatment highly effective.
Like CBT, I could see and feel the results.
I knew I was making progress, healing, and helping to restore my mental health. This… I liked!
Hypnotherapy
My massage therapist threw out the idea of professional hypnotherapy. As I said, I was willing to try anything if it would help.
After my initial consultation, I agreed to the recommended 6 sessions.
Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect going into my first appointment. The lady had been doing this for quite a few years and was experienced, funny, and friendly.
As I sat opposite her, she explained what to expect during the actual hypnosis. Suddenly, I felt the wave of anxiety I had come to know over the past 6 months.
I burst into tears, trying my hardest to explain that this was not me. She understood, sharing that she had battled anxiety of her own.
She then commented on my breathing… saying I was doing it wrong.
I was stressed, tense, and anxious, and breathing from my chest. She explained that calming deep breaths come from the belly.
Breathing & Tapping
She showed me a breathing and tapping technique, similar to Gary Craig’s EFT – emotional freedom technique.
This therapeutic technique involves breathing and tapping specific points on the body to calm anxiety. It combines modern psychology with ancient Chinese acupressure.
The purpose of it is to calm and redirect the body’s fight or flight response.
Apparently, mine was on overdrive.
She had me try a few methods before we found the one that seemed to work for me.
Here is the breathing/tapping technique that I use to calm myself when anxious:
Tap my heart with my left hand, while I alternate tapping my belly with my right hand. I take a deep breath in from my belly, hold it for 4 seconds, and on the exhale, I repeat, “I’m ok, I’m ok, I’m ok”.
This has been an extremely useful strategy to calm me and I am so grateful she taught it to me.
Using it in conjunction with the Anxiety Triangle can significantly reduce my anxiety and stop a panic attack.
Empowering Myself
Of course, she did hypnotize me too! That’s why I was there after all.
Before each hypnotherapy session, we chatted for 30 minutes about how my week went, how I was feeling, and my anxiety level.
She then tailored each session to meet a specific goal.
As calm music played in the background, I would lay down and get comfortable on a Thai mat and close my eyes.
Starting at my head and ending at my feet, I listened to her voice as she slowly had me relax each muscle group.
Her tone of voice became rhythmic, enchanting, and completely relaxing.
Once she knew I was in a suggestive state, she would have me visualize a different place each time, like an island paradise. Once comfortably in each place, I would listen to her suggestions.
During one session, I was in a clearing deep inside a forest. There were several paths out from the clearing, each leading to a clearing of its own.
She had me walk down a path but stop at the end before the next clearing, I was only to observe. This clearing represented a difficult time in my life.
Then, she made empowering statements about my strength and confidence during that event, and how that feeling should transcend to the present moment.
Finally, she would count down from 5 to 1… and I was completely alert again.
And contrary to what I expected, you do remember each experience. It is not like when you are sleeping and can’t remember your dreams.
You are fully aware of what is happening.
I am glad I tried hypnotherapy. I don’t know if my experience was exactly what was supposed to happen.
But, it left me feeling more empowered. And that is what I needed.
Struggling with my health issues in 2021 had taken a huge toll on my mental health and self-confidence. And I know my experience with hypnotherapy helped restore some of that!
Taking Time to Prioritize Mental Health
It can be difficult to put ourselves first. It’s not something we are encouraged to do.
We live in an age where being the best or getting the most accomplished is highly valued and respected.
Unfortunately, we prioritize work and money over health and happiness.
Taking care of your needs, putting yourself first, and prioritizing your mental health are not always acceptable or praised.
But it turns out… that is exactly what I needed.
There is no way I would have been able to try these different therapies, practice my yoga, or even walk with my dog if I had continued working full-time.
The exhaustion I feel with my fibromyalgia and chronic pain does not allow for such things.
Although it was difficult to accept at first, I am proud I made myself a priority. Asking for help is not a weakness… it is a strength.
But I now know I needed time and space to properly take care of myself… and my physical and mental health thanked me for it.
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