Your Mental Health Needs Hygiene Too.

We brush our teeth.
We shower.
We wash our clothes.

We do these things before there is a problem: we shower before we smell, brush our teeth before something goes wrong. Maintenance is smarter than repair.

So why do we wait until stress burns us out or our reactivity starts leaking onto the people around us before we do something about it?

The impact can be much more serious than we think: reactivity that damages relationships, trust broken between leaders and their teams, chronic overwhelm, burnout, or “simply” losing our sense of joy. And the repair can be arduous.

I see the difference with my clients all the time when they start implementing a regular mental and emotional hygiene practice. They become better able to recognize stress before it takes over, interrupt reactive patterns, process emotions, and respond with more choice.

And it doesn't have to be complicated. It can even be stacked with your regular physical hygiene routine.

Pause. Notice your thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations.

Ask yourself:
* Where is my attention right now, past, future, or here?
* What is my body telling me?
* What would support me in feeling more grounded right now?

Then move a little. Stretch. Walk. Shake out some tension. Give yourself a chance to fully land in your body and in the present moment.

The best time to get started with a mental and emotional hygiene routine is before you're actually struggling, because it's much harder to establish these practices when you're already overwhelmed or burned out.

I've been doing some version of this practice for 20 years, initially on and off and, for the past five years, twice a day. The impact on my own mental health, emotional regulation, and even my capacity for joy has been significant.

And for leaders, this isn't just a nice-to-have personal maintenance. What we don't process internally will show up in how we make decisions, behave, and communicate.

What might change if you treated your mental and emotional well-being as something to maintain, rather than something to repair?