Over 5% of the world’s population suffers from depressive episodes. You are not alone. Try to connect with friends or family. Talk to someone. Take a mental health day when you need it. 

There is no shame in knowing when you are struggling. Mental illness is not a sign of weakness. It takes a lot of strength to seek out the help you need. You are courageous. You are strong. And you will persevere. 

Setting and achieving regular short-term and long-term goals can have a positive impact on your mental health, but do you know how? Personal goals provide motivation and a sense of purpose. Achieving your goals gives you a sense of accomplishment and self-worth, leading to good mental health. 

Set SMART goals. Write down goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-oriented. With the use of the SMART method, you have a higher chance of accomplishing your goals. You are in control of your life!

How resilient would you say you are? Beating stress isn't about finding the miracle cure or avoiding your triggers at all other costs, it's really about learning how to react to it when it pops into your life. We are faced with stress from all angles, but if we can change how we view what's overwhelming in the first place, we'll be mentally and physically healthier. 

Resilience is about dealing with stress in a positive way, so the trick is to remember that anything can be faced and conquered. Stress will never go away, but the way you react to it can be flipped on its head.

Did you know that meditation can improve your ability to focus? A lot of our stress comes from our mind being scattered in many different places. 

Meditation trains our mind to focus fully on our task so that even our communication becomes more clear and your words will become more effective. Having the ability to focus makes us work more efficiently because we are able to compartmentalize tasks. 

Social media throws many different subject matters at us and it's overwhelming to our nervous system. Give yourself the gift of reclaiming your ability to focus and you'll find you can retain information better, get clear on your goals easier and get rid of excess mental chatter that may be keeping you from feeling confident and excelling at what you love to do the most.

What's going on in our bodies when we get stressed?

When we sense danger in some form, our bodies release a whole whack of hormones (namely adrenaline, cortisol, and noradrenaline), all of which are dumped into our systems to help us battle a perceived threat.

The fight/flight/freeze response was helpful when we were dealing with sabre-toothed tigers and beating off competitors for food and mates; nowadays, though, our physical safety is threatened much less often, but this evolutionary response remains nonetheless. When we feel scared or threatened somehow but no physical danger is actually present, our bodies still prepare for fight/flight/freeze. Our heart rate increases, we might tense up, hyperventilate, sweat, cry, or begin to panic, despite the fact that we're really in no danger at all.

Stress balls, daily meditation, yoga and exercise are just a few things that can help us release some of this built-up tension.

Meditation can help you create a clear vision for your future. You can use meditation to fuel your vision by creating as much specificity in your mind as possible.

It's been proven that our thoughts do affect our reality, and although we can't rely solely on meditation to solve our problems, it makes a radical difference in how we use our time and our ability to make progress in our life. 

Sit for even a few minutes in the morning or at night to visualize what you want to bring into your life and how you want to live from your heart. You may be surprised how quickly the resources you need either show up or pop into your mind.