How Unlocking Your True Potential Can Lead to Better Mental Health

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Nowadays, everyone’s life seems so busy, sometimes so busy to the point where you can’t even get adequate sleep. Alright, so maybe it’s always been like this, but thanks to how interconnected everyone is, it’s just more recognized. But with that all said everyone- yourself included seems so busy around to the point where even the deepest aspirations and capabilities you have to seem to be strayed from, right?

Most people find themselves adhering to paths that are not fully aligned with their true potential, not out of choice but circumstance. It happens, truly; sometimes, it can’t even be all that controlled either. It’s hard to bring out your natural beauty or be happy if you never have the time or opportunity, right? 

However, it’s still important to understand engaging and unlocking this hidden potential isn't merely about achieving greater heights—it’s about nurturing mental health and finding a deeper sense of fulfillment.

Honestly, it’s about trying to do what you can with your current circumstances to achieve this; your mental health needs this. But how exactly can this help with your mental health? While sure everyone knows that unlocking your true potential means confidence, it goes far beyond that mental health aspect, too. So here’s exactly how!

What Does “True Potential” Mean?

It’s more than achieving success because success varies from person to person (and, to a degree, culture, too). True potential encompasses one's capacity to achieve and flourish across various aspects of life, driven by unique talents, passions, and abilities. So basically, this means that you’re on this journey towards realizing your potential and how it’s deeply intertwined with discovering purpose. You’re discovering yourself while reflecting on how far you’ve gotten.

It Enhances Self-Esteem and Self-Worth

It’s all about setting personal goals that resonate with your strengths and values. Each goal achieved, no matter its size, reinforces self-esteem and your worth. So, this ongoing validation of your abilities can significantly elevate a sense of self-worth. This goes back to the confidence comment mentioned earlier. As confidence grows, so does resilience against mental health challenges like anxiety and depression, paving the way for a healthier mental state.

Cultivates Growth Mindset

This perspective encourages a love of learning and resilience, which is essential for achievement and personal development. It transforms how setbacks are viewed, framing them as opportunities rather than defeats. Honestly, it’s all about maintaining mental agility and motivation. 

Think of it this way: If you used to quit over the smallest things or how you couldn’t get something done right the first time, once you unlock your true potential, you will better understand that you just can’t simply quit—you have to keep going. Even once you unlock your full potential, you might not always do things perfectly, but you have the confidence and the growth to keep pushing.

Encourages Healthier Life Choices

As you already know, physical health and mental health are deeply intertwined. So, with that said, when you’re in pursuit of potential, this can inspire more mindful lifestyle choices. It might motivate you to prioritize restful sleep, manage stress through meditation, or maintain physical health through regular exercise. It can vary, but for the most part, it’s about bettering yourself physically and mentally. If you think about it, these healthy habits support personal ambitions and bolster overall mental and physical well-being.

But it goes beyond that, too; it’s about building a better relationship with yourself and helps you not think so badly about yourself. For example, you lost weight while focusing on unleashing your true potential, but you have loose skin, something you can learn more here; you’re not going to be obsessed with yourself or loathe yourself.

Instead, you’ll continue to maintain a positive self-image, be positive mentally, and focus on your physical health. Basically, it’s a domino effect: one good thing will lead to another, which will lead to another. 

Strengthens Social Connections

When it comes to building a better relationship with yourself and improving yourself, you don’t immediately think that it’s going to impact your relationship with others, right? Well, it does!

When you’re pursuing true potential naturally, this will steer you more towards communities with similar interests or goals. This connection fosters a sense of belonging and can significantly enhance social support networks. Depending on the connection, it can help unlock your potential even more by offering emotional support, reducing feelings of loneliness, and providing shared joy in accomplishments.

So it can do this, but it depends on who because you can’t expect to unlock your full potential and improve your mental health if it’s toxic people, of course. It’s just basically impossible.

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Avoiding Financial Stress In A Relationship: 7 Tips for Improved Finances

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According to the American Institute of CPAs, 73% of married or cohabiting couples experience stress-related directly to their finances. Money is one of the leading causes of divorce in the US; 1 in 4 marriages that end in divorce in the US do so because of money.

