Agents - give yourself a Mental Health Day

With this week being Mental Health Awareness Week, Sam Hunter - COO at Homesearch and a keen mental health advocate - outlines what agents can do to keep their mental well-being in good order. 

In an industry where we are often dealing with people whose own emotions are at their highest, it’s important we look after our own mental well-being.

When we're feeling added stress, it’s a great time to have a valuable mental reset that will leave us more positive and productive going forward. 

Here's some ideas on ways you can take a day off from the rigours of estate agency and give yourself a mental health day.

Start the night before.

Great days start the night before. Before you go to bed, spend a few minutes setting your intentions for your day. Setting plans or goals for your day will help you feel balanced and grounded and you’ll go to sleep looking forward to the day on the other side.

Go to bed early.

A huge part of being able to think clearly and keep calm under pressure revolves around getting a good night’s rest. So the night before your mental health day, make sure to give yourself a block of at least 8 hours of sleep. 

If you’re not a particularly good sleeper, you may want to block off as much as 9-10 hours for sleep as interruptions during the night might leave you feeling tired throughout the day. 

Exercise.

No hitting the snooze button. Get up and out of the house. Don’t go crazy, this day is about rest and reset, but still get the body moving. The mind will follow.

Exercise can also lower your heart rate and blood pressure as well as make you less susceptible to the stress of the day.

Eat breakfast

It’s so easy to skip breakfast, especially when you’re at home and out of routine, but studies suggest that a rich and hearty breakfast can help improve mood and mental performance throughout your day. 

Get something light and healthy into your belly, you’ll feel better for it.

Do some mental work.

With a well-balanced breakfast and some exercise under your belt for the day, you are primed to perform with focus and clarity. 

Why’d you need the day off in the first place? How is the lockdown really affecting you? Do your best to get the questions in your head out and onto some paper. The world gets a lot simpler when you write it down. 

Take advantage of the time you have and challenge your thoughts about yourself and the world around you.

Socialise.

A day off doesn’t mean a day alone. 

Spend time reconnecting with friends and loved ones. Spending time socialising is great for your mental health, whether that be zooming your mates or spending time catching up with grandma. Regular human contact is a big part of being mentally well. 

The social isolation we’re all experiencing right now can perhaps feel like anxiety and depression, but it doesn’t have too with the tools we’ve all got available to us. We may be socially distanced, but we’re digitally connected more than ever. 

Rest (and binge that show).

It’s your day. Find the Netflix show you’ve heard all about and punch through a few episodes. Eight hours of Netflix and chill probably isn’t great for your mind or your body, but a few good episodes, while you’re lazing on the sofa, is going to help your body rest and your mind forget about the real world. 

Reflect on your day.

Spend the early evening hours winding down and reflecting on your day. 

Did you hit your goals? Did you follow the steps above? Do you feel better? Reflection is a fantastic way to remind yourself of the progress you make day in and day out, otherwise, we often forget just how far forward we may have moved.

Go to bed early (again).

That stuff we wrote earlier about the importance of a good night's sleep, it's probably more true now than it was the night before.

Don’t undo a great day by keeping it going into the wee hours.

Make sure you compound the rest and reset by clocking off early tonight too.

Bringing it all together…

These are just some points to consider in your mental health day. It always pays to prioritise yourself.

*Sam Hunter is COO at Homesearch and a Mental Health Awareness Advocate. In 2019, he wrote an excellent, thought-provoking article on anxiety in estate agency, which you can read here.