Happy May Day Everyone. May 1st has many mixed emotions for me, but I’m keeping it real with you all and let you know that I love May 1st as I use to put flowers on neighbors doorstep, ring the doorbell and run. Doing this was one of very few happy memories I had as a little girl. I wish kids still practiced this wonderful memory I have, but I believe it’s a lost treasure. Today I was asked, “Do you know what day it is?” I answered with a smile, “yes, it’s May Day” and I told him about how I used to leave flowers on doorsteps. This young man had no idea what I was talking about and told me it was the day of horrible protesting in Seattle. It broke my heart that my loving fun day as a child had turned out to be a day people remember as a horrible protesting day. 

It wasn’t until I started college when I first found out that May was also Mental Health Awareness Month, which was founded in 1949. Ten years before I was born…EXACTLY. I was born in May. I also know that May was named after the Greek Goddess “Maia”, and the month stands for Love and Success also. WOW…what a month May is. 

I want everyone who reads my posts to pass along to all their friends and family how important it is to love one another and embrace self care. Our world is full of negative thoughts and actions. Turn off the news that has nothing but negative words. Do me a favor and try to limit your news for the month of May. Not feeding into the negative words will truly help you stress and worry less. I’m not asking you to bury your head in the sand and ignore the world we live in….But I am asking you to take the month of May to live in a more positive environment to see how your mood changes. Please do not start your day having the news on and listening to everything negative that is going on in our world, which sets most people’s mood in a not so pleasant way. 

What I challenge you to do is to work on your own mental health for the month of May to see how you feel by May 31st. 

Working on your mental health is like going to school. Remember, what I write are my own thoughts and how I believe we can all make our life better and balanced. 

Writing: Write in a journal to get out your true feelings. Write in a graditude book when you go to bed for at least five things that you are grateful for. You want to go to bed with a good attitude thinking of things that make you happy. I believe you should never journal prior to going to bed because many will write about the negatives that happened to them that day.  Words spoken or written will affect your state of mind. 

Science: Dissect your negative thoughts and find the positive in them, focus on that positive thought instead of the negative. Your positive thought is your lesson.  You can find a positive in every negative…..trust me on this one.  

History: History repeats itself if we let it. Make a history you are proud of. We can all change how we approach life. Change your history into something that makes you smile. 

Physical Education (PE): I hated PE as a child, I was uncomfortable changing my clothes in front of anyone. I was sexually abused as a child and I did not like PE at all. BUT, as a mental health professional, I now consider PE as exercising my mind to be in a healthy place. I have trained my brain to workout hard allowing myself to live in a healthier environment being a positive individual instead of thinking the world has nothing to offer me.  

Chemistry- Find solutions that will work for you to live a healthy and balanced life. 

For May I hope you find peace and joy in your life. Try to eliminate the negative by replacing it with positive thoughts. When you catch yourself being negative….acknowledge the thought, change it to a positive and move on. If you are around negative people, you can either help them to become positive or you can leave, this is your choice. The way you live your life is a choice. You can say, “this always happens to me,” or you can learn from it and change to be the best. Problems in our life are like weeds in our yards, we can just pick the top of the weed and not see it for awhile until the weed grows back giving us the same annoying feeling, or you can get to the root of the weed and pull the entire weed out and never see it again. 

May Tasks:

Reframe your negatives, and make them positives. 

Say a positive affirmation to yourself before you get out of bed. 

Do not watch or listen to the news.

Find a coping skill that makes you smile. (I like to play my favorite dance song and dance for the entire song…I dare you to try it and see if it doesn’t make you feel better.)

Never say “I should have” just learn and move on. 

Don’t say “If only” You still have time…..

Well….today’s blog was a tad long, but I have a passion for Mental Health and I want our world to be a happier place. If I touch just one person’s heart in the world per post, I’m fulfilling my dream. 

Trust the Journey and Life Lessons, 

Alexis 

Alexis Life Coach Inner Abilities LLC

Holistic Life Coach & Counseling