A friend recently asked me to write about 10 things to stay mentally well in 2026. My first reaction inside was not excitement — it was panic.
Because 2025 didn’t go the way I had imagined. Plans slipped. Expectations cracked. Confidence shook.
There were days I felt lost, nervous, and scared — emotions I’m trained to decode, but not always trained to escape from.
We often assume psychologists have it all sorted. That they don’t feel overwhelmed, that they don’t doubt themselves, that fear doesn’t visit them.
Truth is simpler and kinder: we do feel it all.
The only tiny difference?
We have learnt — sometimes through textbooks, sometimes through breakdowns — that sadness and fear are not stop signs. They are checkpoints.
And then I had a second thought.
If a client walked into my counseling room and said: “Nothing is going as planned. I feel like I’m failing myself. I’m scared and don’t know what to do next.” What would I tell her?
Not a lecture. Not a rulebook. Just a human-to-human roadmap — gentle, realistic, responsible.
So here are those 10 points I finally wrote.
Not because I’ve mastered them every day, but because I know they work even when we forget to apply them on ourselves. And because I also know this:
There is no one formula for mental wellness. We all carry different dreams, different thresholds of pain, different coping capacities, different strengths and limitations.
Yet, a few basics remain universal — like sunlight, sleep, connection, choice, accountability, hope.
So this list comes from my perspective — not as someone preaching from above, but someone walking beside you, notebook in one hand, reality in the other.
1. Accept that life will not always go as planned
We prepare, we plan, we vision-board, we pray — and still, life improvises.
Mental wellness starts when we stop treating unpredictability as personal failure.
A plan going off-track is not always a sign that we are off-track. Sometimes, it simply means life is offering a different route.
2. Pause and ask: “What choice do I have right now?”
When anxiety peaks, our brain behaves like a browser with 25 open tabs. Close them mentally and reopen only one question: “What is my next possible decision?”
Not the perfect one. Just the possible one.
3. Take accountability, not blame
Accountability says: “I own my choices.”
Blame says: “I am the problem.”
One empowers. The other paralyzes.
In 2026, let’s choose the one that helps us stand up.
4. Don’t suppress emotions, schedule them
Sadness, fear, disappointment — they’re not villains. They’re visitors. Let them come. Give them tea. But don’t let them move in permanently.
Acknowledge emotions, but also give yourself a timeline to step out of them when needed.
5. Know when to hold on, and when to let go
Not giving up is strength. But knowing what to give up on, when it’s the source of maximum misery — that is also strength.
Boundaries, detachment, endings, withdrawals — these are not defeats if they protect your mind.
6. Talk to yourself the way you talk to a client
We are compassionate to others and cruel editors of our own lives.
In 2026, flip the lens.
If you’d console someone else, you deserve that consolation too.
If you’d give someone hope, you deserve that hope too.
7. Build routines that anchor you, even when motivation disappears
Motivation is seasonal. Routine is structural.
Simple anchors like:
- Fixed sleep time
- 10-minute morning silence
- Sunlight exposure
- Movement, even 2,000 steps on low days
They don’t sound heroic, but they stabilize the mind more than grand resolutions.
8. Stay connected to people without drowning in comparison
Community heals. Comparison wounds. Talk to others. Share stories. Seek support.
But remember: someone else’s chapter 20 is not your chapter 1. We grow differently. And that is not a weakness.
9. Keep doing small things that remind you you’re still trying
On days you feel incapable, do tiny things that signal effort:
- Drinking water on time
- Opening curtains
- Replying to one pending message
- Finishing one half-done task
The brain reads these as proof of control. Control reduces fear.
10. Keep your perspective flexible, but your values firm
Perspectives evolve. Values shouldn’t collapse.
The core values that help mental wellness are simple:
- Honesty to self
- Responsibility to others
- Kindness in communication
- Choice in action
- Courage to change when needed
- Courage to stay when needed
Hold these. The rest can adapt.
A Final Truth I’d Tell a Client, and Myself Too – You are not meant to win every day. You are meant to not lose yourself completely on the losing days.
2026 will test us all — counselors, founders, creators, homemakers, daughters, mothers, dreamers, overthinkers, planners, the ones who heal others, the ones who struggle to heal themselves.
The goal is not to become fearless. The goal is to become someone who knows fear but still moves.
So these 10 points are not commandments.
They are reminders — written by someone who believes:
- We are all trying
- We are all allowed to fail, but not stop
- We are all different, yet similar in the basics
- We all deserve mental wellness, even when we forget we do
And if 2026 ever feels too heavy, and you need help pulling yourself up, remember this too:
Even psychologists seek therapy. Even founders reboot. Even counselors get scared. We just don’t stop there.
By Vedaprana Purkayastha
The Founder of The She Saga Foundation, Vedaprana, is a social entrepreneur whose dream is to inspire others. She writes on topics that touch her heart and stir her soul. She can be contacted at vedaprana.p@gmail.com
