Had Enough? Read This Helpful Post To Improve Mental Health

How to reduce mental noise and protect your headspace

Welcome back to Fog of Mind, Helping you to Create Headspace. I’ve just come back from an exciting walk around London. It was wet. It was cold. The kind of cold that keeps some people indoors. But I had my camera with me, and that was enough.

Jump to A Simple Exercise that Actually Helps

There’s something quietly powerful about doing the things you love even when the conditions are not perfect. Especially then. It reminds you that you still have motivation, even if you feel down. That you can still choose how you spend your energy, even when the world feels noisy, demanding, or heavy.

Mental health is often discussed in big terms. Diagnoses. Labels. Strategies. Frameworks. All of those have their place. But sometimes the most meaningful shifts come from something far simpler, returning to the things that give you energy, and being honest about the things that drain it.

Energy is not motivation

One of the biggest misconceptions is that we need motivation first. We don’t. Motivation usually follows action, not the other way around. When your mood is low, waiting to feel “ready” can keep you stuck.

Energy is different. Energy can be borrowed. You can step into it briefly through things you already know how to do. Things that feel familiar. Things that remind you who you are underneath the noise.

Jump to a simple

For me, today, that was walking and taking photographs. No agenda. No output target. Just noticing light, movement, people, reflections on wet pavements. London doing what London does.

The noise we rarely question

We are surrounded by noise. Some of it is literal. Most of it isn’t.

Noise looks like:

• Work that drains you but pays the bills
• Conversations that leave you feeling smaller
• Social media that quietly fuels comparison
• Obligations you accepted without thinking
• Expectations that no longer fit who you are

Over time, that noise becomes normal. We stop questioning it. We just feel tired, flat, irritable, or disconnected and assume something is wrong with us.

Often, it isn’t. Often, your system is just overloaded.

A simple exercise that actually helps

This is not about toxic positivity or pretending everything is fine. It’s about clarity.

Take a piece of paper, or open a notes app. Split it into two lists.

Things that give me energy

• Walking
• Photography
• Writing without an audience in mind
• Quiet coffee shops
• Learning something new
• Being outside, even in bad weather
• Creating without needing approval

Things that drain my energy

• Constant urgency
• Meetings with no purpose
• Overcommitment
• Too much screen time
• Environments where I feel watched or judged
• Doing things out of guilt rather than choice

Be honest. This list is for you, not for show. Patterns usually appear quickly. And once you see them, you can start making small adjustments.

Not big life changes. Small ones.

Why this matters more than we think

When you spend time doing what you love, you are not being selfish. You are refuelling. You are maintaining the part of you that keeps going when things get hard.

That time gives you space to:

• Process thoughts without interruption
• Reconnect with your values
• Regulate your nervous system
• Remember that you are more than your roles

You may also unlock something deeper. An inner version of yourself that existed before burnout, before anxiety, before everything felt like effort. That part is rarely gone. It’s just been drowned out.

You don’t need to fix everything today

Addressing your mental health does not require a complete overhaul of your life. It starts with noticing where your energy goes, and gently redirecting some of it back towards yourself.

Go for the walk.
Take the photo.
Write the paragraph no one else will see.
Do the thing you love, even if the weather is bad.

Especially if the weather is bad.

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