Talking about mental health is disruptive. After the hotline number, 988, came online in July 2022 a telling question floated to the surface of the discussions: “Will the police show up at my house?”

The question is soaked in fears of autonomy, privacy and negative police interactions during a mental health crisis. People will address these concerns over time as the need for more and better mental health support remains clear.

The obstacles for everyone else struggling just below the crisis point are significant but not impassable. There are things to do that make a difference in improving our mental health. To those who feel the need for a business case argument, improving our mental health improves how we function and our productivity. The humanistic reason to care about mental health is translucent, we should seek to ease suffering. Here are a few things to try.

Clean out a junk drawer.

When the news of corrupt or self-serving people in power leave you feeling helpless, do something that you can control. Pick a junk drawer that you can tackle in one sitting and organize it. A professional organizer will tell you to make three categories: keep, give away and trash. At the end you will see what you have accomplished and feel a sense of control that we often lose learning about national events. Any project that has a set beginning and end can help. The feeling of control doesn’t last forever but it may be the nudge needed to pull you out of the spiral caused by doom-scrolling.

Move your body.

From doing chair-yoga to a session of CrossFit, each of us have the ability to exert ourselves beyond our normal pandemic routine of sitting in front of a screen. Acknowledging that resources and abilities are not equally distributed, incorporate going outside whenever possible. Increasing our heart-rate, using muscles infrequently used and deep breathing changes us physically and can also be the breeze that clears away the fog of melancholy.

Keep a gratitude list.

Go beyond saying that you are thankful for your health or family or job. Be specific. Say that you are grateful that your son is creative and curious. Write how the gift your friend gave you allowed you to spend time with your spouse. Share with someone that you can now walk 100 yards without taking a break. Unlike “toxic optimism” being grateful looks at the past with a positive lens instead of seeing a future that may be more fantasy than reality.

Let people help you.

A friend once told me that allowing him to help was a gift. If you know how it feels to help someone you care about then you understand why letting other people help is good for them also. If you do not have someone in your life to help then a professional, someone trained in counseling, is needed. White Saviorism  is so prevalent because helping others makes us feel good. When we are the person who needs help, the best thing we can do is ask as clearly as possible what help we need. Sometimes it is as simple as needing someone to listen, other times it is help solving a problem that you have never had before. Give the people who care about you a chance to be there for you.

Every culture has spoken and unspoken thoughts and rules about when, how and who to ask for help. When your culture makes it more difficult to ask for help it requires a new level of courage to move forward. May you find the courage to clean out your current junk drawer and move onto the next one.