Episode 9 - 5 Mental Health Practices
What are some practices that can aid an individual with maintaining their mental health while going through an educational program? On this episode, I share five practices that aided me with maintaining my mental health while going through an educational program.
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Here is a transcription of Episode 9:
0:17: Hello and welcome to the Broke PhD Podcast! I'm your host, Dr. G!
0:22: On this episode of Broke PhD Podcast, I will share 5 practices that helped me with maintaining my mental health while going through an educational program. I wanna preface by saying that while these practices worked for me, they may not work for you and that's OK. I encourage you, the listener, to develop your own practices that can aid you with staying grounded and staying mentally healthy while you go through your educational program. Nonetheless, I hope that the practices I share can spark some inspiration and provide you with insight that will better aid you as you navigate along your own journey.
0:57: As I've shared before, embarking on any type of educational journey is not an easy feat. In episode 2, I share that there were several times during my PhD Journey that I wanted to just give up and walk away. During these moments when I was feeling overwhelmed and overloaded, I needed to rely on some practices that would aid me with maintaining my mental health so that I could have enough energy to power through and finish my program.
1:23: After sitting and reflecting, I realized that there were five key practices that I continued to use throughout my educational journey that aided me with maintaining my mental health. The first practice was exercise. During the second year of my program, I picked up and played the sport of tennis. I would find myself during my program feeling overwhelmed and overloaded and having no real outlet to release all of these negative emotions in a safe, constructive manner. After starting to play tennis and playing it in a consistent manner, I found that I was better able to regulate my emotions. I felt happier and I looked forward to the next opportunity I could play where I could let out frustrations by hitting a ball with a racket and build up those endorphins by running around a tennis court. While I know I may not be the next Serena Williams, or the next Naomi Osaka, or the next Coco Gauff. But I like being able to be an athlete again, and I like being able to release emotions and release frustration in a constructive manner and the social aspect of it, along with being able to run around and just have fun on a court.
2:33: The second practice that aided me with maintaining my mental health was crafting or having some kind of artistic creative outlet. I am a creative by nature and so being in the world of academia sometimes can be very stifling for me. And so having an opportunity to paint or draw or craft in any manner allowed me to still be in touch with my creative side. So I tried to just craft whenever I had the opportunity to do so. And that allowed me to release my emotions in a different manner through my creativity and through my crafting.
3:08: The third practice that aided me with maintaining my mental health was singing or having some kind of musical outlet. I'm a musician by nature. I am a classically trained singer, as I've mentioned before, and for me music is just a way to tap into one's emotions. Music can aid with showcasing one’s emotions and so I used it as an outlet to let go of any type of emotions I was feeling. If I was happy about something in my program, I would listen to happy music or sing happy songs. If I was sad about something in my program, I would listen to more sad songs. Music just allowed me to have another outlet to reflect some of those emotions that sometimes I could not verbalize in a coherent manner, or sometimes I could not identify or I could not write about in a manner that would express them clearly enough.
4:00: The fourth practice that aided me with maintaining my mental health while going through an educational program was talking with others. I would talk to my significant other. I would talk to my peers and my friends. I would talk to my parents. I would talk to anyone who had an open ear and that was there to listen. I feel better when I'm able to let things out and when I'm able to express things. And so talking with others just allowed me to have another outlet to share about my emotions and to share about my thoughts while going through my educational program.
4:33: The fifth and final practice that aided me with maintaining my mental health was journaling or writing down my thoughts or feelings. Now I will admit, I do not journal in the most conventional manner. I do not have a set notebook or write down on paper for my journaling. Instead, my journaling consists of me writing down notes in my phone or typing in a Word document. So I will pull up an empty note and I will type in my thoughts and just free write whatever I'm feeling in that moment if I find that I have all these big emotions and I don't know what to do with them. Then I will let that note sit there and then I'll go back and read it over just to start processing and understanding: Why am I feeling this way? What made me feel this way? What were the reasons around it? So that in the future I can be better prepared for managing and regulating those emotions.
5:28: So in summary, the five practices that I used that aided me with maintaining my mental health while going through my educational program included: one – exercising, two – crafting or having an artistic creative outlet, three – singing or having a musical outlet, four – talking with others, and five – journaling or writing down my thoughts and feelings.
5:53: Now that you've heard these five practices that aided me with maintaining my mental health while going through my educational program, I call on you the listener to pause and reflect about what practices might aid you with maintaining your mental health while going through an educational program. Are the five practices I shared the same practices that you would use? Or do you have any additional practices that you use that have aided you with maintaining your mental health? I would love to hear your thoughts, so please feel free to reach out via the podcast website – brokephdpodcast.com – or via any of the social media outlets and share with me about the practices that you use to aid you with maintaining your mental health through your educational program.
6:33: Well that concludes this episode but I am so excited to have you on this journey with me. So please hit that subscribe button or that follow button, and again please check out the website – brokephdpodcast.com – to continue to follow along. Thank you for listening and no matter where you are in your own journey, remember – YOU GOT THIS! Again. I'm your host Dr. G, and I hope you have a wonderful day!