Mental Health Basics: Simple Practices for Everyday Emotional Wellness

Ever had one of those days where you're running on autopilot, meeting everyone else's needs until you realize you haven't checked in with yourself at all? That's exactly where I found myself recently—emotionally depleted after a day of back-to-back meetings and heavy conversations.

This episode dives into mental health basics that are genuinely practical for our real, messy lives. Not the Instagram-perfect morning routines or complicated wellness rituals, but simple practices that work when you're exhausted but still trying to show up for yourself. Because mental wellness isn't something we address only in crisis—it's built moment by moment, choice by choice.

I'm sharing the five core practices that have transformed my emotional wellbeing: the two-minute heart check-in that shifts your entire day, creating small pockets of emotional safety in your routine, giving yourself permission to feel all your feelings (yes, even the uncomfortable ones), protecting your energy like the precious resource it is, and making space for joy even when life feels heavy. Plus, my personal mental health staples that aren't glamorous but work consistently.

What I love most about these practices is how accessible they are. You don't need special equipment, hours of free time, or a perfectly quiet house. These are practices for real humans with real limitations who still deserve emotional wellness. Whether you're navigating work stress, personal challenges, or just the everyday weight of existing in today's world, these gentle approaches can help ground you back to yourself.

Your mental health is worth prioritizing not just when everything falls apart, but every single day. What small step will you take today? Share your thoughts or questions with me on Instagram @TeaWithTanyaPodcast—I'd love to continue this conversation with you!

Chapters

• 0:12 Welcome to Tea with Tanya
• 20:14 Introduction to Mental Health Basics
• 2:31:09 Why Mental Health Matters Daily
• 3:45:02 Three Things to Start Today
• 7:02:09 Simple Practices for Emotional Wellness
• 12:25:02 Protecting Your Energy Like Gold
• 16:14:07 Tanya's Mental Health Staples

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to Tea with Tanya. I'm your host, tanya Ambrose, an average millennial navigating life as a maternal health professional, non-profit founder and grad student. Join me in the tea tasting room where we spill the tea on finding balance and promoting positive living while doing it all. Hey friend, welcome back to Tea with Tanya, your space for real, honest and transformative conversations about health, wellness and promoting positive living. Now, my friend, I want to apologize to you in advance if my voice sounds different or you may hear it crack in between as I continue to record this episode. So I am going to keep it short and sweet for us today in the tea tasting room. But if you hear my voice sounding a little bit weird or strange, it's not me. It's my migraine meds, because your girl has been going crazy with a migraine all weekend because the pollen decided that they wanted to just pollen more than anything else, to the point that it's giving me migraine. So my migraine meds usually make me sound a little bit different for the first couple of days. So you know, bear with your girl. She's here, she's here, she is taking care of herself, but you know her migraine. I don't know what triggers my migraine, but I know for sure, the migraine that I have, even right now recording this episode, is as a result of the pollen outside, so at this point I need to just stay in set and not go anywhere. It's given that it's given staying indoors until fall, or at least summer. But nevertheless, my friend, I hope you've done something for yourself within the last week that we met here Because, again, as we continue on our whole woman wellness journey, taking care of ourself is important. Even if that's two to three minutes of doing nothing, or two to three minutes of just pouring into yourself, it is still a lot to do and it's still something it's still going to count. So make sure that you're taking the time to do something for yourself, all right. So today we are diving into something super close to my heart, and that's mental health basics, specifically simple practices that we can incorporate into our everyday lives to support emotional wellness. And when I say simple, my friend, I mean real life. I'm exhausted, but still trying to show up for myself. Simple Because, if you're anything like me, there have been days where just brushing your teeth and sending that one text felt like a win. Guess what, my friend? It is a win. It is a win and I want us to understand that as well. But today I am here sipping on some peppermint tea, you know, just holding the vibe here in the tea tasting room with you, and I hope you have got something warm and comforting too as well. So here's why I wanted to talk about this.

