Merry Christmas! Omg, how fast has this year flown by? It’s crazy! I know it’s Christmas today and probably not a lot of you are waiting for a new blog post from me. But hey, not everyone is celebrating today. Yes, I see you! And I’m here for you also. So, let’s discuss mental health today. Because we are NOT focusing enough on our mental health. We’re running and flying to keep up with life and forget about ourselves.

And no, I didn’t change industries. I’m not a mental health coach. I’m still a career coach, but I think that your mental health is SUPER important when it comes to your career and your whole life, basically. 

Let me walk you through some necessary steps to improve your mental health. I know some of them, because I have experience with them. Other things I should also start doing. So you’re not the only one that’s guilty in not always taking care of yourself. Let’s go!

1. Start your day with meditation

I know that this sounds so silly, especially if you’re not a meditation person. But believe me, it gives you SUCH a piece of mind to start the day. I can still remember the moment that I said to someone else “meditation doesn’t work for me”. Oeh how stubborn I was. But then there came a day, that I just decided to try it.

So, what I do every morning before I actually start my day:

1. First things first, coffee. I mean. There’s no morning without coffee.
2. Then I sit down and do a breathing exercise of 1 minute to calm my nervous system down.
3. Then I listen to a story on the wakeup (Headspace). This can be about everything that has to do with life. It usually takes about 4 minutes. It really helps to make you aware of certain things in life that you can easily take for granted.
4. I do my 3×3. This means me saying out loud 3 things that I’m grateful for, 3 desires I have and 3 things I want to get done that day to be able to say that it was a successful day.
5. Then I’m waking up my brain with a few lessons on Duolingo. Yes, always learning languages. Currently busy with Italian.

And after that, I’m ready to start my day. Before I started doing this, my days started in chaos. And since I started doing this, I have so much more peace in my mind. It really helps.

2. Create blocks in your calendar

You have no idea how much this helps with setting limits for yourself. You’re probably experiencing a lot of “How’s the day already over yet? I’m not done!”. Yes, been there, done that. Create blocks! For example with your email. Create 3 blocks of 30 minutes: one at the start of your day, one after lunch and one at the end of your day. Outside those blocks, you’re not allowed to touch your email. This will already save you so much time! Your email goes on and on during the day and you’re losing HOURS with that. 

Is there a certain task that you have to do every day? Block 1 or 2 hours for that every day. After that, move on with other things that need your attention.

Always leave a block of at least one hour for unplanned and urgent things. What always have worked best for me is meetings in the morning and administrative tasks in the afternoon. Try it out and see what works best for you.

Either way, this works better than not having any blocks and doing everything all day every day.

3. Treat yourself to more selfcare

Guilty of this for sure! We just keep on going and keep running to keep track of our life and the goals that we want to achieve, that we forget ourselves in the process.

I have decided on making a few changes and things I want for myself in 2025:

• I already have a nail appointment monthly, that I am keeping in there, because it makes me happy
• What I’m doing way too little is eating healthy and going to the gym enough. That’s definitely something I want to improve. I already did it for a while this past year, but then life got in the way and I let it slide. You know how it goes. But this year I’m not letting life get into the way anymore. I’m going to the gym at least 3 times a week and will eat healthy at least 5 days a week.
• What I absolutely am not doing now and what I really want to start with is treating myself to a massage once a month. 

I want you to also name 3 things regarding self care that you want to do for yourself in 2025. It can be 1 thing that you’re already doing, 1 thing that you’re partially doing but want to improve and 1 thing that you’re going to start doing. Just like what I did. Put it in your calendar for 2025 and let’s review in a year how far we’ve come with it!

What are you changing in 2025 regarding your mental health?

That’s all for me this week.

Remember: chase your dreams, be fierce and never settle!