Life is filled with many stresses that can give you anxiety. Around every corner lies another problem that you couldn’t possibly have anticipated and before you know it, you’ll be stressing about something that you didn’t even know existed the day previously.

This in itself is just one avenue where this kind of mental distress can originate from and there are far more obvious sources that can also rear its head. Work is probably the biggest culprit in this regard and it can be a real foil to letting you relax as it is something which can regularly invade your thoughts and take away from any sense of calm that you find.

It does you a lot of good to find some time for yourself, not only to relax in the short-term but for your mental health in the long-run. It’s easy to dismiss this need as you think about how little time that you have but if this is the case then you simply need to try and make time. Taking care of yourself is important and sometimes that extends beyond your physical health and it’s important to recognize what you can do for yourself.

Try and Include Some Meditation

If you haven’t tried meditation before, it might be easy to dismiss it as something that is supported by a group of people with whom you have nothing in common. It’s easy to hear the purported benefits that it has and brush it off as simply being imagined, perhaps a placebo effect that occurs to those who want to believe that it can possess these qualities. The truth is that meditation is something that has been found to have quite the number of benefits, including reduced levels of anxiety and stress – which might be exactly what you’re looking for.

If you haven’t meditated before, there are several guides online that can help you pick it up for the first time and luckily, it’s something that isn’t difficult to start with. In fact, you don’t have to worry about the difficulty at all because it isn’t something where skill or experience is even a concern. The goal here is simply to make time for yourself and to be mindful. Those goals can help you reach the benefits of the practice and you might find that this is enough for you to want to carry on doing it.

Allow Yourself Time to Focus on You

When the weekend rolls around or whenever you have time off, you should feel confident in the fact that you’re allowed this time to simply relax and enjoy yourself – however you would like to do so. This is time where you can forget about work and try to put any other similar causes of stress on the back-burner while you simply do what you like. For example, if you are someone who enjoys unwinding by visiting online casinos on your phone, you can find the time to put your feet up or go somewhere relaxing outside and simply do that.

The original version of this article was originally published on TNT Magazine.

At LCC we have a dedicated and highly skilled team ready to help you. If you are struggling with your mental health, we offer low-cost counselling services.