Speaker 1: 2:31

Recently I had one of those days where there was just back to back meetings, you know, emotionally heavy conversations, trying to meet everyone's needs, and then I realized that I hadn't even checked in with myself all day. I was just on autopilot from the time I got to work. By the time I got home, you know, I just felt depleted, not sad, I will say, not even angry, just emotionally flat, like. I was like flatline emotionally because it was a day that just kept. It started crazy from the minute I went to work. Meetings after meetings, you know, hearing all these heavy things that are happening to the people that we serve, and it's just, you know, trying to meet everybody's needs, whether it's at work, nonprofit, whatever it is, that's everybody's needs. And I was just emotionally at my wit's end and I think in that moment I had to remind myself, you know, mental health isn't just something that I advocate for in my work or to my nonprofit, or even here in the podcast. It's something that I have to prioritize for me, too Now. We don't have to wait until we're in crisis to support our mental health.

Speaker 1: 3:30

Emotional wellness is something that we build moment by moment, choice by choice, and I often tell people when they're asking me, tanya, how are you doing today? And I say no, I'm doing okay, I'm just taking it one moment at a time. You know, going up in church and you have the gospel song. You know, one day at a time For me. Ever since I've been in therapy and just as I've been growing emotionally, I often do my very best to take things one moment at a time. That's all I got. I can't even say one day. I have to say one moment at a time. You know, choice by choice. Now I want to share some simple practices for everyday emotional wellness, and if you've been listening to the previous episodes, I think this month has just been a theme about emotional wellness, self-care, taking care of you, because you know we often start the year off wanting oh, I'm going to lose 10 pounds by this month, or I'm going to do X, y, z in the first quarter and, to be honest, friend, it doesn't always go as planned for me. I am still one processing things from the latter half of 2024.

Speaker 1: 4:30

Before I started to record this episode, I was cleaning my bedroom. I was tidying my bedroom and my closet, because I've been doing this since before the year started and when the year starts, I was, like you know, by the end of January I am going to be done with rearranging my closet, you know, throwing away clothes that can't, all these different plans that I had and I promise you don't even judge me here, friend, because we don't judge people here, it's a judgment-free zone I have had clothes upon clothes on my bedroom floor, like that's a hot mess, honestly a hot mess in the room, and I'm like you know, how can I even sleep in here and function? You know, granted, I knew, but at the end of the day, at the time my mental health could not leave me there. I was doing, I would clean everywhere I was in the house, the bedroom, I was leaving at some point. But today I did that because, you know, I was like you know what, let me get up. This has been happening, you know. Let me make the choice really and truly to get this room looking good, because once you do that, your mental health is going to even, it's going to prosper even more. And let me tell you I'm recording this episode sitting in my closet. That's fully organized and, you know, color coordinated. I don't know how I got here, because this isn't even me, but you know I hunkered down today and here we are in the tea tasting room as well.

Speaker 1: 5:32

So when I talk about you know, and sometimes you know, it's like it's hard to get out of the bed, it's hard to do things, it happens, it happens sometimes because we're just emotionally exhausted. So some of the simple ways that you can practice for everyday emotional wellness the first thing is to start with a daily check in place, my hand on my heart and, of course, you know, I pray or I'm asking, you know, thanking God for his mercies, essentially for me to see another day, you know. And then I'll ask myself what's going on in my heart today? How do I feel that could have been? I had a bad dream? Or how did I sleep? How did I wake up? What's going on in there today and some days, to be honest, friend, the answer is overwhelmed. I'm overwhelmed or I'm okay but tired, or even I'm actually excited, you know. So I think naming it also helps me to navigate it as well. So I encourage you to just, you know, put your hand on your heart when you wake up. You know, of course, you know you have all the gratitude and everything, but ask yourself what's going on in here today and figure out what the answer is and just name it, cause the more when you name it, like I said, you're going to be able to navigate your day and just navigate that particular feeling as well. And for me, if I skip this step, my friend honey, the day just starts dragging me instead of guiding me the day, to be honest. So I try to be more intentional when it comes to that and, honestly, it just takes two minutes, nothing more, nothing less. It could be one minute to two minutes max, but it honestly can completely shift your emotional tone as you face the day as well.

Speaker 1: 7:02

The next step is to create emotional safety in your routine. To be honest, I used to think that I needed a perfect morning routine because you see the girl is out here on social media, so I thought I had to meditate, journal, drink the Cloverfield water, work out like sis. No, we're not doing all that. We're not doing that. Sometimes my routine is just lighting a candle and sitting in silence for at least three to five minutes, before even picking my phone up to check a notification from the night before. Like no, I am a journal girlie, I will say that. But again, I don't want you to think that you have to have the perfect morning routine. You have a morning routine that works for you.

