Tips to avoid nuptials mental breakdown-bridal self-care for your spring wedding

We just entered 2025! Happy New Year! 

I bet you still need to finish all the cleaning and decluttering you had scheduled for the last month. I know you had plans to eliminate everything you are not taking to your new life as a wife, but you did not. We have a wedding to plan for 2025, so I bet you are thinking of decluttering and putting your life in order at the same time. Am I wrong? 

I am sure this year will come packed with blessings and joys that we will not be able to see if we continue living in the old patterns and standards we have set for our lives. 

A new year allows us to plan for new goals and dreams. Yei! But unfortunately, it's challenging to embrace those new goals and dreams without trying to finish all those from the past. 

Over the years, I have learned to settle down and be sober when it comes to goals. This year, I want to be mindful and conform to the realities of what can be achievable and what can take more than one year to achieve. For this new year, I am leaving space in my planner for rest, leisure, and enjoyment with my family. 

We plan for material things or maybe activities that will bring success or a reward in our lives, but we need to remember to plan for those things that the world's standards can't measure. 

Many things have changed over the last years of my life, but I have learned to be grateful for the good and not-so-good times. It's been a very colorful life with lots of gray and black, too. I can't complain; God has been so good! as He is with you. I am sure your life has been painted very colorfully, and you feel how far you have come and how much you have changed today. 

Bride to be, I am proud of you. You made it to this day! 

For some brides, some things have mostly stayed the same. Some still don't know how to rest. 

For many years, I did not know how to stop or rest. 

As I have told you in other posts, resting is a process that takes time, and it should be scheduled in our planner as a priority in our day. It takes time to be conscious of our stress, to be able to release those muscles, to take the time to breathe, and to stop what we are doing for the moment. 

It takes time to realize that we are not a victim of our thoughts that constantly push us to do more and more and not take time to rest. 

I know what it feels like to fight hard for the urgency to finish all the tasks simultaneously. And it has taken so many months and years to learn that God's will for us is to do things one day at a time.

 It makes the Lord happy that we trust in his provision for every day and do not spend all our energies doing things that concern the days to come. 

Today, I was thinking of you, bride-to-be. I thought that with the new year, the wedding would feel closer than ever, and there would be so much to plan that you wouldn't want to miss anything. 

Of course, you need to plan everything to have time to relax. 

Unfortunately, things do not work like that. It would help if you started taking care of your mental health now; that's why I am sharing with you some tips that will help you to reduce your anxiety and keep you at peace and able to enjoy your wedding day. 

Learn to rest

Many times, while under stress, we can feel how our bodies start stiffening. Sometimes, you are sitting or lying in bed, and suddenly, you feel pain in your bones or muscles and realize you are contracting your body while scrolling down on the internet.

That simple minor pain means that you have been anxiously looking here and there, believing in your heart that you are resting, but you are not.

When this happens, one of the things I do is try to relax my body, open my hands, and spread my toes. I start breathing more, standing, and stopping doing whatever I am doing that produces stress on me.

Before the wedding day, learn to identify the causes of stress in your body and choose to stretch and enjoy the activities you are doing. If your muscles are stiff or your body is curved, you are under stress and need to rest from the whirlwind of thoughts in your mind.

It is not about resting the body but learning to rest your mind.

Finally, follow your yearly planner 

We have so many things to do daily that sometimes life seems too short to finish all the activities, but that’s a lie.

We need to do only those activities that add value to our lives.

Prioritizing activities and decluttering those that do not add value to your life is needed to add more peace.

God never intended life to be this chaotic; when you start decluttering activities and stuff from your life, you realize there is joy on the other side of clutter.

Every activity and everything you possess in your life demands your attention and care; all of them compete with your boyfriend, parents, and kid if you happen to have little children at home.

Unfortunately, most of the time, the activities that involve the people we love the most are the ones that are left behind.

A planner will force you to see those priorities written down every day so you can plan and leave time to enjoy life too and receive and give a little more joy.

It sounds easy, but it is not; it will take some time for you and me to learn to live a simple life where everything and people that add value to our lives stay where they must be.

Get a break from social medial

I have been sharing with you many times before that I stopped using social media as I used to do it. I will not tell you that I don’t sign in once in a while, but I declutter and stop following people who are not adding anything positive to my life. Since I lowered my social media time, I had more time for other things like writing a blog. You do not need to hear every voice in the world. You do not need to consider all comments about what is happening worldwide.

Every year, I decide to baptize the year with a word; this year, it is listening. But wise listening, especially to the voice of the Lord in the right people and places. I want to learn from others, too, but not from all. Too much social media and following the wrong people can add stress and sometimes distress to your life.  When you stop looking at your cellphone, you realize there are many things we can do outside the social media world. Take some time to look up to heaven every morning, and believe me, your life will start changing for the good.

Declutter and clean your space

Sometimes, it is not that you are in a bad mood but that the mess around you puts you in a bad mood. There is the power of calmness and relief in an ordered and clean space. It sets the mood for the day, makes you feel more at peace, and gives your brain time to rest about everything you need to finish.

It has been almost one year since I committed myself to decluttering my apartment of unnecessary things, and believe me, becoming a minimalist is not easy as you confront yourself with so many bad decisions you have made.

Some psychologists believe that clutter makes you anxious or prone to mental disorders, but others believe that people with mental disorders are prone to clutter. I think that both sides are right.

Being an immigrant in a faraway land made me clutter many things in my life that provided temporary relief from the loneliness that I felt. In my case, I have accumulated books and magazines because being busy learning helped me to escape from the realities of loneliness. I cluttered my daughters' toy room because I used to feel guilty that they did not have family nearby like the grandmoms and grandpas surrounding them. Many people clutter stuff from the past because this stuff brings reminders of the great times of old.

Many people clutter things that bring hope, like clothes that will be used in the future when they are in shape.

I have discovered that I don't need so much stuff to live a good life.

Prioritize the activities you like this season and be ready to enjoy everything that comes with it. What do you need for the present moment?

Go little by little, one day at a time; this decluttering time will teach you patience, too.

It is an excellent exercise for those prone to anxiety.

Trace boundaries

I know that, especially for compliant people, saying no is very difficult and brings a lot of guilt. 

Saying yes makes us feel productive and helpful, but some people know that and will want to take advantage of it. 

As I told you, clutter hinders our internal struggles, and that's why we clutter our lives with unnecessary activities, too. 

You don't have to sign up for dinner with your single friends whenever they want to be with you. 

Many activities are good for our lives, but everything has to be taken with caution and moderation; otherwise, you will burn out. 

Before committing yourself to new activities, think if those commitments bring joy and peace to your life, mainly if you invest time and effort in them. 

Leave space for those with a lot of time, like the seniors, to take on those commitments you are tempted to take. People deserve our best, and if we don't have that soundness of mind at this moment to commit to more, leave space for people who would do a better job with all the time and energy they have in reserve for those projects. 

 As I have told you before, mental health is not something we build from day one to two, but it is the sum of constant days of intentional efforts to change and develop new healthy habits in your life. In the end, you will know that a day will come when you feel more relaxed and enjoy life more than ever.

 Take care ♥

Dear bride-to-be, can you tell me other steps you are taking to improve your mental health? 

Related: MENTAL HEALTH TIPS FOR THE BRIDE TO BE- SELF CARE ROUTINE IDEAS-AVOIDING THE WEDDING BURNT OUT