How To Reset Your Mental Health In Menopause: Renew Your Energy With These 5 Things Your Subconscious Is Craving

Your brain is overloaded. At all times. In menopause, it’s also foggy. A lot. With incessant noise and onslaught of daily duties and stressful life events, it’s no wonder we feel like losing our minds. This handful of simple strategies will help you reset your mental health and renew your energy.

Your mental health is just as important as your physical health. It directly affects how your body functions, looks and feels.

Everything from digestive issues and headaches to muscle aches and insomnia. It all relates to your mental and emotional health.

This is why resetting your mental health should be just as important to you as your physical wellbeing.

So how do you get grounded and regain equilibrium? What path leads back to your peaceful place?

It’s not that difficult.

All you need to do is slow down, set aside some time for a little self-care, get rid of some unhelpful beliefs, rediscover your purpose and remind yourself of the good stuff.

1. The Fundamental Rule of Mental Health Reset: Slow Down

Starting a life reset gives you the opportunity to slow down and examine your lifestyle.

This is especially critical when you’re going through the perimenopause or menopause.

A mental health reset is a great chance to address what’s eating you up from the inside, while you’re navigating this stage of your life.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed and barely coping, you need a break.

But taking a break isn’t about quitting or giving up on things.

It’s about understanding that rest and down time is essential to personal growth and living a happy, balanced life.

Why Should You Slow Down?

Slowing down is not about stopping something entirely, ignoring your duties or just not bothering anymore.

It’s about taking it easy.

You might find that you constantly have to keep busy. You barely have time for anything aside from your obligations. So much so that you neglect your own health and self-care. As a result, everything else you’re invested in will suffer.

There was a time when I was addicted to being busy. I was constantly spinning the wheel, like a manic little gerbil, unable to step off of it.

For sure, I was whining and complaining that I had no time for anything. And when I did get the time off, I couldn’t sit still. I felt guilty of not doing enough. Gulity and useless.

But stillness is not the same as laziness. Or uselessness. Stillness is a state of being when we just let all those spinning swirling pieces to fall into place and let them settle. Let them do their magic.

Don’t believe me?

Here’s what I experienced when I finally did learn how to be still:

You can improve your productivity –Paradoxically, doing less helps you do more. Take some time to assess your schedule. Treat it as a flexible, evolving entity and you’ll become more productive during those moments when it’s time to get work done.

It helps to reduce stress – Slowing down is also going to reduce stress, burnout and overwhelm. Simply decide not to rush around. Not to panic, unless someone life’s at stake. Take time to breathe and do things at a pace that suits you, and no one else.

You have more time for what matters – If you’ve noticed that you’re constantly busy with work, but not much else, than that’s the area where you need to slow down a little. What will happen is that you’ll have a lot more time for what really matters, including your family, friends, and self-care.

What Is Optional in Your Life?

A good way to slow down is to consider what’s optional, and what absolutely has to be done.

For example, going to work every day is going to be mandatory. But choosing to spend your evenings on work to get ahead? Well, that’s down to you.

If you examine your habits and routines, you may find that the reason you’re experiencing overwhelm or suffering burnout isn’t because of your daily obligations.

It might come down to all those extra things you don’t want to say no to.

Are you the person everyone turns to for help? Then that’s a pretty big sign that it’s time to put your foot down and not say yes to every single thing people ask of you.

In What Areas Can You Be More Lenient?

To create space for your mental health reset without putting pressure on yourself, think of in what areas of your life you can be lenient.

Can you take a step back without causing a negative impact on you or your life?

There’s a balance between wanting to be helpful and supportive and being taken advantage of.

Even those who love you the most can take advantage without meaning to be malicious.

Creating healthy boundaries during this time is crucial.

2. Take Time For Self-Care During Your Mental Health Reset

There’s a lot you do for yourself and by yourself when you want to reset your mental health. But when things get a little more difficult, maybe it’s time to get outside help. When was the last time you saw a mental health professional?

If you’re dealing with anxiety, depression, trauma, or even chronic stress, it might be worth considering professional help.

Doing a life or health reset is not just about what you can do yourself. It’s important to recognize when you need a little extra help. And then seeing that you get it.