Speaker 1: 7:41

For me, my morning routine is I'm going to get up between 5 and 5.30. It depends on what time I go to bed that night or how I feel that night. Then I'll push my wake up time to 5.30. While my normal or usual wake up time is 5 o'clock. When I get up, I'm putting a heart on my chest, thanking God, you know, doing my little devotions and then asking you know what's going on in my heart today how did I wake up today? And then, once I do that, you know that's like three to five minutes then I'll get up, drink a glass of water.

Speaker 1: 8:06

I will do my journaling because one thing I'm going to do, I will journal. I will journal because I be having some crazy dreams or some revelations in my sleep sometimes that I need to document, but I'll journal. And one thing I like is that I have Alexa and at 5.30 every morning she plays my gospel playlist. Like I've run that playlist through so many times that I know exactly what song is going to come next. Of course you know. So she'll turn the gospel playlist on and we'll start very soft and, you know, just soothing.

Speaker 1: 8:34

The first song on the gospel playlist is no Weapon Formed Against Me by Fred Hammond, I think it is. And every time that song comes out I'm like, yes, it just sets the tone for my morning and you know so. It's just part of my morning routine. And then at night, you know, after I'm done that I mean back up here, after I'm done that, you know I'll take a shower, I prepare my breakfast and all of a sudden I'm just moving slow. So this is the safety of my morning. I am moving slow. Sometimes I light a candle, depending on how I feel, but I will move slow because, again, that's going to set the tone for my day. And then at night, when my mind is racing, because, like I would have mentioned in the past, my mind goes like a mile per half a second.

Speaker 1: 9:12

At this point, you know I'll take a warm shower, sometimes with eucalyptus or lavender oil, and I'll have my evening playlist, but it depends on the mood, because sometimes it may be soccer, maybe I'll have on some Claudette Peters or something playing in the background while I'm doing this, or it may end up being, you know, an R&B night or an old school reggae Lucky Doobie does it for me almost every night, to be honest. And then, you know, I remind myself during this phase that I deserve softness and that rest is not lazy, it's a healing ritual. So really and truly work on creating emotional safety in your routine. It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to suit you, nobody else, but suiting yourself, all right. And then the next step is essentially feeling your feelings. And when we say feeling feelings, we mean all of them, all, all, all of them, all of them. Okay, I've had to learn the hard way that being strong doesn't mean being emotionally numb, and that was a lesson I had to learn a very, very hard way. And sometimes strength looks like crying in the bathroom floor. On the bathroom floor, it looks like journaling pages of anger. By the time you get to the next page and you look at it, it's like wow, you know you almost like dug the pen through the page and sometimes it could just be you feeling sad and you're just releasing it and I think I would have mentioned in the previous episode last week if you haven't, please go listen to it and I'll put it in the show notes but healing things that I started doing was sending myself voice notes when I was overwhelmed, like a friend just saying you know, I know this is hard, I'm proud of you. Just affirm yourself and just send some things on your mind. You can't write it out right now. Get to that, do that voice note app and you record yourself because at the end of the day, you don't have to suppress it, you don't have to explain it and you don't, you just have to feel it, just feel it.

Speaker 1: 10:57

I remember the other day I was having a conversation with my sister, chloe Shout out to Chloe and you know we're all working on our mental health, we're all trying to grow and just be emotionally healthy, and something happened and I can't remember because you know your girl here is a big sister as well. I mean, I have a big sister too but she had called me and she was saying something and I found myself basically trying to tell her to move on from how she was feeling right away. And sometimes it's a flaw because you pour into them and you want them to see the better of the situation or try to move forward and keep pressing, essentially. But I remember her saying to me and oh, chloe wouldn't have done this, so I'm so grateful for her emotional and maturity as it relates to her emotional wellness and I feel like, you know, no tea. I want to just feel these feelings for a while and then I can move on, because too many times I've been moving on on not dealing with my feelings and I was like I raised my hands to the heavens. I say you know what? You're absolutely right, you know, and I did apologize because my intention wasn't to be forget your feelings and keep it moving.

