Improve your emotional wellbeing – give

Five ways to mental wellbeing

At My CWA, we follow the Government’s five ways to mental wellbeing* in our work with families and individuals affected by domestic abuse

Give

The fifth and final area of wellbeing is give. And there are a few different ways that we can interpret ‘give’ without any financial implications.

Give to others

Acts of giving and kindness can help improve our mental wellbeing. So giving to others doesn’t have to involve giving an actual gift or spending hard-earned cash. It can be something small – like saying thank you to a friend. Or something bigger – like volunteering in your community.

Giving to others can make you feel good. It can enhance your sense of self-worth. It can help you connect – or reconnect – with other people.

Giving to others can enhance your sense of self-worth.

You can give to others by giving the people you love and care about your time. Be present in their lives. Give them comfort during times of sadness. Support them during tough times. And share their joy during their happiest moments.

This doesn’t mean giving more to people than they give back. It doesn’t mean always being there to listen to people’s troubles and being dropped when they’ve finished offloading onto you. It doesn’t mean being a doormat.

Being generous with your time to people who deserve and appreciate your generosity can help to improve your mental wellbeing and create a strong support network – and we all know that domestic abuse can fracture our support network.

Give a compliment

Giving a compliment isn’t just about telling someone they look nice or that you like their hair cut or their new trainers. Compliments can go beyond what someone looks like or what they’re wearing. And the great thing about giving a compliment is that it works both ways – you make someone else feel good and the act itself makes you feel good.

Compliments get addictive. The more often you give them, the more you want to dish out.

Got a friend whose parenting style you’ve always admired? Tell them. Got a relative who always knows the right thing to say when you have a problem? Tell them. And thank them. Got a colleague who shares their experience with you to help you improve at work? Tell them how fabulous they are and how much you appreciate them.

Many of us think of compliments every day, but sometimes we hold back on actually saying things out loud. But the more you do it, the more comfortable you’ll get about giving compliments. Why not try it today?

Give yourself time

If you’ve been affected by domestic abuse, this a really important one. Give yourself time to work on your recovery journey and heal from the trauma you’ve experienced.

Sit down with a brew and reflect. Have a long shower or a soak in the bath. Go for a mindful walk – where your phone stays in your pocket and you take notice of your senses – what can you see, hear, smell, feel…?

We’ve supported thousands of people with their recovery journeys over the years and many of them take choose creativity as a coping mechanism – things like art, poetry, journaling or creative writing.

What’s great about creativity is that it’s completely unique to you. There are no right or wrongs. No-one else needs to see the results. You don’t even have to tell anyone about it. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never picked up a paintbrush before. Or if you’ve never read a poem, let alone written one. Pick up that paint brush. Dust off that notebook. Just make a start.

Click on the images below for some inspiration…

Give yourself time to process your feelings and see where your creativity takes you. Remember to make time for yourself and really treasure that time spent on you and your own personal healing process. Why not get started today?

If you’ve experienced domestic abuse and you’re not sure where to start with moving on, contact us today and we’ll help you move forward towards a brighter, happier future.

*The five areas of wellbeing are:

Connect: Strengthening relationships with others – and feeling close to and valued by others, including at work – is critical to boosting wellbeing.
Keep learning: Being curious and seeking out new experiences at work – and in life more generally – positively stimulates the brain.
Be active: Being physically active – including at work – improves physical health and can improve mood and wellbeing and decrease stress, depression and anxiety.
Take notice: Paying more attention to the present moment – to thoughts and feelings and to the world around us – boosts our wellbeing.
Give: Carrying out acts of kindness – whether small or large – can increase happiness, life satisfaction and general sense of wellbeing.