When you get sick or have an injury, you see your medical doctor. So there is no reason you shouldn’t try to find someone to help with your mental health as well.

How Are Your Emotions Lately?

How have your emotions been feeling recently?

Are you happy and relaxed most of the time?

Or do you feel anxious, depressed, sad, unmotivated, exhausted, angry?

Do you have other uncomfortable emotions?

There’s nothing wrong with these types of emotions.

They are just part of being human.

But if you don’t have a healthy way to express them, that could become a problem.

This is what often leads to substance abuse and other types of addictions.

Find some healthy ways to acknowledge and cope with your emotions.

You can try things such as mindfulness, journaling, talking to a friend, and exercising.

Is Anything Causing You More Stress?

Stress is a common emotion, but that doesn’t make it easy to deal with.

It doesn’t just affect your mental health.  Stress can have a massive impact on your physical health as well.

Think about your stress levels and use this time to figure out if you need to find more stress relieving activities.

Stress can often morph into sleep issues, cause chronic pain, and lead to worse mental health problems, so it should not be taken lightly.

Consider Habits That Improve Your Mental Health

When you have an idea of where your mental health is at, you can take some time adding in habits that will improve it.

Here are some ideas that can help:

Create a journaling routine. Writing in a journal is very therapeutic and helps tremendously with your mental health. Try to create a routine where you use it for at least a few minutes every day.

Have a weekly lunch date with a friend. Taking time out to spend quality time with others is just as important for your mental health. We all need to feel the connection to other people, so book that date!

Practice self-care. Far too often, we keep so busy and never have time for ourselves. Even if it’s as small as applying a face mask on the weekend or watching a movie Friday nights with a friend/ A small act like that can give you a nice boost so make sure to fit into your schedule.

3. Eliminate Your Limiting Beliefs

Limiting beliefs are something you often think or believe, without ever realizing it.

A limiting belief is a type of thought that tells you that you can’t do something and keeps you from even trying.

It can be about you, other people, society, or anything else.

This might be a belief that you can never be wealthy.

A belief that you won’t achieve the level of success you dream of.

Or that you can’t wear that swimsuit with the body you have now.

Limiting beliefs can be big or small, and all impact you greatly.

Why Are Limiting Beliefs a Bad Thing?

None of us is immune to limiting beliefs.

But the thing about beliefs is that they are just that – beliefs.

They can be changed if we choose to believe in something else.

I dare say that most of the limited beliefs you might have, aren’t even true.

They are based around fear, anxiety, or experiences you’ve had in the past.

Don’t let your fears dictate your life.

Limiting beliefs can keep you from completing your goals, because you believe you’ll never be able to reach them anyway.

Which is completely untrue; you can do anything you put your mind to.

What Are Your Limiting Beliefs?

Make a list of any limiting beliefs you might have.

Here are some to help get you started:

• I’m not good enough.
• I’m not smart enough.
• I don’t deserve it.
• It didn’t work out in the past.
• I always quit everything I start.

Your limiting beliefs can relate to anything.

From romance and relationships, to work, budgeting, becoming healthier, losing weight.

Really anything you can think of as your goal, will most likely have doubts attached to it.

How to Challenge Unhelpful Beliefs About Yourself

Once you have your list of limiting beliefs, go through each one and find a way to challenge them or flip them around.

Go down the list and one at a time, write down what’s causing the limiting belief in the first place. Then come up with a way to challenge them.

For example, you might have a limiting belief about losing weight. You assume you can’t lose weight because you tried and failed in the past.

How can you challenge this?

Maybe you try a different method.

Perhaps you do it with less restrictions.

Or you take it slow and steady and brace yourself for the weight-loss marathon rather than a pound-shedding sprint.

Possibly, you find motivation from other people who have lost weight successfully.

It doesn’t matter what it is; there’s a way to challenge these limiting beliefs.

4. Tips for Finding Your Purpose

It can feel like we are always trying to search for something in life, and never really finding it.

We become distracted by things like work and family and smaller goals. But we never feel like we achieve our grander purpose.

If you’re struggling with finding your purpose, doing a life reset or just mental health reset can be really helpful.

Here are some tips for finding your purpose through the reset process.

Do a Brain Dump

This is one of those strategies that is often overlooked but can completely change your life.