Speaker 1: 11:58

But you know again, sometimes as a big sister, you want them to not feel the pain or whatever the case may be. But again she would have mentioned, you know, wanting to feel her feelings and then she can move on. Now I'm not telling you to feel your feelings for an entire month. Now, you know, but don't suppress how you feel, don't even explain it. Just feel what you have to feel and then you know, you'll know how to navigate that feeling once you get it out Again. That can be journaling pages of anger or sadness and just releasing it.

Speaker 1: 12:25

The next thing is protect your energy like it's gold, like I know. In the past we've talked about, oh, I'm going to protect my energy. X Y Z, X Y Z. Listen, protect your energy like it is gold. My friend, a few months ago maybe for at least for an entire year, more so I realized that I was constantly available. An email I'm responding immediately. Okay. The group chat I'm active in that group chat. You know the Instagram DMs always open, like everything, doesn't matter what it is Instagram, facebook, tiktok, whatever the app, whatever it is the platform, imessage, whatever I would always respond in a very, very timely manner. Like you, send me that message at 10.14, I can guarantee I'm replying at 10.14 and 27 seconds.

Speaker 1: 13:06

Okay, now I give myself permission to unplug. I found myself the other day on following accounts on my social media that basically, was messing with my peace. I can no longer subscribe to what they're even selling or whatever the case may be. And on the weekends, I take my weekends as my quiet, no phone somewhat. Do nothing day. The do nothing day, please, not in my world yet. But I minimize what I do on the weekends because my phone on the weekends stays on. Do not disturb, it does not get off of that. Unless you have the privilege to have access to me While it's on, do Not Disturb. It is going to be there until Monday morning 8 o'clock. When that phone goes off, do Not Disturb. Then I can decide what notification I want to check.

Speaker 1: 13:47

And I think this is what emotional boundaries look like in real life Just unplug, stop being available for everyone, especially when you know I know for me. Okay, I need this, I want that X, y, z and me being a people pleaser or a recovering people pleaser. That's one of the reasons why I would constantly respond right away, even when I know people only using me for their gain. Essentially and I had to learn the hard way you know what no, you're going to unplug. No is a full sentence. You don't need to be available to everyone. And let me tell you that's a life changer, my friend, so definitely to me. Unplugging and giving yourself permission to unplug and just not be out in the world and knowing everything that's what emotional boundaries look like in our everyday life honestly and then just make space for joy and connection. Like I know, life gets heavy Shit. We live in a world where, again, every time you wake up, it's just always something. So life can get heavy, but we still deserve joy.

Speaker 1: 14:43

I have been intentional. I don't always get it right, but I've been intentional lately about doing small things that bring me back to myself. One thing I'm going to do I'm going to be having carpool karaoke or I'm going to be in the house cooking, singing. You can't tell me I'm not sounding like Beyonce, I'm not sounding like Bucci Bantam, like I'm just that girl. Like you know dancing and singing. You know sending different voice notes to my friends, you know back in Antigua, just in general, or just watching something funny just to laugh a lot, or even not for me.

Speaker 1: 15:12

I've been watching, you know, a lot of Netflix series now. Some are always a lot of Netflix series now Summer and all is really funny. But it just brings me a level of joy to know that I can just sit and watch an eight episode series or I can get a couple of episodes in, because watching TV and listening to music generally does bring me joy. So the moment I have to sit and actually watch an episode back to back without picking my phone up. That to me is a sense of joy, for me as well. But I will say this you know, joy doesn't mean everything is perfect, and I think that's also a lesson I had to learn and I want you to learn that as well. Joy doesn't mean everything has to be perfect. It just simply means that you are letting your nervous system breathe. It's as simple as that. You're just letting your nervous system breathe, because, for me, I'm always on edge, sometimes not realizing, I'm always tense, not realizing that. So again, joy doesn't mean everything is perfect. It just means you're letting your nervous system breathe.

