We fortunately are beginning to find ourselves in a world where we’re all starting to open up a little more about mental health. It’s great! It’s the age of empathy and humility now; and I think once we begin to empathise properly with each other – we’ll be in a much better place. We’ve all got the same prehistoric brain, and it’s actually surprising how you can begin to essentially ‘re-program’ your thoughts.

I’ve most certainly had my battles with mental health and I think it’s pretty rife in the creative industry (and everywhere else probably). I had times where I was self-loathing, felt really unsuccessful and hated what I did (I’m so stoked on what I do). Admittedly, at times I was probably a tricky person to be around and work with. I even considered career changes – not really sure as to why though. Fortunately though, with a bit of introspection and some commitment, this is something you can most certainly turn around.

I’m going to share a few things that I’ve found to work especially well for me, and that I have tested pretty thoroughly over a 6-week period until this day. You’ll also see the cosmic-hippie side of me which wants to help you.

Exercise

I cannot say enough about how important this is. Just half an hour of aerobic activity every day will kick you into gear. Plus, you might even score that awesome ‘runners high’. Ride those good endorphins into the rest of your day! A study in Finland found that in a healthy brain, the hippocampus constantly generates neurons to replenish itself, and sustained aerobic activity may be the key to growing an abundance of new cells.

Meditation

Headspace. It’s free (to a point, but trust me, you’ll pay for it) and will help you tame those rushing thoughts. Even if they are good ones, and you’re really feeling the ideas flowing – meditation teaches you how to hone-in on one thought and stay concentrated. Not to mention the ability to manage anxiety, external and internal performance pressure and depression/unhappiness. I’m an advocate. 100%. Plus, you’ll appreciate the fun UI and animations they have.

Visualisation is another technique within meditation which has been massively observed in the elite sports world; to an extent to which there are measurable results. Interesting reading here.

Mindfulness

This practise stems from meditation but it’s a relatively easy one to learn. I’m absolutely certain it helps you be a better creative; by potentially pulling cues from your environment. Watch how the clouds move, how light falls and is scattered by trees or perhaps admire the gradients in the sky on dawn/dusk. Become aware of everyday sounds and these can become somewhat musical.

Bonobo uses a lot of found/raw audio samples in his music. If you ever get the downtime while you’re waiting for your mate to go to the dunny (Australian slang for toilet) when you’re sitting at the coffee shop or a bar, resist the urge to look at your phone and observe your surroundings.

Productive habits and routine

Understandably, our roles as creatives can sometimes lead us to being on the road (don’t get me wrong, it’s why we do it, right?) and fall out of routine. Routine can extend past “oh, I need to get up at 6am, stretch at 6.37am, coffee at 6.30am”. I set reminders to ping on my phone daily with things like “check posture” and “fill water bottle”. I picked this one up from a good mate of mine who’s a teacher. It works because unfortunately/fortunately, we’re so reliant on our phones and we always seem to need to know what a notification might tell us.

We’re creatures of habit. Habits = less distraction and a much more focussed mind. Get these down-pat and you’ll be able to work anywhere. I haven’t used any habit tracking apps, but I find you can get the reminders on your iPhone to work pretty well for you.

Journaling

I write a little review of every day. Doesn’t take more than 10 minutes AND it’ll get you off a screen. I’ll date it in the morning, add a few ‘to-do’s and leave space for any ideas I might have. Before bed, I’ll do a quick review of how I approached my day (or how it approached me). Two columns, ‘what I did well’ and ‘what I didn’t do so well’. This keeps that process of introspection developing every day. If you have the same thing that keeps popping up on your ‘not so well’, it’ll gently help you to look at the problem in the context of your every day.

Another exercise I do less frequently is the ‘high and low tide’. Low tide – things that make me feel drained. High tide – things that fill me. It’s easy and I’ll leave it up to your interpretation. You’ll be surprised at what you’ll find.’

I’ll use my journal to goal set, too. I just set a few achievable and measurable goals for a 3-month period that relate to a larger, yearly achievement. For instance, save $xxxx, go camping/go on a surf trip with mates, run X-distance at X-time, have trained at least 4 days a week for 3 months, take a photo every day or maybe learn another language. Less measurable goals are good too, but kinda become tricky to track.

