Hey Guys, I’m Sean

View post on imgur.com

Hey Guys,

I’m Sean and I’ve decided to come on as a regular contributor (you may have seen my GuestBulge, you can refer to it if you wanna get my info basics) so I figured I’d start off by just introducing myself and talking a little bit about whats going on in my life right now and hopefully some of you can relate.

Mental health is something that hits close to home for me both because I suffer from various mental illnesses and because I have a background in psychology & counseling, so it’s something I’d like to touch on. I’m sure it isn’t news to anyone that we are living through a scary time right now. Between the months of pandemic and now widespread civil unrest, I wanted to say that it is OK if your mental health is not the greatest right now.

We are living through an unprecedented time in American history where the news media is being dominated by constant negativity and suffering. This is something that would take a mental toll on people during the best of conditions, let alone after months of being jobless and stuck at home. This is something that has been affecting me personally because I work as a personal trainer and the gym that I work at has been closed since March 16th.

My mental health has definitely taken a hit from everything going but I’ve been using a few different strategies to try and mitigate some of the damage that I thought I’d share with you below:

1. Stay Active – Now I know this is easier said than done considering the current circumstances, so it may require some thinking outside the box. Exercise is one of the most powerful tools to combat anxiety so it is an absolute MUST that you make it a priority. Although gyms may be closed, there’s still an abundance of things that you can do at home and the internet is a great resource. If you just go to YouTube and search “at home workouts” you should be able to find everything from yoga, to calisthenics, to resistance training workouts you can do in the comfort of your home
2. Limit your viewing exposure – In the age of smartphones and social media it is very easy to become addicted to being connected. News from all over the world is constantly accessible at our fingertips and it can quickly become a vacuum that will suck you in. If your mental health is beginning to wane, know that it is OK to unplug from the world for a bit. Whether its for a few days or a few hours, sometimes your body and mind just need to take a break from the constant negativity of the world. Take some time that you’d normally be scrolling social media and invest it into one of your hobbies or spending time with friends & family.
3. Try to focus on things that are within your control – This one is huge and learning how to do this has had the biggest positive impact on my mental health out of everything I’ve learned over the years. With everything going on right now, it is very easy to feel helpless and overwhelmed. We see everything happening and wish that there was more that we could do to affect change. My strategy for dealing with any situation is to assess it, find out what aspects I can directly control, then focus only on those aspects and try to shut the others out of my mind. For an example, let’s look at the COVID-19 pandemic. When dealing with the pandemic you’ll never be able to control government guidelines, how businesses deal with it, or how other people chose to prepare (or not prepare) themselves, so these are things that you should put out of your mind. What you CAN control is how you react and prepare yourself. For example, using hand sanitizer, wearing a mask in public, wiping down any shared surfaces and items, etc. The key is understanding that there is only so much that you can personally do to affect a situation and understanding where those limits are. Once you have done all of those things, you should feel content in the fact that you did everything you could.

I’m sorry if I got a little long winded but this is a topic I feel very strongly about and I hope I was able to help some of you out there who may be struggling. I’d love to talk more if anyone would like to! You can find me at:

Instagram

Reddit

Twitter

Onlyfans

or my email

Take care & be safe!