Vincent Mays is always looking for new ways to improve a person’s mental health and fitness, especially during the cold winter and holiday season.
The Holidays can often be a stressful or even sad time of year for many people. Missing loved ones, not being with family, or wondering how you will get everything done is often hard on the mind and one’s mental health. Working in mental fitness, Vincent Mays has found that volunteering and engaging in the community are some of the best ways to combat seasonal depression and to spread cheer during the holidays.
What Giving Back Does for Others
This is the season of stress, long days at work, missing family and loved ones, not knowing how to get everything done in time, etc. Some people don’t even know where their holiday meal is going to come from or whom they are going to share it with. Thousands of miles or lack of funds can keep families apart during the holidays and it can be sad and stressful.
Giving back by donating to charities that help people in need during the holidays can help ease the stress and sadness people often experience by not knowing how they can give their child(ren) a gift or meal. Volunteering in a soup kitchen or homeless shelter can help make a holiday meal happen for people that may not have anywhere else to go. Volunteering your time to babysit for families who don’t have childcare can help ease the stress of working long hours. These are all ways to help ease the stress and sadness on other people while also spreading holiday happiness and cheer.
What Giving Back Does for You
This is the season for gift giving and there is no other gift greater than being happy. Giving back is a great way to improve your physical and mental health. Throughout his career, Vincent Mays has found it to be shown that a person who gives back often experiences lower blood pressure and a reduced risk of heart disease. Although improved physical health is not the only benefit of giving back.
One’s mental health can be improved by giving back. Some mental health benefits that have been proven include improved mood, lower stress and increased self-esteem. Increased self esteem and improved mood can be experienced by seeing the sense of relief or happiness on a persons face and in their eyes. When you do something that makes a person feel good, it naturally makes you feel good. When you know you have made the difference in one persons life by helping them have company during their holiday meal, or giving their child that gift they have been longing, or just filling a lonely void in someone’s day you will feel stress relief and feelings of warmth and kindness.
In many cases people are saddened because they can’t be with their family or they can’t give their child a gift and when we help them, we help ourselves. When we feel that void in our own lives during the holidays it helps bring a smile to our face when we can spend it with people who know exactly how we feel. It can go unspoken between two people but be seen in actions how the gift of giving back helps everyone.
In the End
Giving back any time of the year has many mental health and physical health benefits, though those benefits tend to be heightened during the holidays. You can form long lasting bonds and friendships just by volunteering your time. It can ease the stress in a person’s life when you help them not be alone, or give them a place to have their holiday meal. Seeing the happiness, thankfulness and relief of stress on a persons face can lift a weight off a person and it can all be done by giving back and giving a small gift or your time.
For more advice and thoughts related to mental fitness, connect with Vincent Mays on Quora.
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