A brain dump is a great method for releasing anything you might have been bottling up.

Think of it as a way to transfer all your thoughts, ideas, and feelings from your mind, onto paper.

Just start writing the very first thing that pops in your head, then keep writing.

Don’t worry about how many different topics or ideas come to you; just write them all down.

You know you’re done when you begin slowing down or are just repeating what you have already thought about.

What Makes You Feel Excited and Hopeful?

Once you have done your brain dump, you can continue writing in that journal.

This time, about what makes you the most excitement or what brings the sense of hope and fulfilment to your life.

Not just mundane activities you are used to doing, but the ones that exhilarate you and put a huge smile on your face.

The ones that light you up from the inside.

What Do You Spend Your Free Time Doing?

If you’re stuck on what you enjoy doing, think about what you tend to do when you have free time.

This makes it a little easier to figure out what your interests and passions are. And your interests and passions are bound to lead to your purpose.

It can be anything from reading and doing craft projects, to volunteering or spending time with friends.

Every detail about your life, especially your personal choices, can say a lot about you and what you’re here to do.

What Books Do You Love to Read?

It can also help to think about what genres of activities you enjoy the most.

When you pick up a book, what genre do you prefer reading?

When you choose a television show to watch, what type of show is your favorite?

All of these little details matter when it comes to finding your purpose.

Affirmations to Improve a Mental Health Reset

Affirmations might carry a cringe-factor for some, but do you know what?

They actually work.

Initially, I thought that affirmations are something that work-shy people chant while playing a tambourine, when they want to find buckets of cash under the Christmas tree.

But bad jokes aside, affirmations are more than that and they are a powerful tool, when done properly.

They’re a wonderful addition to your mental health routine. They can help you with your mindset, both in good times and in difficult times.

Understanding Why Affirmations Work In Mental Health Reset

Affirmations are positive statements or phrases that help you experience happy, uplifting, optimistic, inspiring, motivational, and positive emotions.

They can be used in many ways. But during a reset, they help you to stay in a place of inspiration when it comes to making positive changes in your life.

Affirmations are going to help put you into a positive mindset. In the beginning, it often feels silly and like it isn’t helping.

But by repeating certain phrases you’re using positive reinforcement, thus carving new pathways in your neural system.

The more you say these affirmations to yourself out loud, the more you start to believe them.

Telling yourself more positive things than negative things can turn everything around in ways you might not have imagined.

But beware – chanting affirmations without being engaged and proactive in other areas of your life, will produce no results.

So take action and don’t let the power of words fizzle out into mere wishful thinking. 

Ways to Use Affirmations

Not sure how to use your affirmations? Here are a few ideas:

Write a new affirmation down in your journal every day – Since every day is different, you probably need a different type of motivation each day as well. You can write an affirmation every morning while writing in your journal. Choose an affirmation you will remember and repeat to yourself whenever you need to.

Put them on your bathroom mirror to repeat regularly – If you tend to forget to use your affirmations, put them somewhere you pass by regularly. This might be your bathroom mirror or on your refrigerator. Every time you see them, read them to yourself or out loud. It’s a great reminder to use them.

Read them out loud whenever you need a boost of confidence – Bring affirmations with you that you have noticed help you the most and say them to yourself out loud when you need that boost.

Choosing the Right Affirmations for Your Mental Health Reset

Before you can get started, you need to choose the right kinds of affirmations.

Remember they should be short enough to write down or remember and repeat back to yourself, be simple, and be positive.

Here are some examples:

• I am worthy of love and affection.
• I am courageous and confident.
• I can do anything I put my mind to.
• I am responsible with money.
• I hold the power to my own happiness.

Your mind scape is vast and varied. And so are the resources you can tap into and tactics you can use if you want to get your mental health back on the right track. But just trying out these few super simple strategies will make an enormous difference, if you’re consistent.

Disclaimer

This article was written by Zuzana Halliwell. I am not a doctor or health professional and cannot be held liable for the information written here. This article is meant to provide information about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and diet. The content is based on my own personal experience and on information provided by medical professionals that is available to the public. It is not intended to provide medical advice. Do not use it as an alternative to seeking help from a medical professional.