Spending time with friends
Sometimes when we are feeling low or anxious it can be really easy to slowly stop getting out and seeing our friends as much as we used to. For some people, it can be really helpful to try and break that habit by purposefully spending more time with friends and people you get along with.
‘Ringing for a chat helps you get away from how you’re feeling’.
There are lots of things you can do with your friends including:
- Have regular film nights or start a book club.
- Go for long walks or exercise together.
- Host a games night or play games together online.
- Make dinner together - each bringing a dish!
- Volunteer or attend a class or course together.
Making new friends can sometimes be difficult especially if you've recently moved or started studying somewhere new. A great, free site to help you find new friends with similar interests in your area is Meetup.
In this video, Dr. Roslyn Law gives some advice about how being around supportive friends and family or other trusted individuals can help you if you're feeling low or anxious or struggling with poor mental health:
What young people have told us:
'Being with people who make you feel confident and good about yourself can really boost your mental health. Having a laugh really helps me to feel happier.'
'You might not feel like being around people, but sometimes not thinking about how you're feeling and them taking your mind off things can be really helpful.'
There isn’t much academic research in the area of self-care for young people who are living with mental health issues. We are trying to find out more about what works for different people so we can better advise other young people what to try.
If you’ve tried this activity when you were struggling in relation to your mental health, please let us know if it helped you and how by clicking on the ‘Did this activity help you’ button.