Sithembiso Pride Mkhwanazi
Prioritise your mental health in the new year so you can reach your goals
The festive season is over, and a lot of people have come into the new year feeling positive and lively about the possibilities that 2023 brings.
While load-shedding and other economic concerns are on the rise due to the distracting power cuts of four to eight hours — and sometimes longer — South Africans are keeping resilient and are adamant to win the year.
As the fiscal year ended in 2022, most people spoke about their mental health and the journey they took to understand their mental struggles, traumas, depression, anxieties and other mental concepts that have knocked them emotionally and mentally with every curveball that the past year brought.
Stepping into the new year with a little more understanding of their mental wellness, which includes self-care and self-love to curb burnout, 2023 is looking a lot gentler to the mind as people plan and look at life strategies, wins, goals and losses that come with each year.
Although we know the imbalances that face our country, and how some events affect everyone mentally, this year we need to look at how we are building tools that support and aid everyone from a mental health perspective.
One of the most important things to do as we unfold the year is to keep doing the work to impact mental health challenges in schools, businesses and everyday life. People are not machines, so they process life as it happens to them. And how they respond and react reflects where they are in their mental state, which includes feelings about load-shedding, inequalities or finances.
Studies show that when people step into the new year they are optimistic and have many goals and habits they want to start, but they slip as the year goes. Why is this, you may ask? It is due to many factors that have a lot to do with mental fitness, clarity of the mind, understanding processes towards building goals, willpower and subconscious coding stemming from childhood, our environments and social exposure, to name but a few.
What we need to unpack this year is that the mind is an important asset in building any success; we need to make sure that we identify and prioritise mental health plans to stay on top of goals this year.
If you are a leader, you need to make sure that you are doing enough to help people understand their own mental health and how having a grasp on it can impact the choices and decisions they make for long-term success in their lives and work.
In essence, in 2023, your mental health and wellbeing in different areas of your life are the engine of success and how you can get to where you need to be. To get this right, you need to initiate support from coaches, psychologists, or counsellors who remind you to be in touch with your goals and help you let go of any pain or trauma limiting you from reaching them.
I wish you a beautiful journey in the new year!
Love and Light.
Your mental wellness coach
Sithembiso Pride Mkhwanazi
@CoachingMissP on all social platforms