Lucy Turns Pages: Mental Heath: Social Media & Free Time

This post contains affiliate links

Hi everyone. So I wanted to do another post talking about mental health and wellbeing.

Something that I have noticed is that I gravitate towards clicking apps on my phone and scrolling, rather than doing my other hobbies in my spare time. Looking at the time I spend on social media is not great. Now I do a lot of book promotion on social media but there is a big portion of that time where I'm just scrolling and checking for threads to reply to. I find it difficult to do nice things, like reading or gaming because scrolling feels less mentally and physically intensive and it can become almost addicting. I've noticed that when I spend a long time on social media, my mental health really goes downhill- I feel anxious and down and become hyper-focused on things that don't really matter.

I've found that actually forcing myself to do something nice actually really helps me. It's really difficult because I feel like 'I can't be bothered' or 'I don't want to do that', 'I don't see the point', 'it's a waste of time' but this is just my negative mental health and what is best for me is to force myself to put my phone down and start one of those things. I have goals and things written down in my planner so I have a list of actual things I want to do/like to do/things that make me feel like I've achieved something. This is when I need to pick one of those things, just one, not let my thoughts or feelings consume me, and just do it. I find that after a bit of time, I feel more relaxed and positive. It is not a waste of time to do nice things in your spare time- things that make you feel good mentally, because this is one of the most important things you can do in your life. Your mental wellbeing is hugely important. Living with a mental health issue is tough, and it's important to seek medical help and try things like therapy and medication, but it can be a daily battle and this is one thing that I have found personally really helpful. Yes, I still find myself spending way too long on social media (especially when I feel really unwell, which is often at the moment) but I (eventually) get myself to do something that I enjoy and it helps. I'm still trying to do this more quickly and more effectively, but that's ok, because I keep trying.

Have you tried this?

Thank you to my Ko-Fi members!~

Rebecca Crunden- check out her fantasy and sci-fi books and novellas

Josh de Lioncourt- check out his fantasy books!

Charles Edward Williams- check out his Roman fiction book

D. M. Wright- check out his horror comedy books

Cherron Riser- check out her romance and paranormal romance books

CH Burford- check out her very sweary history book about women in history

Kimberly Greer- check out her romance book

Jill Horton- check out her children's book

Monty Vern- check out his author blog and adult poetry and short story picture books

Quinn de Barra- check out their supernatural horror book and follow them on Twitter