This past week I consciously made two decisions; I am going to be happy and I am not going to stress. Now some people might feel like that shouldn’t even be a decision, that feeling happy and stress free should be natural. But for many others and myself this is not the case.

Since starting college I have been on an emotional roller coaster. This roller coaster has been a mostly downhill dark tunnel. Needless to say it has not been enjoyable never knowing when everything is going to flip, spin, and pitch. This week I decided that I am not going to be anxious about which path the roller coaster might take. I am not going to let myself continue to feel depressed if it keeps moving south. Instead I am going to let this roller coaster go where it wants, throw my hands in the air, smile, scream, and enjoy the ride called Life.

I think this decision to be happy and stress free was a long time coming. For over a year and a half now I have been really focused on finding happiness and improving my mental health. I have been in counseling, going to mindfulness and self compassion workshops, practicing yoga and meditation, using essential oils, and going to acupuncture. Despite all of this I have still had feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression. This week I finally said, enough is enough. I am not going to let myself feel like this any longer.

Here is what I did:

1. Sleep

I slept for more than eight hours every night. Before bed I made sure to read instead of being on electronic devices. I also diffused Young Living Lavender Essential Oil or Young Living Gentle Baby Essential Oil Blend and applied this to the bottoms of my feet and behind my ears before going to bed for a more sound and restful sleep.

2. Rest

After a long day of class if I felt tired I let myself rest instead of continuing to plow through homework and studying. I set a timer for 30 minutes to an hour and lay down. In this time I either closed my eyes, read, or meditated. I resisted the urge to scroll through social media or watch Netflix. After the timer was up, I forced myself to get up and be productive.

3. Exercise Every Day

I made sure to exercise for at least 20 minutes everyday. One day this meant that I practically crawled to the gym and slowly (just faster than walking) spent my time on the treadmill, hating every second. Despite how much I did not want to workout, I felt significantly more energized and optimistic when leaving. I also went to yoga twice (normally I only go to one class a week) with the intention to reconnect with myself.

4. Take Vitamins and Eat Healthy

I took Vitamin D, Burpless Fish Oil, Young Living Super B, and Young Living Multigreens every morning. I notice that these make a huge difference in my happiness and energy levels. I also focused on making sure that I was eating at least 3 whole and hearty meals a day. I emphasized eating food that had come straight from the Earth. I believe that you can only get out of your body what you put into it.

5. Use Young Living Essential Oils every day

In the morning as soon as I woke up I put a drop of peppermint on the bottom of my feet to reenergize. After showering I dropped one or two drops of Frankincense on the top of my head. Before leaving for class I put Lavender on my inner wrists and behind my ears. If I was expecting a more stressful day I layered either Stress Away or Peace and Calming over the top. As the day wore on and I began to feel overwhelmed I massaged Peppermint on the back of my neck and reapplied Lavender to my inner wrists. If I was having an extra stressful day then I diffused Envision or Joy essential oil blends as well.

6. Drink plenty of water

I drank at least half of my body weight in water every day. I avoided coffee and caffeine, as these tend to make me feel more anxious. I never drink dairy products or sugary drinks as I noticed years ago this have adverse effects for my mental health.

7. When stressed, Breathe deeply

When I began to feel stressed and overwhelmed, I stopped and focused on my breath. I slowed down and tried to inhale for six counts then exhale for six counts. If that wasn’t working then I used alternate nostril breathing. I took my thumb and closed one nostril by pressing on the side of my nose, then inhaled deeply and exhaled deeply. At the bottom of my exhale I released my thumb and used my pointer finger to cover the other nostril. I then inhaled deeply and exhaled deeply. At the bottom of my exhale I switched back to covering my nostril with my thumb. I continued this pattern until I felt more centered and relaxed.

8. Share joy with others

I made a point this week to reach out to others. I talked to people that I haven’t in a while, sent texts to friends to let them know that I am thinking of them, and wrote notes for people to let them know how important they are to me. Imagining people receiving these happy notes made me feel much lighter and happier.

9. Think Gently

I am not perfect. I made mistakes this week. When this happened, I was gentle with my thoughts and myself. Instead of criticizing I praised myself for trying my best. I focused on the positive and remained optimistic. When I felt my thoughts drifting down toward the negative, I stopped them in their tracks by making a mental checklist of things that I am grateful for.

This week was wonderful, but I worked hard to make it that way. Despite how hard I was working to be happy and stress free there were times when I was immensely overwhelmed, anxious, and depressed. When this was happening I recognized my emotions and worked even harder to get to a better state of mind. Even though I had to focus and put effort in to feeling happy and stress free, it was worth it because every day I am realizing that life is a beautiful thing. I used to feel like life was pointless, I was irrelevant, and there was no use in living. I am seeing now that life is completely what you make of it and revolves around your mindset. When you are in the right mindset, the world is a beautiful and magical placed.