As negative thoughts are racing through your head, it's hard to focus on anything else, especially your ambitions. Goals can seem impossible to achieve when you're in the wrong mindset. You might even decide that it's not worth it to start a project or focus on a goal because you're experiencing all these negative thoughts that say you can't do it.

Journaling for mental health has helped me in so many ways. Not only does it help me track my moods, but it can keep me accountable when I'm trying to change a habit. By journaling for mental health consistently, I can backtrack to see where my feelings come from. I get frustrated when I go from one emotion to the other without knowing why. By writing down what I’m feeling, I can usually decipher why I’m having that specific emotion. When I’m trying to change a habit, journaling helps me to keep track of my progress. First, I set goals for myself -- just little steps to work towards changing the habit. I can journal each day about what I did to take a step towards the larger goal. This is not only motivating, but it keeps me accountable to myself.

Suicidal thoughts have been a part of most of my young adult life. Learning to cope with these thoughts has been one of the biggest challenges I've ever faced. As a young person, it's natural to seek help from the digital mediums that are such a significant part of my life. I've found support and many resources by searching online, utilizing apps, and using social media. I learned to cope with suicidal thoughts using digital media.

Self-esteem affects mental health and low self-esteem often results from having a mental illness. I struggle with depression and anxiety, and I'm constantly battling negative thoughts that say I'm not good enough. I judge myself and compare myself to others. I'm afraid to put myself out there.

It's hard to forgive yourself when you have depression. Depression often causes you to be harsh and mean to yourself. When you make a mistake or don't follow through on something, the automatic response is negative self-talk. You begin to tell yourself that no one else would have made that mistake or that you're stupid for not having completed that task sooner. Why is it so hard to forgive yourself when you have depression?

Making new habits to cope with anxiety is an important part of anxiety self-help. By establishing routines, we can take on more in our lives without feeling overwhelmed. However, attempting to change too much at once can end in disappointment. Working on making new habits too quickly can fuel anxiety rather than help it.

Self-love and depression don't naturally go together because when you have depression, it’s hard to love yourself. Being constantly bombarded with negative thoughts about how you’re not good enough or how you’ll never amount to anything doesn’t exactly help your self-esteem. You get inside your own head and tell yourself that you are not worthy of love.

Obsessive thoughts are a kind of anxiety. Anxiety about a situation can set off obsessive thoughts, causing you to assume the worst outcome. It can make you feel like you've made the most horrible mistake in the world, even if it was something minor. There have been many times that my anxiety about something has grown into an obsession. Obsessive thoughts from anxiety cause many problems for me.

I know all about perfectionism and procrastination because I am a perfectionist. And I know perfectionism makes it hard to get anything done. When you first think about it, that concept doesn’t really make sense. As a perfectionist, shouldn’t I be able to get everything done perfectly? Rather than fueling my desire to accomplish everything, perfectionism discourages me from wanting to finish anything I start out to do. Perfectionism causes procrastination, and that negatively affects my mental health.

When we think of social media and mental health, it tends to be a negative association. There are countless studies and stories about people developing depression or anxiety because of their time spent on social media. However, there’s another side to the story of mental health and social media.