Look After Your Mental Diet

We are all busy in life, whether you’re a teen thinking about friends, exams, partners, home or an adult juggling the day-to-day tasks and this mental diet is a constant monologue in our heads. But let’s go deeper, what is mental diet? It’s the traffic on the way to work, the relationships in your life, the blue light from your phone, the weather, the stresses you’ve had today and it’s the spilt milk we have all cried over. Mental diet can be compared to a physical diet. Just like knowing what to eat in order to maintain our physical health, we must also be mindful of our thoughts in order to maintain our mental and emotional well-being.

Foods can promote good health, and positive or uplifting thoughts can nourish our minds and help us maintain a positive outlook on life. Conversely, unhealthy foods can harm our bodies and lead to challenges, negative and pessimistic thoughts can harm our mental health and lead to feelings of anxiety, depression, and stress.

Therefore, we must also be mindful of the negative thoughts we allow into our minds. By consciously choosing to focus on positive, constructive, and uplifting thoughts, we can maintain a healthy mental diet that promotes inner peace, happiness, and well-being. But what if you just can’t today?

In a world that is controlled by technology it’s a great thing that we have become more aware of mental health, and what the impact is on our physical being of what’s going on around us. Now I’m all for a bit of positivity, but what about those days that you just don’t feel great? It’s not always easy to say it. That’s why I developed the Got Your Six Headspace range of clothing, designed to remind you, in a world full of messages that positivity is the only way to look after yourself, that it really is OK not to be OK. It’s what you do with it that counts.

How many times have you heard the phrase “In a world where you can be anything, be kind”? For me it’s definitely a 6-figure number. But it’s also really important to remember that kindness begins at home, because your “house” is the one that needs to be in order before you do anything else to ensure that you are living life to the fullest it can be. So, I say, in a world where you can be anything, be kind to yourself. Two little words, but they change the connotation of the whole sentence. In fact, a question, when was the last time you were really kind? Now think about the last time you were really kind to yourself. Your body is always listening you know and the way you speak to yourself is vitally important to your wellbeing. Sometimes all we need is permission to allow ourselves to rest for our bodies to recuperate properly.

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Our clothes come with hidden messages and features designed to get you to think about looking after yourself. Designed to help you remember that it is OK not to be

ok even if it’s a day where you feel bruised. We are not fruit. Bruises heal and we do not need to disregard ourselves because we got a bruise. The body is clever. It heals itself if you give it the right circumstances; warmth, breath, hydration, rest and kindness, and these things are all OK to do around a bruise.

Another common theme in our hidden messages is to reach out. Because bruises heal better when you take care of them properly. Popping on something comfortable and feeling warmth is step 1, reaching out to someone you trust is step 2. We all have that person is our lives who is the right one to help, in fact, I’d bet that the right one came into your head when you read that. That’s the power of solidarity. We are not designed to be alone, let alone when we feel “bruised”. It does not make you less of a complete human to reach out. You can be bruised and still be whole. My sister and I have a tradition we have developed to remind ourselves of this. Whenever we go to the beach, whether we feel good, bad or indifferent, we find a shell that is open in two parts, and we split it. Because we are two halves of the same shell. Both complete in our own right but when we get together a whole lot of magic happens.

Got Your Six Headspace

The thought behind that brand - Got Your Six Headspace, comes in two parts. Firstly, Got Your Six, a term from the military. It means someone always has your back or your six o’clock. You know who that person is, and they are your reach out person. The latter part is about Headspace, because taking time away from things and just being is so important and that starts with comfort, something I’ve worked hard with through my suppliers, to get the right products, comfortable fabrics and hems. Headspace allows you to rest, plus I’m a northern girl so in the case of our hoodies, this is always on the top because it’s where you put your head.

I’m so privileged to do what I do, because people who come to my market stall and buy share their stories with me. Their battles and their bruises, their victories and their quiet moments. They talk and they acknowledge that sometimes life is hard, and they just get what we stand for and more importantly, they appreciate the permission to be kind to themselves and hearing those stories is such a privilege to me. It reminds me to be kind to myself. It reminds me that even on my worst days, I am never alone in feeling black and blue and the magic part is, once you get that, you don’t feel so alone. There is a power in that because like I said, your body is always listening.

In this crazy busy world, we exist in as human beings we are exactly that; humans being. It is OK to let it be. Rest, think, cry, talk, just be. We are not called human doings, so stop, breathe and remember somebody always has your Six.

GYVIH - GOT YOUR SIX HEADSPACE

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