What is mental wellbeing?

There’s a lot of talk and things written about mental health and wellbeing and how important it is for 11 to 18 year olds, but what exactly is mental wellbeing? How do you get it? What does it feel like? How do you look after yours?

In plain language it means feeling ok about things, but we have to be realistic about this because nobody feels just ‘ok’ all the time. It’s normal to have different emotions, to sometimes feel bothered by things or worried, or upset, just as it’s normal to feel especially happy about some things, or confused, or uncertain.

Unlike robots, we’re not all the same, and some of us are better at coping with stuff than others. Again, that’s perfectly normal and not something to worry about.

Why is my wellbeing important?

Having good mental wellbeing affects how you feel about everything in your life. It affects how you feel when you get up in the morning, how you cope with everyday ongoing changes, how you handle stresses and make decisions, and how you feel emotionally in different situations.

Also important is the way your mental wellbeing affects your relationships with other people. Connecting with friends, family, classmates, co-workers or anyone else in everyday life plays a vital role in creating your own sense of mental wellbeing and your feelings about yourself.

When your mental wellbeing is disturbed in some way, then the way we think, feel or act can become difficult for us to cope with, this might be a sign of a mental health problem.

There can be many causes for this: depression, anxiety, eating problems, bipolar disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, suicidal feelings self-harm, to name just a few.

If you feel you’re affected by these problems or any others, and want to talk with someone confidentially about how you feel, you can:

• Text SHOUT to 85258to contact Shout’s textline
• Call HOPELINEUKon 0800 068 4141 or the NHS on 111 and select option 2
• Contact Childline by using 1-2-1 chat or calling 0800 1111

If you feel like you may try to attempt suicide, or you or someone else is seriously hurt, this is an emergency. You should:

• Call 999 and ask for an ambulance
• Tell an adult you trust and ask them to call 999 for help.

What is self-care?

Self-care is whatever we do to take care of ourselves, it’s as simple as that. Anything that you do that you feel will maintain your health or improve it in some way counts as self-care.

It can be something as simple as taking care of your diet, getting regular physical or mental exercise, or getting out into the countryside occasionally for some fresh air.

On the other hand, it might involve a major remedial change to the way you live your life, such as giving up smoking, alcohol or a drug habit.

You might choose to think of it as being kind to yourself, though whatever you call it, it will be behaviour designed to make you feel good.

What can affect my mental wellbeing?

We’re all different, so something that disturbs how you’re feeling may not affect someone else in the same way, if at all. Then again, the things that do affect us might affect us in different ways and at different times.

But it’s important to remember that it’s perfectly natural to be affected by events in our life – that’s just part of being human – especially the major ones that we find difficult to deal with.

Relationships with the people around us can also frequently affect our mental wellbeing – especially if we don’t feel confident about being able to handle them.

Problems at home, school, college or work are often cause for concern, as are problems we might experience with our physical health. Even factors like housing can have a huge impact on our mental health.

While all of these may be things that we can do something about, disturbing events in the wider are beyond our control, but can still affect our mental wellbeing.

How can social media affect my mental wellbeing?

It’s good to be in touch with what’s going on in the world around you. But you have to realise that you can’t take it all in. Nobody expects you to, so don’t try.

What is important, though, is to be aware of how any of the stuff on social media is making you feel. The stuff we see and hear can affect us in ways that make us feel uncomfortable or down without us realising it’s doing that.

Just because lots of other people follow social media apps like TikTok or Instagram, that doesn’t necessarily mean everything on there is good for us. So, if you find any of it makes you feel anxious, scared or upset, it’s ok to unfollow it, mute it, block it or report it, or tell a trusted adult like a teacher, parent or guardian what’s going on.

How can I look after my mental wellbeing?

For this you might find it helpful to just take a step back from everything for a moment and think what you can do to help your wellbeing in the short term.

How do you feel right now? Tired? Hungry? In need of a change of scene? Would listening to music help? Connecting with someone? Finishing a task you started? Getting some peace and quiet, or a bit of privacy? Just sitting down and taking a few slow, deep breaths?

Even if you can’t actually do any of those things just now, make a plan and promise yourself that you’ll do something to help your wellbeing later. Think of yourself as your best friend that you’re making a promise to, then keep it.

How can others help me?

Spending time with other people, especially those you enjoy being around, is a good way of doing something to help yourself, and it can be especially beneficial if you’re used to spending a lot of time alone.

Just talking to other people can have the effect of taking our mind off our problems. Being with our friends, family or partners and enjoying doing things together can have a transformative effect. And if you need to, don’t be reluctant to ask for their help.

Always remember that self-care isn’t being selfish. You’re not depriving anyone of something. You only do that by not taking care of yourself.

If you feel you’re affected by a mental health problem and need help, there’s information here from leading mental health charity, Mind on finding support. YoungMinds, The Mix and Childline also have more information about different mental health problems. YMCA provides qualified guidance to help 69,135 people build — or rebuild — their belief in themselves and a bright future.