Poor money management, debt, and tight budgets can impact your ability to have a healthy relationship, and neglecting to address your financial concerns, behaviors, and patterns can make your life harder than it needs to be and put undue strain on your relationship.

This is impacted even more by secrecy around spending, budgeting, and money habits both parties have that negatively impact your aptitude to make money, spend money, or pay your bills on time.

As a couple, you need to be on the same page as each other to enable you to have a deeper understanding of where you stand financially and to support each other in making good decisions.

If you don't want to be one of those couples that fall into the above statistics, then you need to address your finances as a couple. But how can you do this without it making things worse?

Be Honest

In the first instance, you need to be honest with yourself about your financial habits, current financial status, and what you expect of your partner or suspect your partner is doing regarding your money.

You cannot begin to make changes to how you approach your finances if you aren't being honest with yourself and others. So before you do anything else, make sure you are able to face up to what is happening and aren't covering anything up; everything needs to be put out in the open for all involved parties to know about.

Start Talking

Miscommunication around money happens because one or both parties choose not to disclose information to their partners. Once you have completed the above step, you need to make time for you both to sit down together and talk about everything concerning your finances.

This isn't going to be fun and will most likely be uncomfortable, but it is the only way you will find out where you both stand and what is going on, especially if you are sharing joint finances or are planning to in the future.

You need to discuss topics such as

• Income
• Debt
• Savings
• Spending
• Credit scores
• Financial plans
• Financial attitudes
• Knowledge

The more you know about where you both are and, are again, honest about everything, the easier it will be to get things moving in the right direction.

But these conversations shouldn't be a one-time thing; they need to be something you keep coming back to time and time again to ensure you're both still on the same page.

Tips for holding these conversations include

• Stay calm - overreacting and getting angry isn't going to resolve anything. You need to stay calm and level-headed.

• Take time - you need to allow time for you to have a conversation. Put it in your schedule and remove as many disruptions as possible so you can get stuck into the discussion.

• See each other's viewpoint - avoid refusing to see other views than yours. Everyone is different and, as such, will have learned or picked up additional information and habits. Being open to learning more about how your partner approaches money and what they know about budgeting and finances can help you better understand how they act and vice versa.

• Have goals in mind from the discussion - not numerical financial goals, simply goals for this discussion. Do you want your partner to admit to poor money habits and help them get things back on track? Do you want to move towards joint or separate finances? Or did you just need to understand your current financial position and where you stand right now? Knowing what you want to get from the discussion will help you to keep things on track.

Find Common Ground and Set Boundaries

If you both have different viewpoints or attitudes towards money, i.e., one of you is a staunch advocate for saving while the other wants to spend it because you can't take it with you when you die, then you need to find some common ground. Respecting each other's opinions and making decisions that appeal to both of you within reason can help you move forward and find what works for you as a couple that won't drive a wedge between you both and cause ongoing conflict.

However, you still need to have boundaries and limits in place so you know what you will and won't tolerate. Especially if you have or are looking at joint accounts, be clear on what you are willing to share, i.e., having a household account but keeping disposable income separate, and what you expect of each other.

Both of you need to be on the same page here regarding what your boundaries are so they can be respected in the future.

Set A Budget and Goals

Once you are clear on where you both stand and your financial status, you need to put a budget in place and set financial goals.

Your budget needs to include all of your significant expenses as a couple relating to your bills, such as

• Rent/Mortgage

• Utilities

• Taxes

• Groceries

• Transport/travel/commuting

• Insurances

• Credit card repayments 

• Loans and so on.

Look at all of your primary outgoings first, such as your rent and utilities, and then look at what is left over to help you create a budget for everything else.

Once you have your budget figured out and you know exactly what money you have left over, you can then make goals. Your financial goals can look like

• Starting savings accounts

• Paying off debts

• Saving for retirement

• Increasing your income

• Reducing frivolous spending, etc

If, for example, one or both of you are carrying a lot of debt, you need to set goals to clear this debt and move towards a better financial position. This could be talking to creditors to see what your options are, starting side hustles such as selling teaching materials to generate additional income to pay off your debts, or reconfiguring what you owe to allow you to pay it faster. Set goals, put plans into action that you can follow through with, and give yourself a set time to achieve them.

