17 Harmful Habits That Negatively Affect Your Mental Health

Taking care of your mental health is essential, regardless of your age. If you have harmful habits, they can really mess with your day-to-day life. But don’t worry, you can eliminate them if you know what they are. So, in this post,

I’ll tell you about 17 things that can mess up your mental health. The sooner you get rid of them, the better it’s for you. So, are you ready to check them out? Let’s get started!

Oh yes, if you think it’ll take too much time to get rid of all negative habits, then you’re wrong. It doesn’t take more than 21 days to make a new habit or break an old ones.

Compulsive Social Media Use

What is the first thing you do after waking up? Do you meditate or scroll through all those meme videos on TikTok?

You’re starting your day with a bad habit if it’s the latter. Your subconscious mind is the most active when you go to sleep after you wake up. These two moments are the best if you want to visualize something for your life, whether short-term goal or long-term.

Initially, you’ll feel uncomfortable not scrolling through social media after waking up, but replace it with visualization, and you’ll see the difference in a few weeks.

Procrastination

I don’t need to teach you how dangerous procrastination is. Procrastination is the habit of delaying every task you can think of. 

Initially, you may think, “Oh, it’s okay, I’ll do it later. It’s a minuscule job anyway.” But that won’t happen. Days will go past, and you’ll keep on pushing the date. 

You can overcome procrastination by being disciplined and overcoming unsolved issues. It won’t be easy initially, but you can beat procrastination quickly with a disciplined attitude. 

Unhealthy Eating Habits

Overeating is a habit that even the most disciplined people fail to overcome. You may be following a strict routine at home, but when you visit your longtime friend, you unconsciously forget about all your routine and dive in.

You might not believe me, but overeating has a direct impact on your mental health.

Get rid of overeating. That does not mean you should starve yourself to death but eat only 75% of your belly. A light belly automatically lightens your body, aiding a healthy mind.

Not Letting Go

I know. It’s hard to let go when an emotion is continuously bothering you. It’s mentally and sometimes physically painful to hear when someone says, “Just let it go.”

But not letting go can seriously damage your mental health, and it has been clinically proven that holding onto emotions suppresses your energy and may also cause various diseases.

You might have heard about people who get physically healed after letting go of a certain emotion they have been holding for years. It’s because, by letting go, all the blocked energies get cleared.

Perfectionism

Perfectionism is an illusion, and fortunately, there’s no such thing as perfection. No matter how diligently you strive, perfection remains unattainable. If you find yourself on the path of chasing an ideal that doesn’t exist, frustration is likely to follow.

Always remember: ‘You are enough.’ Embrace your imperfections, as they are what make you uniquely human. Yes, you are. To err is human. Your relentless pursuit of perfection is self-imposed torture. Please be kind to yourself.”

No Physical Activity

Do you know your physical health is closely linked to your mental health? You might have seen this in people who are constantly physically unhealthy; they also become mentally ill, express frustration, anger, and depression.

This is also the case for people who don’t engage in any kind of physical exercise. Participating in physical exercise releases certain chemicals in your body that contribute to better mental health.

You can practice yoga or lift weights every day. You can participate in marathons and volunteer work. Abandon laziness and create a balance between physical and mental health.

Being Isolated

Isolation messes with your head big time. Isolation is often considered as the peak of loneliness that brings anxiety, depression and sadness with itself.

There’s a great difference between being alone and being lonely. You stay alone by choice, but being lonely may not be your choice. We humans need social life to stay balanced. And when that’s missing, things can get real tough real fast.

You might end up losing you sleep, lose appetite, lose weight, and finally disease enters. So, don’t spend a loner’s life and punish yourself. Stay connected, and keep your mental game strong.

Avoiding Responsibilities

I read a lovely book in which the author describes the subtle meaning of “responsibility.” The author says that you are responsible for everything that’s happening in this world. Doesn’t matter whether it’s happening in front of you or not. But, it’s upon you to ‘take responsibility.’

You are ‘responsible’ but it’s entirely up your to take that responsibility seriously. Avoiding, on the other hand, is a different matter. Avoiding responsibility makes you mentally weak. It weakens your aura and your influence over things gets reduced.

Holding Grudges

Buddha once wisely stated, “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.”

Similarly, holding grudges is akin to burdening yourself with a heavy backpack full of stones. These rocks serve no purpose other than to weigh you down. While it might seem easier to hold onto grudges, unfortunately, doing so only brings more pain in the long run.

The best way to free yourself from a grudge is to let go, as mentioned earlier. When you release your grudges, you invite positivity into your life, contributing to your immediate mental well-being.

Embrace forgiveness and let go of any lingering grudges.

Clutter

A clutter-free life blesses anyone with a healthy mind. Your eyes are one of the most important sense organ. You consume majority of your surrounding with your eyes.

And when those eyes see clutter in your life, it automatically sends a message to the Brain about how everything is messed up. Cluttered and unwelcoming. This also directly affects your everyday life.

What is the first thing you want to see in your day? Do you want to see all your clothes, laptop, mobile phone, etc kept neatly at their place, what sort of feeling you’ll get is you see a neatly arranged room?

