Good Mental Health is a Lifelong Practice
When we think about good mental health, we can often think about a life where stress, worry, or difficult feelings never come up. But throughout our lives we will always face challenges, pressures, and unexpected triggers, and these will inevitably impact our mental health and wellbeing. Good mental health doesn’t mean being unaffected by these experiences; it means actively maintaining your wellbeing through ongoing practices that help you respond to triggers and challenges better, with greater resilience, more compassion, and self-care.
Mental Health as a Lifelong Practice
Just like physical health, mental health isn’t something you “fix” once and then forget. It’s an ongoing practice that you return to throughout your life. Some days, it can feel easy; other days, it can take extra effort, or even feel completely impossible. The goal is to keep showing up for yourself. This means trying to put strategies into action when stress builds, sometimes failing, and then trying again. It means actively checking in with yourself and making adjustments when old patterns resurface, and occasionally forgetting to check in at all. It’s reminding yourself that progress comes from small, consistent shifts over time rather than dramatic overnight change.
Emotional & Cognitive Wellbeing
A key part of good mental health is about how you relate to your emotions and thoughts. It’s not about trying to only feel “positive” emotions but learning learning to ride the wave of all feelings without being completely capsized by them. Good mental health also includes learning to notice your thoughts instead of buying into them. That means:
Practicing self-compassion in moments of self-criticism (e.g “I’m a bad parent” -> “I’m doing my best”).
Noticing when your thoughts begin to spiral (e.g. catastrophising, overthinking, replaying) and gently grounding yourself to the present moment.
Engaging in regular self-care.
Creating moments for hope, and gratitude alongside the harder stuff.
Healthy Habits for Mental Health: Sleep, Food, Exercise & Health
The basics really, really matter. How we sleep, eat, move, and care for our bodies directly affects how we think, feel, and respond to stress. These daily habits shape our brain chemistry and emotional resilience. When they’re out of balance, everything else in life can feel harder to manage.
In Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) these basics are referred to as “vulnerability factors”They’re the conditions that make us more sensitive, less resilient, and more easily overwhelmed by our emotions. For example:
Not getting enough sleep.
Skipping meals or eating an inbalanced diet.
Using alcohol or substances to cope.
Being sick or navigating pain or health conditions.
All of these increase the likelihood of feeling anxious, flat, stressed, or emotionally reactive.
Taking care of the basics isn’t about perfection, it’s about giving ourselves the best possible foundation to handle life’s challenges. It’s about being mindful of your patterns, noticing what helps you feel steadier, and making small, sustainable changes over time.
The goal is not flawless routines, but “good enough” care:
Aiming for some movement throughout the week.
Striving for regular, adequate meals each day.
Obtaining a reasonable amount of sleep each night.
Reducing or avoiding substance use.
Supporting your physical health as best you can: whether you’re able-bodied or living with chronic health or pain conditions.
These basics won’t prevent all stress or difficult emotions, but they do give you a stronger foundation. With steadier habits, you’re more grounded, more resilient, and better able to navigate life’s ups and downs.
Meaning in Life
Another important layer of good mental health and wellbeing is having a sense of purpose in life—whether thats through your work, hobbies, some form of creativity, personal relationships, or faith/spirituality. Engaging in activities that bring you meaning and satisfaction creates a resource you can draw on during difficult times. Outside of tough times, even small practices can help contribute to, maintain and restore overall balance in your mental health and wellbeing.
A core component of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is the idea that we all need to live a life that feels meaningful to us. According to ACT, meaning comes from living in alignment with your values. This starts with clarifying what matters most to you, the qualities and directions you want to embody, such as compassion, creativity, connection, or growth. When you identify your values, you can begin making choices and taking steps that move you toward a life that feels more fulfilling and authentic.
Healthy Relationships and Mental Health & Wellbeing
We’re also not moving through this world alone, connection and community are essential for good mental health and wellbeing. The people around us, partners, friends, family, colleagues, can either be our safety net or, can contribute to our problems!
Building and maintaining our mental health means tending to your relationships: having open and honest conversations, setting healthy boundaries, and choosing spaces and people where you can be your full self. Safe, respectful connections are one of the strongest foundations for resilience and are essential to our mental health and wellbeing.
Getting Started with Your Mental Health Practice
If you’re thinking about strengthening your own mental health, it can help to:
Start with a simple check-in routine, noting things like:
Energy levels—Do you feel alert, drained, somewhere in between?
Sleep quality—Roughly how well or how much did you sleep?
Thoughts and feelings—What’s on your mind? How are you feeling emotionally?
Body cues—Are you hungry, tense, restless, comfortable?
Practice small, steady changes: focusing on one area at a time instead of trying to overhaul everything all at once.
Talk it through with someone you trust: whether that’s a friend, family member, or a professional.
Journal: not a daily expectation but something you tap into from time to time if you’re feeling stuck. Two of my most favourite journal prompts recently came from The Self Space:
“On a scale of brutal (bad) to mint (very good), how are ya feeling?”
“Who and what makes you feel even marginally less shit?”
Building Emotional Resilience
Even with healthy habits and strong supports, there will still be days when stress, anxiety, or old triggers arise. The key is recognizing that resilience isn’t about avoiding difficult emotions, it’s about how we respond to them.
With practice and time, you may notice that:
The distress feels less intense
It occurs less frequently
It doesn’t linger as long
This is what emotional resilience looks like. It’s not about never feeling overwhelmed, it’s about gradually becoming better equipped to navigate life’s challenges. Developing this resilience is a core part of maintaining good mental health.
Mental Health Resources in Australia
If you’d like extra support in building your mental health and wellbeing practices, these trusted resources are a great place to start:
Smiling Mind – a free mindfulness app to help you build a mental fitness routine.
Black Dog Institute – evidence-based programs and resources, including a CBT-informed app for helping to track thoughts, feelings, and behaviours.
For more personalised support, reaching out to a psychologist or counsellor can provide a safe space to explore your needs and develop skills that you can apply across your life.
If you’re interested in building your mental health practices further, feel free to get in contact below.