Finding Your Footing: Nita Sweeney's Guide to Mental Wellness and Movement

Well, what is the number one mental health tip you can share with the audience?

I would say the biggest thing, um, is to chunk it down.

So let's say you decide, "I'm gonna try some kind of movement.

I, I keep hearing, I keep seeing these studies.

I'm gonna try some ki- kind of movement." Start small.

You know, if you're stuck on the sofa like I was, um, start with 60 seconds or just start by, like, jogging around the couch a couple times, uh, something like that.

Or, um, um, you know, don't try to, like, bite the whole thing at once.

And same thing with, with writing a book.

Start a, start by writing little essays first or just journaling.

Um, if you're gonna meditate, which is another one of my three tools that I really, really believe keeps me on the planet, start with five minutes.

You know, set the microwave timer for five minutes.

That's actually how I started.

My husband, I was dating him, you know, very early, probably just a few months even into our dating, and he said, "Hey, you want to sit?" And I went, "You want to what?" And he meant meditate.

And he set the microwave timer for five minutes, which felt like, really, it felt like an eternity.

But, uh, um, but from that we built to the point that now I have a regular practice where I can sit, you know, for long periods of times, 20 minutes, half an hour, uh, much, much longer actually, but, but those are kind of the hallmark times.

So yeah, that's probably the biggest tip is just to choose a goal, whatever it is, so small that you can't fail.

And then once you have the success of that, let that build.

Like, build on that and, um, you know, get a win first before you try to do, um, anything bigger.

Because especially if you're facing a mental health challenge- Um, the overwhelm can be just so intense that the idea of going running seems absurd, which it did to me.

I didn't go out right away.

I had to watch her for a while and kind of build up my own, um, curiosity and courage.

And so, uh, so yeah, that's...

It's like, don't, don't, you know, re-traumatize yourself by overwhelming yourself.

Um, and then the other-- I'm gonna give you two even though you didn't ask for two.

The other one is to just stay.