Mental wellness practices are honestly the only thing keeping me from yeeting my laptop out the window some days, cuz right now I’m in my shoebox apartment in Philly and the radiator’s clanking like it’s got a personal vendetta. Like, last week I legit bawled over a dropped burrito—cheese everywhere, floor sticky, me on my knees—and these mental wellness practices were the duct tape holding my brain together. I’ve been half-assing them since spring, some days nailing it, others forgetting till I’m mid-meltdown. Anyway, heres the five that actually stuck, no filter.
Why Mental Wellness Practices Are My Lifeline in This American Rat Race
Listen, mental wellness practices aren’t that polished crap you see on wellness accounts; they’re messy bandaids for when life’s punching you in the face. Remember that time in June when I tried journaling on the subway and my pen exploded? Ink on my jeans, strangers staring, total disaster—but it still counted as one of my emotional health hacks. They’re not magic, I’m still a wreck half the time, but they make the chaos… manageable? Ish.
Mental Wellness Practices #1: Breathwork That Feels Like Cheating at Calm
Breathwork as a mental wellness practice started cuz I saw some influencer do it and thought “whatever, can’t hurt.” Cut to me in a Wawa bathroom stall—yeah, that glamorous—doing box breathing while hiding from my boss’s texts. Inhale 4, hold 4, exhale 4, repeat till the panic subsides. First time I tried, I hyperventilated and had to sit on the nasty floor. Now? Morning routine with my burnt coffee, even if my cat’s knocking shit off the counter. NIH says it actually works, who knew.
- Do it in weird places—elevator, DMV line, hiding from your roommate’s bad cooking.
- If you sneeze mid-hold? Just roll with it, life’s too short.
Mental Wellness Practices #2: Journaling Like I’m Beefing With My Own Brain
Journaling’s my mental wellness practice for when I wanna scream but can’t. Picture me at 3am, LED strip lights flickering, scribbling “why do I suck at adulting” in a notebook with a broken spine. Sometimes it’s gratitude (“thanks for this semi-clean towel”), sometimes it’s pure venom about my ex’s new girlfriend. Last month I journaled through food poisoning—bad idea, but cathartic? Psychology Today has prompts if you’re stuck.
The Mental Wellness Practices Power Move #3: Walking Till My Feet Hate Me
Walking as mental wellness practices? Revolutionary, I know. But my version’s stomping through Philly dodging cracked sidewalks and aggressive squirrels, headphones blasting true crime podcasts to drown out my thoughts. Did it after bombing a presentation—walked 6 miles, ended up in a random park eating gas station sushi. Feet blistered, soul slightly less crushed. Harvard says it releases happy chemicals, cool cool.
Quick Tangent on Mental Wellness Practices Fails
Tried running once. Ate shit on a curb. Cried in front of a hot dog cart. Never again.
Mental Wellness Practices #4: Gratitude But Make It Sarcastic
Gratitude in my mental wellness is listing three things that don’t completely suck, even if it’s “this yogurt isn’t expired… yet.” Did it during a blackout—phone at 3%, me whispering “thanks for this one candle that smells like ass but works.” Neighbor definitely heard me thanking my dying succulent. It’s dumb but shifts something. Science backs the mood boost.
Mental Wellness Practices #5: Micro-Meditations in Dumb Places
Final mental wellness practice: 60-second meditations wherever—microwave beeping, stuck in traffic, pretending to listen to my aunt’s MLM pitch. Started after a Zoom where my camera froze mid-yawn. Closed eyes, focused on the AC hum, came back less homicidal. Now I do it in grocery lines judging people’s cart choices. Free therapy, basically.
These mental wellness are my Frankenstein monster of coping—stitched together with caffeine and desperation. I’ve forgotten them for weeks, remembered mid-crisis, hated myself for both. But they work enough to keep me from moving back to my parents’ basement (barely). Pick one, make it weird, make it yours. What’s your chaotic go-to? Spill in the comments, I read ’em all while stress-eating pretzels.