A tip is to get a pocket-sized journal; you’ll feel much less intimated by a giant blank page and I feel so much more accomplished when I’m filling pages.

Learning

Create some new neural pathways and challenge yourself. It’s good for you. I mentioned physical exercise? Now, how about exercising your brain and building that neuroplasticity! I’ll spend at least half an hour every day teaching myself a new skill, or perhaps refining one I already have. I’ve played drums pretty well my whole life – so I find hitting things for half an hour but challenging myself with technically difficult things every day helps.

Language is a great one and you’ll only reap benefits. It’s never a waste of time. Like cooking? Learn how to master your knife skills! There’s so much to learn; and the best part about it all is sharing your learnings with others! Helping and teaching feels really, really great and will stoke people out.

Adequate sleep

This is a HUGE one. Make absolute-f*cking-sure you’re getting at least 8 hours. There is so much study into performance and being sleep deprived. You’re robbing your body of it’s ability to rest, regenerate and balance out your chemistry. Go to bed early. You’ll nail that brief tomorrow when you’re rested and mentally sharper. You’ll just feel so much better – the benefits extend into your relationships and personal life. Nobody wants to hang around a tweaked-out, coffee-reliant, irrationally thinking grump! Ugh! I’ve made some completely dumb decisions in the past which I nail-down to be from being sleep deprived.

When I was studying, I put WAY too much pressure on myself to do well and would clock in massive days and let sleep fall down the priority list. I developed depression, anxiety and became so listless. Things became harder. A remedial acupuncturist I visited about stress headaches simply just told me to sleep more. It worked.

Don’t let this notion of “oh I worked so hard I’m only on 2 hours sleep today” seem like a good idea to work towards at any point. Burning yourself out now will only cause problems down the track. Here, read about cortisol. It’s bad and it will kill you. Plus, loading yourself up with a couple of double-shots will only exacerbate stress. Which leads me to my next couple of points…

Off-screen time and melatonin production

45 minutes before bed – no screens. None. Nup. Read a book. Hug your partner. Meditate. Stretch. It all feels good and will help your body generate melatonin – the sleep chemical! If I have to work late on my computer for whatever reason, I use F.Lux to pull some of the blue light out.

Drink less coffee

Allpress do a good decaf. I love the ritual and the process, but having not touched a drop for 6 weeks after going cold turkey has seen some results for me. No more headaches, waking up feeling foggy or dependance! Caffeine has a chemical half-life of about 7-8hrs so that’s something to remember when approaching your arvo java, too. Stop caring about dickheads telling you it’s not the same – you’re putting yourself first here, remember? I’m not saying cut it out completely, but just drink less.

Doing things you love and say ‘yes’ to things.

I think you know what to do. Make the bloody time. I make sure I go surfing. If I don’t surf, I feel weird. I know not everybody has this luxury of being next to the ocean though. As aforementioned, exercise and doing things you love release good chemicals.

Get into the habit of pushing yourself a little out of your comfort zone, too. A friend of mine got me into this notion of saying ‘yes’ to doing things you probably wouldn’t otherwise due to not being hugely interested, shying towards it or perhaps even fearful. Mark Matthews is a great bloke to listen to on this – he talks a whole bunch about overcoming fear. Rightly so given some of the heavy water he gets involved with.

Do so long as it isn’t super risky or detrimental to you in any way.

Be a mate

Spend time with your friends and stay in touch with these people. They’ll throw fuel into your furnace to keep you going, m8. Be inflating, too. Bursting balloons suck. Let them know how good they are. Practise empathy and humility with them – they’ve got your back.

* If you need to chat – please reach out to me. Send me an email, Instagram DM-me… I will reply and I’m here for ya! Too many people bottle up their problems.

About the Author

Brandon Rooney is a photographer and DOP/director based on the Gold Coast, Australia. He works mostly for brands in the action sports industry, but he explores different genres of photography as he loves exploring and learning new things. You can check out Brandon’s work on his website and make sure to give him a follow on Instagram, too. This article was also published here and shared with permission.