How I'm Becoming the Best Version of Myself: Mentally and Emotionally

So I gave some background on my history with my mental health in my first blog, "How I Got Out of the Dark Hole of Depression and Anxiety", where I shared about my experience with anxiety and depression and the trauma that eventually became the catalyst to this journey. If anyone is interested in hearing more about my experiences with anxiety and depression throughout my life, let me know in the comments and I'm happy to open up more in hopes that it will help someone even if it just lets them know they're not alone! With that being said..let's jump into my vision of the best version of me mentally and emotionally.

I have to say, I have already come a long way mentally and emotionally from my darkest place and I am incredibly proud of myself. There was a time when I had never said those words and now it comes easily. The best version of myself in this category already has a foundation, I just need to build on it and continue to progress. When I thought about how that future me has grown, I saw a girl who is strong, confident, kind and so in love with herself. She journals and practices meditation on a regular basis as way to practice mindfulness and process her emotions in addition to occasional "maintenance therapy", as my therapist calls it. She has hobbies that allow her to bring her mind to a creative place and take time for herself such as reading, painting, hiking, and blogging. She also spends quality time with her loved ones on a regular basis. In order to maintain healthy relationships, she sets and upholds her boundaries without hesitation. (This has been one of the most difficult things for me to tackle during my mental health journey so I'll make a whole blog post about it soon.) Over all, she prioritizes herself because she knows that she can't pour from an empty cup.

Some of these things I've already been working on so not all of the goals will be new. As far as meditation goes, I've been TRYING to learn with guided meditations on the Calm app, but man is it hard to keep focused and just "observe" my thoughts. My dog always thinks that when I meditate, I should be doing something more productive for her in that time such as taking her for another walk. I guess we all have distractions like that whether it's our dog, children, husband, phone buzzing, etc. but the point is to learn how to drown it out, observe our thoughts and practice mindfulness right? So I'll get there with time.....lots of time. Journaling has already become somewhat of a habit for me. I journal daily with a gratitude list and just my thoughts and feelings (except that I've missed the last couple of days..oops!) and I've found that when I experience something that I need to process, my instinct has become to journal, which will make my therapist so proud when I tell him! He's been trying to get me into journaling for over a year now and I've only taken it up in the last four to six weeks but hey, I got there eventually! I also already paint on a fairly regular basis (though I'm not great at it) and have started to read. Reading is something that my first attempt at 75 Hard got me into. I made it 42 days in before I made a mistake and it was a requirement to read ten pages of a self development book everyday. Before that, you couldn't have paid me to read. I hated it for as long as I can remember up until then. Now I love reading self development books on habits, mental health, money, etc. If anyone is interested in my favorites and/or recommendations let me know in the comments!

Anyway, enough rambling. Can you tell I've become super passionate about this subject?! I could honestly go on forever but let's get to my goals that will get me to the best version of myself mentally and emotionally.

1. Read at least one self development book every month.

2. Take two vacations in 2021. (I'd like to build up the courage to take one of these alone but we shall see about that. If you've done this, PLEASE share your tips in the comments.)

3. Keep a daily journal including a gratitude list along with thoughts and feelings.

4. Meditate daily, even if it's only for five minutes.

5. Do something fun alone at least once each month. (I'll be facing a fear here and taking myself to some dinners alone. Eeeek!)

6. Do something fun social at least once each month.

It's not on the list, but eventually I'm thinking I'd like to find a way to help others along this type of journey. I don't want to become a therapist because I'm not going back to school so I'll have to figure out how that could happen. If you have any ideas, please share! A life coach maybe? I don't know.

That sums it up for me! What goals do you have for yourself mentally and emotionally right now?