Mental Check-in With Yourself

Do you have a case of the blahs? Just feeling a little down or unsure of yourself lately? Maybe it’s time for a mental check in with yourself. Depending on the season of life, I have to do this often. Sometimes this means a weekly check-in. This helps to prevent a mental breakdown and helps to stop projecting my feelings onto others. Not to mention this is a great form of self-care and helps me with my anxiety! It’s the ultimate form of self care.

A note about projection. Projecting you’re feelings on to others is a quick way to ruin relationships. This is a fancy way of taking your emotions and thoughts and attributing them to another person. Not cool. Ever heard the old saying about the person cheating is always first to accuse their partner? That is projecting. Partner A feels guilty for their actions but accuses partner B. It’s almost used as a way to justify their actions…”well if they are going to do it then so am I”. This applies to multiple different situations not just infidelity.

Projecting is often used as a defense mechanism, and makes everyone feel bad. Which is why it is important to check in with yourself and do some soul searching, if you feel like this may be the case. I’ve been guilty of projecting my feelings on to others. It definitely is a crappy feeling once you realize what is going on. The questions below help you target what is really happening. Once you learn what is going on, taking charge of the issue is much easier.

A few questions to ask yourself:

• How am I feeling? (List everything and be honest)
• Am I projecting? (This looks like lashing out, jealousy, animosity and fear)
• What do I need? (Alone time? Food, water, sleep? A hug?)
• I forgive…(forgiveness is a great gift to give yourself.)
• I celebrate (point out some good things!)
• Release it! (Acknowledging it all and sending it off to the universe, holding on to everything will likely undo the work you’ve done.)

These are all ways to do a quick mental check in with yourself. The key to get over the crappy feelings is to state what is going on and then own the hell out of it. Sometimes that is easier said than done. When things feel uncomfortable and it seems like there is no end in sight, that’s where change happens and you will be happier at the end of the journey. Mental check-ins like this also become easier each time you do them. This is also a way to hold yourself accountable for the way you are feeling. You are in control of how you feel and you owe it to yourself to stay in control.