Mental Health: What Can You Do To Have A Happier Day?

By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide

As the nation observes Mental Health Month in May, should you focus on amped-up insults and exhausting online fears, or focus on amping up your own unique traits which will make you feel stronger, braver and more resilient?

This month, ask yourself what I can do now to have a happier day, in other words.

The official 2026 mental health theme, “More Good Days, Together,” urges you to steadfastly focus on do-able tasks that will make others offer you support. This means roll up your sleeves, lace up your sneakers, get out there and take charge of your focal point.

“A good day is created through intentional mindset shifts, mindful habits, and small, positive actions that help you feel grounded, focused, and fulfilled,” DeClutter the Mind explained in a statement on its website.

“Having a good day doesn’t need to seem like an impossible task. Even if you have moments where things don’t go your way, or as planned, it’s still possible to have a day you end up enjoying. The secret to happiness can be found in your thoughts. The way you frame your thinking can set you up to have a good day or bad day, it’s all a matter of perspective.”

This means you can wake up and deliberately focus on empowering facts. Norfolk, for example, has seen a significant decline in crime rates. Norfolk recorded 59,456 crimes in the year ending December 2024, down from 61,217 in the previous year.

This includes a decrease in stalking and harassment, theft from a person, public order, violence against the person, knife crime, criminal damage, arson, bicycle theft, violence with and without injury, and vehicle, according to news reports.

Or, you can deliberately shift your focus to the fact that people are living longer.

The nation is aging and the mortality rate has inched up. Census records show Black Americans have an increased life expectancy rate (from 60.5 years in the 1950s to 76 years in the 2010s, a 20.4 percent increase) and white Americans (from 69 years in the 1950s to 79.3 years in the 2010s, a 13 percent rise).

Or you can deliberately focus on several new reports that show you how to feel safe including one that tells you how to sidestep online fraud by ignoring, blocking and deleting calls and messages that use fake phone numbers in search engines and online ads, in order to ruin your finances.

Another new report says you can lower your cholesterol level by adding exercise to a healthy diet.

Or you can look at the challenging political landscape and focus on the fact that you can vote in local elections to preserve your rights.

Or you can focus on the fact that you can leave an abusive relationship and launch a new identity.

This month, start a gratitude journal. Jot down 10 things you’re grateful for on a scrap piece of paper. Launch a series of good deeds. Meditate. Socialize with positive people. Go for a walk and listen to nature.

“The difference between a good day and bad day is where you put your mental focus,” DeClutter explained.

“If you’re constantly thinking ‘Wow, I have way more good things in my life than I realized’, you’ll start to feel an abundance of goodness allowing you to improve your day. Gratitude doesn’t mean that bad things don’t happen or that you should shove them down and pretend they’re invisible. It’s more about realizing that no matter how rainy the day, there’s always a beautiful rainbow nearby.”