While it’s hard to find silver linings when you’re in the middle of a global pandemic, there have been some, especially from a mental health perspective. According to new data from a survey conducted by Parade and the Cleveland Clinic, 82% of people now believe that mental health is just as important as physical health, which is up from just 68% in 2018. Singer, actress, and American Idol winner Jordin Sparks, 31, is one of those people—although she’ll be the first to tell you that she always knew just how important her mental health was. “I was already doing a lot of work on myself before the pandemic happened. I actually went to therapy today!" she told Parade. “I have to work to get certain thoughts out of my head, and once they’re out there, I can look at them and realize which ones I don’t need to dwell on.” For Sparks, the pandemic made it glaringly obvious that she needed to maintain what she was doing, especially because she has a toddler, 3-year-old Dana Isaiah Thomas Junior, at home. “When everything flips on a switch and your whole world changes—add on top of that toddlers and trying to figure out how to work—it can be very easy to spiral and feel like the world is ending. I know I’m not the only person who’s had that thought, because we haven’t seen something like this, at least not in my lifetime. We’re literally living through history in this moment.” For Sparks, the pandemic—and her son—helped her realized that prioritizing her mental health was no longer an option. It was a necessity. “I cannot be the well for everyone else if I’m exhausted,” she said. “My son was really the one who helped encourage me to prioritize my mental health, because I can’t be the best mom for him if I’m not taking care of myself.”
What Sparks’ perfect mental health day looks like
Sparks loves her family, but she also absolutely loves being alone. So when asked about what her perfect mental health day would look like, she emphasized that she would spend it completely alone on a kind of “self date.” “I like hanging out with myself,” she told Parade. “I used to take myself out on ‘self’ dates,’ and I want to start doing that again because that got a little harder once I had my son. But on this day, I would work out, I would make myself something nice like a smoothie, and I would read. I love to read books. I would read all afternoon if I could. If it was nice out, I would lay out in the sun, get some vitamin D, call my friends and catch up, meditate, and then I would go to bed early. Probably at 8 p.m.”
The actionable practice Sparks swears by to stay mentally well
It sounds simple, but for Sparks breathing is something she works on every single day for the best possible mental health. “I remind myself to breathe all day long,” Sparks said. “We automatically [breathe], so we don’t ever think about it, but I have the word ‘breathe’ tattooed on my ribs because it’s something I’ve had to work on my entire life. It’s something I do each day, and I can tell when I’m not doing it because my anxiety starts to rise, or I get irritated easily or start to feel kind of confined, and that’s when I have to remind myself to breathe.” Another practice she swears by is getting in the car by herself and sitting there in silence. “I’ll drive and enjoy the silence. Sometimes silence can be scary for people, but I really enjoy the silence and being able to zero in on something, whether it’s sound or something else,” Sparks said. “It’s a version of meditation—it helps me focus and clears my head.” Next up: 40 Inspirational Mental Health Quotes
