Camila Cabello is speaking up about the tools that have helped her improve her mental health. Inspired by World Mental Health Day on Saturday (Oct. 10), the singer filmed a personal video highlighting what she’s been working on.
“There are so many things that affect our mental health, traumatic experiences, emotional abuse, being in extremely toxic environments,” Cabello wrote on Instagram, where she shared the seven-minute clip. “There’s systemic oppression, discrimination, inequality, that have been going on for far too long, not to mention financial troubles that have only been made worse by a global pandemic, and countless more things that affect our mental health- but i wanted to share my journey and some of the tools that have helped me take my power back. Healing is a lot of work, but don’t let anybody tell you it’s impossible, even if it feels like it right now- you will be stronger, wiser, and a more compassionate human for it.”
In the video, Cabello noted, “It’s very hard and it’s a lot of work, and obviously every person is going to decide what’s best for themselves if you are struggling, but here’s my journey and some of the things that have helped me.”
She went on to detail her experience practicing mindfulness, committing to movement, adjusting the way she talks to herself, learning to be grateful for the little things every day and more.
“I committed to 10 minutes of mindfulness every day, at least,” she explained. “I started just every day for a year and a half. Haven’t skipped a day of mindfulness because it lets me focus on my breath, it lets me look at my thoughts from a more objective perspective as opposed to believing everything I think is true, which was, I think, a big source of my anxiety. Meditation was definitely, probably number one. It was a huge part. Also, really 10 minutes of meditating is 10 minutes of training your mind and body to concentrate on being present. Anxiety is really focusing on the things that you can’t control, and a lot of that is what may happen in the future. Mindfulness really helped me with that.”
She shared ideas about how to incorporate some form of exercise into the day, even when you might not feel like moving.
“I committed to moving my body every single day, doing some form of exercise or connecting with my body every day because a lot of it was me staying stuck up here,” Cabello said, pointing to her head, “when I needed to come down here. Sometimes when I don’t want to exercise, I just put on songs and dance around in my room like a crazy person for 30 minutes and sweat. As long as you’re sweating and you’re getting your heart pumping, that’s really good for releasing, getting in touch with your body and releasing extra energy. I’m a super insanely hyper person, so if I’m not moving, I’m in my head, like, destroying my life.”
Cabello had some wise words to offer about being kind to yourself and your feelings.
She said, “I started definitely changing the way I talked to myself in my own mind and learning qualities of self-compassion … You can’t berate yourself into feeling better. You have to just kind of hold your pain and whatever your struggle is like your baby.”
Additional tips included turning the water “super, super cold” after a hot shower to regulate your nervous system and gratitude journaling.
She suggested writing down “10 things every day that you’re grateful for, really small things, like sunshine on my skin and feeling the ground beneath my feet, little things like that.”
Watch Cabello’s video below.
