Atomic Habits & Mental Health

How atomic habits can help you take care of your mental health

“Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.”

Some days when we’re experiencing mental overload we just don’t feel like doing anything. At all. A short 15-minute break on Instagram turns into hours of scrolling through your explore page and somehow it’s evening and the day is over. Yes, it’s fine to take a day to rest and then proceed to continue with your grind. But, if it repeats (which it often does), it soon turns into your daily routine.

When you’re in a productivity slump or not feeling your best not being able to use your time productively can be really frustrating, especially if you’ve been feeling that way for a while.

Breaking out of this cycle can be really hard and even intimidating when you feel like you have no motivation to do anything. But here’s something that I wish I knew a couple of months ago: motivation is overrated.

I’m not going to dive into the details but in the book Atomic Habits, James Clear talks about how you can make tiny changes in your daily routine and incorporate certain habits to make your life effectively better one day at a time. And, while I was reading this book I realized how this idea about making your life 1% better every day does not only apply to chasing your goals but also taking care of your mental health.

Allow me to explain.

When we’re feeling low we tend to think negatively and negative thoughts occupy our mind and it starts affecting our actions. We sometimes skip doing our daily chores like making our bed or watering the plants because we don’t feel like it. There are times people start heavily relying on sudden bursts of motivation to complete important tasks. This soon affects the things that we enjoy as well.

There are so many other things that happen in this duration that are personal to different people and while making a few changes to your day might seem like it’s not going to help, it will definitely do you more good than bad. And even be the beginning of getting back in check with yourself.

So what can you do to make your day slightly better?

I read somewhere that people should try doing something during their day to make it slightly better than the previous. This is pretty vague and also can be taxing to a few people depending on their schedule so instead, I would like to suggest practising a form of self-reflection.

I never understood self-reflection, journaling, meditation and even practising gratitude daily. But after a year of journaling as a form of self-reflection, I can say that it has definitely helped me get through my day and be productive. Self-reflection is the key to self-awareness and when you’re self-aware you not only understand yourself better but also find areas of improvement to work on. Maybe journaling isn’t for everyone but there are plenty of other ways to do this. You could go on a walk, cuddle with your pet or even just add a few more steps to your skincare routine.

Another small habit you could add to your routine is to do something that you enjoy for at least 30 minutes once a week. This seems obvious but I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen people quit what they like because of how mentally exhausted they were. Maybe you won’t enjoy it because it feels forced but it’s so much better than not doing what interests you at all.

Doing something that brings you joy is so important not only for your emotional wellbeing but also to have something to do gives you a distraction from school or work.

Now when the time comes to actually apply these habits in your life it may be hard in the beginning but do not stop practising them. It takes time to form a habit but it takes even more time to see results. I would highly suggest reading the book Atomic Habits to actually understand and learn how to apply these habits. You could also read a summary of the book, a list of takeaways or even check out habit spreadsheets if you don’t have the time to read the book. But if anything, I hope you take this blog post as a cue to get back on track so that you can live your life to the fullest.