Remember, you both need to be on the same page regarding your budget and goals, so you both stick to them and avoid creating additional conflict and upset by reneging on what you agreed to.

Financial Literacy

It can be a good idea to both learn more about financial literacy and even take it because you feel it's warranted. Financial literacy is being able to understand various financial skills and put them into practice.

It can help you to make smart money decisions and avoid making financial mistakes that will impact your life. This knowledge includes things like knowing how much to save, your ideal debt-to-income ratio and what that means for you, what favorable interest rates are, how your spending and credit habits impact your credit score, and what your credit score is made up of.

Achieving financial literacy means you can avoid making poor or uneducated money decisions and be confident that you know exactly what you are doing. For couples, this means that you both hold the same knowledge, and you each know the other one understands the impact of their financial decisions.

Share The Load

It's not a good idea for one person to take on all or the bulk of financial management or spending. The stress of managing the money in the relationship can cause cracks to appear and is unfair to the designated party.

Like your relationship, it dhould be a shared responsibility with both of you doing your part and working as a team.

However, before managing joint finances, you need to be confident managing your own finances first, or it could be a bad mistake. But if you've been confidently managing your own finances, then taking the next step to joint finances can help you strengthen your relationship.

Take It Slow

Don't rush into anything. Your finances won't miraculously change after one meeting or honest discussion. It will take time, perseverance, and commitment for both of you to improve your finances and ensure that you are not working together toward the same goal.

Start by proving you are able to manage your own finances and reach smaller goals, then work towards merging certain accounts and making more significant financial decisions, such as getting a joint mortgage or paying into a joint retirement fund to support your future.

If you don't want money to be the downfall of your relationship, then you need to face up to your situation, both good and bad, and be willing to talk through what you need to do as a couple to help you retain a healthy financial future and not develop bad habits that can impact your ability to prosper together.

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4 Reasons Women Should Propose to Men

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Did you know in 97% of heterosexual married couples, the man proposes to the woman. This is a tradition as old as time, and one very few couples decide to go against. But have you ever thought why can’t a woman get down on one knee and ask her partner for his hand in marriage?

If you are keen to propose to your boyfriend, there is no reason you cannot. Attitudes to marriage and engagement have progressed a great deal, and female proposals are becoming increasingly common. If you can’t decide whether or not it is a good idea, here are a few reasons women should propose to men.

Challenging gender stereotypes

The idea that a man should propose to a woman dates back to some rather outdated and unpleasant traditions. It was originally held that marriage signified the passing of the woman as property from her father to her new husband. But feminism has completely eradicated this view in the Western world. Our idea of marriage is now one of equality. So if we can change the way we perceive marriage in this respect, why shouldn’t we challenge the tradition of a male proposal? By proposing to their male partner, a woman is helping to break down gender stereotypes and create a more equal society.

Changing attitudes

According to a 2015 survey, 70% of men would welcome their female partner proposing to them. Which goes to show that attitudes have changed a great deal in recent decades. Whereas in the past, a woman proposing might be viewed with surprise, or maybe even outrage, nowadays only the most ardent traditionalists would blink an eye.

Non-heteronormativity

The laws around marriage and divorce are constantly changing, and now it is thankfully possible in many countries for couples of any gender or sexuality to tie the knot. There is still a long way to go, but things are certainly moving in the right direction. Although there are plenty of bible verses about a husband’s role in marriage, a relationship doesn’t have to be composed of a man and a woman. As a society we are far more open-minded and accepting of the LGBTQ+ community, and rightly so. If two women can get married in the eyes of the law, it seems a little trivial to suggest that, in a heterosexual relationship, a man must propose to their female partner.

No need to wait

It may be that one member of the relationship is more keen to get married than the other. If you, as a woman, are wanting to tie the knot yet your partner is dragging his feet, why should you wait for them? It may be that they haven’t really considered the idea or are feeling nervous about proposing. Why not take the initiative and pop the question yourself? You can reach that important life milestone far quicker, and stop all this waiting around.

So what are you waiting for? There’s no need to hang around for your male partner to do all the work. We live in a new world where it’s perfectly normal and acceptable for a woman to propose.

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