15 Inspiring Mental Health Quotes That Will Change Your Life

You’ve probably heard the saying, “You are what you eat.”

Well, just as the nourishment you put into your body affects your physical health, so, too, the food you put into your mind determines your mental well-being. The world is full of negativity, and humans have a natural bias toward self-recrimination. Yet, by feeding your mind with uplifting messages, you are able to counter your negative bias and focus on uplifting thoughts that provide hope, inspiration, and positive food for thought.

In this article, I’ll be sharing 15 inspiring mental health quotes that have helped me to nourish my mental health and well-being over the years. Make use of these powerful, pithy sayings to feed your mind with positivity every day.

• The Importance of Mental Health
• How I Use Mental Health Quotes
• My Favorite 15 Inspirational Mental Health Quotes
• Feed Your Positivity Every Day

The Importance of Mental Health

The importance of mental health cannot be overstated. When the mind is unhealthy, it is disturbed. This gives rise to a tendency to be dominated by all of the harmful, negative, and self-defeating thoughts that are generated within your mind. This can lead to mental health problems.

It is only natural for the brain to generate both positive and negative thoughts. But when there is emotional stability, the brain is able to filter out the negative stuff and retain only positive thoughts. By actively working on developing good mental health, you are able to cope with the challenges that life throws at you on a daily basis. You will be more productive at work and better able to contribute to your community.

How I Use Mental Health Quotes

Throughout my school years, I was an unhappy young man. Being a typical skinny nerd, I was picked on, bullied, and isolated because I wasn’t like most kids. It was only when I was in my teens that I realized that it was okay to be unique and different. When I accepted myself for who I was rather than tried to be the person that others expected me to be, I felt like a huge weight was lifted off of my shoulders.

That realization started the process of building myself up from the inside. I discovered the tools that allowed me to develop my confidence, resilience, and self-efficacy.

A key tool that I’ve made use of over the years to nurture my mental health is inspiring quotes. Mental health quotes are little pearls of wisdom and positivity that you can meditate on, mull over, and apply in your life.

The importance of mental health quotes is even gaining acknowledgment in the scientific community and by mental health professionals. A 2018 article in the journal Frontiers in Psychology details the benefits of mental health quotes in people with mental illness.

I’ve made a habit of searching out inspirational mental health quotes and writing them down in my journal. Every morning, even before I put any food into my body, I feed my mind with an inspirational message in the form of a positive mental health quote during 15 minutes of mindful movement. Then, having put the message into my brain, I mull it over when I’m driving or walking, or at other times throughout the day.

With each quote, I ask myself these three questions:

• What is the key takeaway message from this quote?
• How does this quote apply to me?
• What are three things I can do this week to apply this quote in my life?

My Favorite 15 Inspirational Mental Health Quotes

1. Be there for yourself as much as you would want someone to be there for you.
2. Never stop being a good person because of your experiences with bad people.
3. You may have to leave the person you love to find the person that loves you.
4. Chasing your dreams is hard. Being disciplined is hard. Sacrificing is hard. Operating outside of your comfort zone is hard. Living with regret is hard. Always thinking “what if I would’ve” is hard. Knowing that you didn’t live up to your potential is hard. So choose your hard.
5. People can only meet you as far as they’ve met themselves.
6. If something is out of your control, it deserves to be out of your mind as well.
7. No one is going to value you more than you value yourself.
8. There are people in this world who you haven’t even met yet who are going to love you so much! Whatever it is that you’re going through, please don’t give up.
9. People who decide to walk out of your life were simply not meant to be in your life. Things don’t work out, and that’s ok. You’re going to find your people. You’re going to find your person. These things take time.
10. Don’t ever think you aren’t enough compared to someone else. Flowers and sunsets are both beautiful, yet they look completely different.
11. The trees that are slowest to grow bear the best fruit.
12. We have two lives. The second one begins when we realize that we only have one.
13. Don’t look at the entire staircase, because you’ll surely become overwhelmed. Just focus on the first step.
14. Your life will always move in the direction of your strongest thought.
15. If you’re seeing this, that means you’ve survived 100% of your bad days. That’s pretty damn good. Keep going.

Feed Your Positivity Every Day

These 15 mental health quotes offer a wealth of inspiration, wisdom, and old-fashioned common sense. Use them daily to feed positivity to your brain. Meditate on the thought throughout the day, perhaps asking yourself the three questions I use to squeeze maximum benefit from the quote.

If you find value in the quotes, and I’m sure you will, spread the positivity by sharing them with your family and friends. I also encourage you to become an inspirational mental health quote hound. When you find a quote that you like, write it down in a journal. Before long, you’ll have a positive mental health quote for every day of the year.