Its Mental Health Awareness Week and there are many initiatives happening despite lockdown. The link between alcohol use and mental health issues can’t be denied, and while drinking too much doesn’t cause anxiety and depression it most definitely exacerbates it. The Mental Health Foundation have chosen as their theme for Mental Health awareness week – – Kindness. I can’t think of a better theme, so long as we all incorporate being ‘selfkind’ into our daily lives too.
On the Alcohol Free Life Podcast I have interviewed a couple of leading lights on the subject of kindness. (bear in mind they were recorded long before lockdown!) Dr David Hamilton wrote the awesome book Why Kindness is good for you, and he does a fantastic job in the the book and on the interview with me, describing the science of kindness (David is a former Biochemist) and just how beneficial it can be physiologically, for both the giver and the receiver. Listen Here
I also interviewed Shahroo Izadi a behavioral change expert who wrote The Kindness Method, the premise is that to grow and evolve and step into our authentic selves we need to be Self kind, many of us aren’t. We allow the inner critic to take over, and while we remember to open doors for others, look after those we love, smile at strangers, so many forget to be kind to ourselves. Listen Here
It takes practice!
In The Sober Club this week we are running a 5 Day Kindness Challenge which includes opportunities for being kind to others as well as ourselves. As we are still in lockdown its not as easy to do random acts of kindness, we can’t pay for a coffee for the person behind us, or even open doors for strangers, with social distancing rules, but there is still a lot we can do to focus on kindness, and most definitely we can do the ‘Selfkind’ bit, So many people who have been drinking too much have low self esteem and slowly but surely as we ditch the booze and emerge and blossom into our real selves, we can start to understand the concept of self love.
Set yourself a kindness challenge, do at least one thing each day that is being kind to others and at least one thing that is being kind to yourself. If you want inspiraiton and accountability join us as a member in The Sober Club