It’s never too late to stop growing…and it’s never too late to start.

I have the pleasure of sitting in a space with human beings, from the age of 5 to 88 years old, 88 is not an age cap for who I will work with, it just happens to be the most mature person I have worked with.

Can we pause there for a second, 88 years old! Is that not incredible that a human, with less time on this earth than statistically a 35-year-old, decides there is still time for self growth and learning. The vulnerability that someone has to say, I would like to talk to someone about my issues or areas in my life, I would like support on understanding, healing, and learning from key areas of my life. What a very beautiful gift that a person gives themselves as well as the community they are apart of such as friends, family, to show that no matter our age, we should always make time to work on ourselves and spend time learning and growing.

Food for thought on why it’s important to grow your mental health

• “Mental health includes emotional, psychological, and social well-being.
  It is more than the absence of a mental illness—it’s essential to your overall health and quality of life”.

• “Self-care can play a role in maintaining your mental health and help support your treatment and recovery if you have a mental illness”.

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/caring-for-your-mental-health

• “The balance between vulnerability and resilience is central to mental health promotion and certain groups with specific burdens face a higher risk of poorer mental health”.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3822658/

Where can I start? Or how do I check in and maybe reset.

• Create a wellness wheel; draw a circle and divide that circle into the key sections of your life where you currently spend your time. For example, intellectual, mental, and physical wellness, spirituality, social, physiological, family etc. Now create another circle and divide those sections in the percentage of time you want to be spending in those key areas. What are the obstacles? Who are the obstacles?
  (You can google Wellness Wheel, lots of great resources out there to get your started).

• Understand your needs; Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a great starting point.

• Stages of change model; What stage are you in on the key areas of your life.

• Set S.M.A.R.T goals.

• Setting boundaries with yourself and people. Look at your emotional, psychological, and social well being- is there a space that needs some additional time or a space you can spend less time in?

• Reach out to a mental health provider. Psychology today is a great website to find a counsellor in your area. https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca

• At RNG counselling, we offer online (ON and BC) and in person (Kingston ON) counselling services.