I struggle with depression and choose to deal with it without medication. I have a loose mental health routine… more like a list of things to do on a daily/weekly/monthly basis.

Daily:

Shower

Eat

Spend a minimum of ten minutes cleaning my space.

If not working, spend at least 20 minutes outside; preferably doing some kind of exercise, but just chillin’ is ok too.

Weekly:

Attend some kind of social event. Doesn’t mean anything huge. I got in to D&D and that takes care of that one most weeks. Regular social activity is important.

Monthly:

Clean the bathroom! (Preferably bi-weekly)

This is not a complete list of things I do to help my mental health, but they’re the ones I force myself to do even if I don’t want to. It helps.

I also follow a general guideline I learned in therapy. Keep track of things you’re doing and put them in to one of three categories: professional development, self care, recreation.

The goal is to spend your waking hours doing these things evenly. (I suppose sleeping counts as self care in the right situation)

I’m a former addict. Been clean for 4 years now. I learned these things in recovery and the whole time I thought to myself “This should be a high school course. You don’t need to be an Addict to benefit from this stuff.”

Anyway, these things truly help me and I hope they can help you too.