Speaker 1: 16:08

Now I'm going to share some of my go-to mental health staples, and they have really supported me on a regular basis. These are the constant, really and truly, and I've mentioned these several times throughout the podcast. Not much has changed in that department, but I definitely want you to look at what I'm going to say in a different light because, again, it's really, really, it's really simple, like really simple. So here I might go to mental health staples. The first one is journaling in the mornings, not always long, but sometimes just here's what's on my heart, daily walks, even when I don't want to. The movement, the air, the pause, it resets me, believe it or not. And then talking to myself kindly.

Speaker 1: 16:50

Now, this one, my friend, this one took a lot of time, but now I say things like you're doing your best and that's enough. I just know, sometimes myself, be like yep. Before I, even before I even get to say it out, you're like yep, we know, we know, we know you're doing your best and that's enough. And the other thing that I do is just take mini breaks, like I. Literally what I've been doing over the last several months is just to set a timer to walk away from my laptop at least every hour, hour and a half. It's a boundary and it's a blessing, especially with my job, that I do. I work, you know, but these aren't necessarily glamorous, they're not Instagrammable, as they say, but they do work, my friend. They honestly do work, and I definitely want to ensure that you just make it a habit to do even one thing from this list as well. And I'm going to say it again in case you didn't hear it the first time.

Speaker 1: 17:48

So here's Tanya's go-to mental health staples Journaling in the mornings, daily walks, talking to yourself kindly and taking mini breaks. So when you journal, it doesn't have to be long, it can just simply be here's what's on my heart. You know, taking those daily walks. Even though you don't want to, the movement in the air is going to reset you. And then you want to talk to yourself kindly, say something as simple as you know, what you're doing your best and that's enough, and that's all it is. And then, like I say, take mini breaks in at least every 60 to 90 minutes, because, again, that's going to be a bunch that you set for yourself. You're going to be active, but at least you can reset wherever you are as well. They may not be the most glamorous staples, but I guarantee you, my friend, they work All right.

Speaker 1: 18:34

So I did say I wasn't going to keep you here hanging in the tea tasting room today, so we're about to get this episode up and out of here, all right, but I want you to do three things that you can start doing today. And that's one pause and check in. Ask yourself what am I feeling? What do I need? The second thing is to choose one grounding habit that could be light a candle. That could be drinking tea slowly, that could be stretching. Just you know one small anchor and then just try to infuse joy into your life, even for five minutes. Watch something funny, text someone you love, or just move your body to music. You know what I mean. Like you don't need to overhaul your life to protect your peace, just start with what feels gentle and doable, my friend. What feels gentle and what is doable, all right.

Speaker 1: 19:25

So, friend, as we come to the end of the episode, you know your mental health is worth prioritizing. I know you've heard it time and time again, but your mental health is worth prioritizing, not just when everything falls apart, but every single day, because sometimes we tend to wait until stuff has hit the fan and then, once it hit the fan, we're are going hey, why don't we want to take care of our mental health now? Do it every single day. And this is a reminder that you are allowed to rest, you are allowed to feel, you are allowed to not be okay and you are still worthy of care and joy, even in your messiest moments as well. So, if this episode spoke to you in some way shape or form, if this episode spoke to you in some way, shape or form, I would love to hear what resonated. You know what to do Send an Instagram DM, tag me in your stories and let's just keep the conversation going.

Speaker 1: 20:10

And you know we're at the end of March by the time you hear this. It's going to be the last Tuesday in March and I'm looking forward to what's going to come in April. You know, share this episode with someone that you love, because we are building community over here in the tea tasting room. One real honest conversation at a time. Okay, friend, next month we are diving into wellness across life stages. I'm excited for that episode for that month, as a matter of fact, because you know we're going to be talking about the wellness across different life stages as well. So, um, I cannot wait to share that space with you guys every Tuesday. Next month is about to be next level. Until then, my friend sip, slowly speak kindly to yourself and take care of your beautiful mind and heart. All my love.

Speaker 1: 20:56

Thank you for joining me for another episode of Tea with Tanya. If you like this episode, be sure to share it with a friend. Don't forget to follow on Instagram at Tea with Tanya. If you liked this episode, be sure to share it with a friend. Don't forget to follow on Instagram at T with Tanya podcast. Be sure to subscribe to the weekly T-Talk newsletter and, of course, rate on Apple or Spotify and subscribe wherever you listen. See you next time. I love you for listening.