My Health Coach: Bloom where you are Planted

Spring is a time when many people are excited to see more sunlight, hear the birds singing, enjoy the blooms and plant their gardens. During this time of preparation our outdoor gardens need soil, nutrients, water and fertilizer. There are things about the environment we can’t control like the weather, the kind of soil we have access to, and pests. Your health is similar. Tending to your internal garden promotes mental and physical health.  My Health Coach can be a great addition to your health gardening tools.  

Mental Fitness

We can think of our internal garden as what’s going on in our mind and bodies. Mental fitness includes the ability to manage and bounce back from challenges, adapt to change, and support well-being with healthy habits. One of the main drivers of mental fitness is social connection. Having trusted loved ones to celebrate joyful moments with you and be with you during difficult times helps build resilience. Social connections and belonging guard against depression and anxiety as well as decrease symptoms of both.

Plant Seeds and Water Your Garden: Tips to Strengthen Your Connections

• Join a book club
• Join an Employee Resource Group (ERG)
• Mentor a student of any age range (We all have something we can teach.)
• Join a community recreation league playing a sport you loved in the past or experiment with something new
• Get involved in your community – help with local park clean ups, attend town meetings and neighborhood events
• Regularly visit your local library
• Take a class at a community college or at your local adult education school
• Enjoy hobbies with friends
• Volunteer for a cause that is meaningful to you

Evaluate the Soil in Your Garden

In addition to social support, taking inventory of your internal mental garden is essential. What kind of messages are you playing back to yourself? If you tend towards negative thinking, you are not alone. The human mind has a negativity bias to protect us, and we can strengthen our positive thinking muscles. This doesn’t mean ignoring or invalidating feelings like sadness, loss, grief, anger or frustration. It’s having a balanced emotional and mental approach with our thoughts. Meeting with a Health Coach can help you become more aware of your thoughts as you explore how things are going with your health.

Are your thoughts bringing you down or lifting you up? If you notice that most of your thoughts are negative, there are tools you can use to practice interrupting those thoughts. If you regularly judge yourself and others harshly or have a habit of catastrophizing, that’s a signal to question the thoughts you’re having. Is there a way to reframe the situation that is realistic and affirming? Speaking with a professional like a pastor and/or counselor can be very helpful. Using your Employee Assistance Program through Carebridge is an excellent way to tend to your mental garden. Carebridge offers a variety of services including access to a licensed mental health professional 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Many people think “I’m not that bad” and hesitate to use mental health support. We don’t need to be “that bad” to get support. When tending to a garden or plants, you don’t wait until the soil is infested by pests or fungus, you take action as soon as you notice that something is off. It’s the same with your own mental wellness.

Fertilize Your Mental Garden: The Importance of Lifestyle Habits

Taking care of your physical health with nutrition, movement, and sleep is like fertilizer for your mental health.

For non-judgmental support tending to your health garden, use the My Health Coach Program- a free, confidential resource to help you optimize your health. From helping you identify your Life Joys - activities that are fun, purposeful, and connecting- to supporting healthy lifestyle habits, your Health Coach is here for you. Benefits eligible employees and dependents can enroll by calling 866-237-0973 or clicking this link: https://app.trestletree.com/enroll/provide-enrollment-code?enrollment_code=princeton_university.

Resources:

Reference:
Social Connection: https://www.cdc.gov/social-connectedness/about/index.html#:~:text=Protection%20against%20chronic%20disease%20and%20serious%20illness&text=Social%20connection%20can%20help%20reduce,Dementia.