If you’re already clutter-free, Cheers! Continue doing it and you’ll keep on making your mind healthy.

Unawareness

Honestly, living in a state of unawareness is like being in a plane on autopilot—it’s moving forward, but you’re clueless about whether it’s safe or heading straight for a mountain. It’s easy to get caught up in the daily grind, jumping from one task to another without truly soaking in the moment.

Unawareness can potentially lead to a disconnect from others and, even worse, from yourself. Without awareness, it’s like sleepwalking through life. Embracing awareness means tuning into the sights and emotions around us, bringing a richer and more fulfilling experience to our journey.

Becoming aware doesn’t happen overnight. Initially, you might only grasp some things for a brief time. However, with continuous practice, you’ll notice a shift in your thinking. You’ll become more responsive and less reactive.

Overthinking

Overthinking is akin to repeatedly boiling and cooling a bottle of water – it yields nothing valuable, only loss in the form of steam. When you engage in overthinking, you sacrifice your mental peace and life energy without gaining anything in return.

Overthinking makes every decision, no matter how trivial, a mental obstacle filled with “what ifs.” Overcoming overthinking involves recognizing when to let go. The trick is to recognize the best moment to let go.

The real magic happens when we strike a balance between thoughtful contemplation and guarding ourselves from endless analysis. Embrace simplicity, take a moment to ponder the worst-case scenario, and remind yourself that most things we excessively worry about never really unfold in our lives.

And even if what we fear happens occurs in our lives, it’s not as intense as we thought it would be. It’s you goddamn mind that causes anxiety.

Stop overthinking right now! Just chill and enjoy the present moment. You were anxious about what would happen tomorrow. But tomorrow is here and everything’s normal.

Not Being Grateful

Since our childhood, we were taught to greet thank you to anyone who helped us. No matter whether they were younger or older than use. Why? Because thank you is the quickest and the shortest way to express gratefulness to someone.

We have got to appreciate the beauty in our lives, savor those small joys, and be gracious for all the little victories.

Being grateful towards something or someone also awakens love within. This love stays with you always and raises your vibration and mental health. I know you are always grateful, but how often are you actually grateful while saying ‘Thank You?”

Being the YES Person

A ‘YES’ person might be adored by many, but let’s be real—why? They’re sacrificing their self-esteem just to keep everyone happy, and honestly, that’s the worst thing you can do to yourself.

Sure, it’s one thing to approach things with a serving attitude, but when it comes at the expense of your self-esteem, that’s just plain abusive. Start prioritizing yourself NOW!

Sure, in the beginning, you might face hurdles from those used to your ‘YES,’ but guess what? That’s positive sign. You’re naturally decreasing the abusive people from your precious life.

Soon, you’ll notice people with high self-esteem and a healthy mind attracted towards you. You’ll naturally start feeling good about yourself, and voila! Your mental health is on the upswing.

Pessimism

I read somewhere that a negative mentality, also called pessimism, is addictive. The human brain enjoys complaining, throwing tantrums, and staying in a protective shield all its life. But let’s get real for a second… It’s insanely harmful in the long run.

Harboring a mentality of constantly expecting the worst can severely mess up your mental health. Being cautious is okay and sometimes necessary, but it’s not okay when you constantly stay in such a state.

Start looking at the bright side of things, even if it’s just as small as a grain of salt. And you can be almost 100% sure that the brain won’t like it. No matter what happens, you need to keep being optimistic and be that way as much as you can.

And if you continue to embrace positive things in your life, soon you’ll see positive things automatically happen in your life. You’ll attract good people, good situations, and in the end, a healthy mind.

Ignoring Burnout

Burnout is like a sneaky rat. It slowly creeps into your life and suddenly gnaws at your mind so quickly you won’t have time to respond. Your body, just like a machine, has limits. Pushing yourself too hard can burn you out in no time, especially if your life has friction.

Burnout can wreak havoc if you don’t acknowledge the signs early. Early signs of burnout are subtle anxiety and getting fed up pretty quickly while doing something.

Burnout is becoming pretty common these days because of the hustle culture. It’s tempting to tear through various hurdles, deadlines, stress, and finally achieve what you wanted, but at what cost?

Take a moment to calm down. The world is going nowhere! Nothing extensive is going to happen if you take a break from your daily hustle. In fact, it’ll only improve your mental health and increase your productivity.

Being In Negative Company

Finally, we have reached the end of all the harmful habits that are bad for your mental health.

What kind of company do you keep? Is it a group of people with a positive view of life or a negative one? Remember? Pessimism can literally destroy your life. Being in a negative company is like constantly walking through a storm, that too without an umbrella.

You absorb energy wherever you go. Your body and mind act like sponges. So, if you spend too much time in negative company, you’ll end up becoming like them.

Of course, you can’t always completely avoid negative people and negativity in general, but set your boundaries and seek the positive. Surround yourself with those who uplift, inspire, and encourage you. These people will show you the real meaning of life.

That’s all from my side. Now it’s over to you…

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