Wellbeing Zone

Your mental wellbeing is about how you’re feeling right now, and how well you can cope with daily life. Our wellbeing can change from moment to moment, day to day, or month to month.

Sometimes it changes because of things that happen to us and sometimes it changes for no reason at all. It can affect the way we feel about ourselves and others, and about the things we face in our lives.

“In our hectic lives, we sometimes forget to check in with ourselves. Therefore, we sometimes don’t realise our wellbeing is suffering until we are struggling because of it.”

Having good wellbeing can help you to:

• feel and express a range of emotions
• have confidence and positive self-esteem
• have good relationships with others
• enjoy the world around you
• cope with stress and adapt when things change.

Good wellbeing doesn’t mean you’ll always be happy. It’s normal to feel sad, angry, or low sometimes. But if you have poor wellbeing for a long time you might start to find things more difficult to cope with.

We are all different, so what affects your wellbeing may not be the same for somebody else.

But some common things are:

• difficult or stressful life events
• your relationships with the people around you
• the care and support you get at home and school
• your physical health – how much sleep you get, what you eat and drink, if you take drugs or alcohol, and if you have any health problems
• your environment – housing conditions, how you are treated by others, money problems
• being able to recognise and communicate your emotions.

You may experience difficulties in one or more of these areas, or even experience problems not listed here. That’s okay. Everyone is different.

However your wellbeing is at the moment, there are things you can do to look after and improve it.

What helps you now may not be the same as what helps you in the future.

Try what you feel is comfortable and right for you, at this moment.

“No matter what people say, self-care isn’t selfish. I’ve noticed than whenever I take self-care more seriously, it has a hugely positive impact on how I feel and act.”

Stay safe.
If you feel unable to keep yourself safe, this is an emergency. You can:

• tell an adult you trust and ask them to call for help
• text YM to YoungMind’s Crisis Messenger on 85258, and a counsellor will call you back to talk things through with you
• call HOPELINEUK to talk to an adviser
• or call 999 if you’ve hurt yourself, or feel like you may attempt suicide.

Mental health emergencies are serious. You are not wasting anyone’s time.