A 15-Minute Mental Wellness Check-In
Peter Drucker, who is referred to as the world’s greatest management consultant, once said, “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” And this is the beauty of doing a mental wellness check.
While entirely subjective, a wellness check helps you tune into yourself and what’s going on in your life. As many of us return to the office or school after a turbulent year and a half, now is a good time to take a thorough assessment of where our mental well-being is at.
From there, it’s all about improving your life and going after what you want or stepping into who you want to become. So, let’s take 15 minutes right here and right now.
What can you do to check in with yourself? What areas need improvement?
Your Mental Health Wellness Check: Easy as 1… 2… 3!
It’s time to ground yourself, regain balance, and begin anew once again. It’s safe to say many of us went through a rollercoaster ride of emotions in the last year. Yet, we’re finding that even ground once again. The dust is settling. So, how are you feeling?
The great thing about this mental health wellness check is that it gives you data. It allows you to collect information about yourself, determining what works for you and what doesn’t. And a lot of this comes down to self-care and treating yourself right. Determining where you are on this scale at certain points in your life can help you address any well-being deficits.
For instance, you could do this check-in today. Then, three months from now you can re-assess based on any changes you made or how your life has changed.
So, let’s set aside this time for ourselves. Take a few deep breaths, and let’s get to it.
Step 1: The Life Wheel
The life wheel offers a way to look at different aspects of your life and rate them based on your feelings about them.
First
To begin creating your own life wheels, write a list of areas in your life that are important to you. Some examples include:
- Relationship
- Family
- Finances
- Physical Health
- Physical Activity
- Mental Health/Wellness
- Friends
- Career/Work
- Time Alone
- Self-Care
- Hobbies
Again, this may vary based on your life and what’s important to you. So, go ahead and create that list.
Next Up
Once you’ve got your list, draw a circle. Don’t worry too much about how pretty it looks.
Then
On this circle, place your important life aspects around it, creating a line from each one to the middle of the circle. All of the lines should meet in the middle. The middle of this circle is “0.”
Going outward toward the outer rim of the circle, number the lines from 0-10.
Now, here’s the hard part. Go around the circle and rate each life aspects, with zero being the absolute worst and 10 being the absolute best.
After you’ve rated them accordingly, then star where your “ideal” is on each line. For instance, maybe you want your self-care to be at a 9, but it’s only at a 2. This means you’ll want to work on this area.
What can you do better? How can you make more time for yourself?
Finally
It’s all about taking action to improve it. Write down ideas regarding how you can improve each aspect that isn’t where you want it to be.
Step 2: Affirmation Building
Go through the following statements and write whether you “agree,” “neutral,” or “disagree.”
- I am confident in my beliefs and opinions.
- I believe others respect me, and I’m okay if I disagree with others.
- I am a good person.
- I feel like I am on my way to achieving my full potential.
- I challenge myself regularly.
- I feel a sense of purpose and satisfaction with my life.
- I feel like I belong, and others care about me.
- I am productive and useful.
- I feel optimistic about my future.
- I enjoy life.
For the ones you wrote “disagree” next to, create affirmations.
For instance, if you wrote “disagree” to “I enjoy life.” Try repeating an affirmation such as “I strive to enjoy life and spread positivity throughout my day” each morning.
Then, make a daily routine of affirmations for this. Affirmations work by repeating messages to the mind until they become true. The mind loves repetition and will lean into what you tell it, especially when it’s on repeat.
Related article: Stick To It: The Benefits of Positive Affirmation
Step 3: Journal It Out
Last but not least, use whatever time you have left - even just 5 minutes - to write out your thoughts and feelings. Allow them to spill onto the page. Write whatever comes to mind, even if this is “I can’t think of anything to write.” Eventually, something will come.
If therapeutic for you, crumble the piece of paper up and throw it away. However, you can also keep this subjective or “comment” section as part of your analysis for next time.
It can provide insight into your thoughts and feelings during this time, offering a baseline for next time.
Related article: Written Emotions: How Journaling Heals Mental Blocks
Check-In With Yourself Regularly
When you do, you begin to understand yourself better. This opens up a whole new world of opportunities and self-discovery. It’s empowerment to know yourself to the best of your capability.
And this is entirely within your grasp.
So, take that time and check in. It doesn’t have to be often. Every few months works! But when you do, you can start to notice patterns and make improvements that actually work. You can turn your focus and energy to things that matter in your life. From there, anything is possible, and that’s the best feeling of them all.
Related article: 7 Reasons Why Self-Care Is Essential For Your Mental Health
