Lifestyle

How to Get the Tools You Need to Live a Happy Healthy Life

Published

1 year ago

January 18, 2025

Living a happy healthy life isn’t as easy as many will have you believe. Social media is often filled with quick fixes, expensive supplements, and highlight reels to convince you that all it takes is [enter product or service for sale here]. The reality is that you need tools for that life — like a nutritious diet, sufficient sleep, stress management, and positive social connections. And many people don’t have the slightest idea how to get those tools. Here are the critical steps:

Know What You Need

First, because both happiness and health are specific to the individual, the most important ability you need is self-awareness. If you can’t see yourself clearly, it will be almost impossible to improve yourself. So, take a good hard look at yourself and factor in your strengths and weaknesses. Ask yourself what you’re capable of and what you need to get there.

For example, some people may be in good physical shape and simply need to hire a personal trainer to help take their fitness to the next level. Others need a full panel of tests at a local clinic to figure out what health issues they may need to address. In cases of abuse or addiction, you might need weekly therapy, or you may benefit from inpatient treatment for substance abuse. You’ll have to evaluate your specific situation and go from there.

Ask for Help

If life is really bad and has been for some time, and you feel like you just can’t pull yourself out of a downward spiral, you most likely need to ask someone for help. Even in the case of an average life change, it could help to have an outside opinion in the form of a therapist, a friend, or a family member you trust. Many people struggle to ask for help, so this step may be especially challenging for you.

Remind yourself that truly everyone needs help at some time in their lives, whether they realize it or not. It’s also helpful to remember that many people enjoy helping others and even sign up as volunteers or go into service jobs for that reason. If you have trouble asking someone you know for help, look into local resources like counseling or social services, which can be inexpensive or even free. Those spaces will be able to help you get the additional tools you need.

Make Sure You Have a Safe Space to Live

Speaking of spaces, it’s hard to access the tools you need for a happy healthy life if you don’t have a safe space to live. Where are you supposed to sleep? Where can you store your nutritious food? These are real concerns for a lot of people, and if you’re one of them, you need to take it seriously. Look around you. Are you living in a safe environment that invites you to thrive and become your best self? If the answer is no, it’s time for a change.

Obviously, it’s not typically easy to just pick up and leave your current residence, but, again, if you answered “no” to the question above, you’ll need to take the leap. If you can afford it, get your own place, so you have more of a sense of control over your own life and choices. If not, reach out to your resources, like social services, and find out about safe, affordable housing. Also, if you have a friend or family member you trust, you may be able to stay with them.

Find Rewarding Work

Another crucial step toward accessing the essential tools for a good life is finding work you enjoy. It’s not enough to make money; plenty of people are miserable at high-paying jobs. Your goal should be to find the intersection between what you’re good at (what skills you have) and what you love. Then, work with your resources to figure out what kind of work you can do that will pay you a living wage or more.

When you find rewarding work, you can look forward to showing up to do your job every day. Most people spend more time at work each week than they do doing anything else, except maybe sleeping. It’s important you feel good about your work. Then, you won’t end up numbing your misery with drugs, alcohol, food, or too much screen time. Instead, you’ll be more encouraged to eat well, get enough sleep, and exercise, so you can keep showing up.

Engage in Community

Finally, in addition to those resources you find and utilize, you’ll also want to find and engage in community. This may begin with a program like Alcoholics Anonymous or a support group for grief or eating habits, but it can evolve into book clubs, walking groups, and more. Try to give as much as you get in these community spaces, whether it’s at your local farmer’s market or at a soup kitchen.

The more socially engaged you are, the better you feel, and the more likely you are to keep up your self-care. Community provides this feeling of giving back like few other avenues do because you are in an almost constant state of giving and receiving. When you want to be part of something, you can join a group or festival and socialize. At the same time, when you feel up to contributing, you can lend a hand and make a difference. Many times, you can do both at the same time.

The tools you need for a happy healthy life are basic. You require good food, sleep, exercise, and people. But as basic as they are, many people need a lot of help to get to where they can access those tools. The most important part of this entire process, toward getting happy and healthy, is acknowledging that you are worthy of those tools and that life. From there, you can start doing the work to get them.

Lifestyle

When Seasons Shift: Dr. Leeshe Grimes on Grief, Loneliness, and Finding Light Again

Published

4 days ago

February 22, 2026

Michelle Langton

Some emotional storms arrive without warning. A sudden change in weather, a holiday approaching, or even a bright sunny day can stir feelings that don’t match the world outside. For many people, the hardest seasons are not defined by temperature; they are defined by what’s happening inside, where grief and loneliness often move quietly.

This is the emotional terrain where Dr. Leeshe Grimes has spent her career doing some of her most meaningful work. As a psychotherapist, registered play therapist, retired U.S. Army combat veteran, and founder of Elevated Minds in the DMV area, she understands how deeply seasonal shifts and unresolved grief can affect people. Her upcoming books explore this very space, guiding readers through the emotional weight that can appear during different times of the year.

What sets Dr. Grimes apart is her ability to see clearly what many people overlook. Seasonal depression, for example, is usually tied to winter months. But she often sees it appear during warm, bright seasons, the times when the world seems happiest. For someone already grieving or feeling disconnected, watching others travel, celebrate, or gather can create its own kind of heaviness. Sunshine doesn’t always lift the mood; sometimes it highlights what feels missing.

The same misunderstanding surrounds grief. Society often treats it as a short-term experience with predictable phases and a clean ending. But in her practice, Dr. Grimes sees how grief keeps evolving. It doesn’t disappear on a timeline. It weaves itself into routines, memories, and milestones. People learn to carry it differently, but they rarely leave it behind completely. And that’s not failure, it’s human.

Her approach to mental health centers on truth rather than pressure. She encourages clients to acknowledge the emotions they try to hide: sadness that lingers longer than expected, moments of joy that feel out of place, and the waves of loneliness that return even when life seems stable. Instead of pushing for quick recovery, she focuses on helping people understand how emotions shift and how to care for themselves through those changes.

Much of her insight comes from her military years, where she witnessed the emotional toll of loss, transition, and constant survival. She saw how people continued functioning while carrying pain that had nowhere to go. That experience shaped her belief that healing requires space, space to feel, to speak, and to move through emotions without judgment.

In her clinical work today at Elevated Minds, she encourages people to build small, steady habits that anchor them during difficult seasons. Journaling helps them recognize patterns and name what feels heavy. Community support breaks the cycle of isolation. Therapy creates a place where emotions don’t have to be minimized or explained away. And intentional routines, daily sunlight, mindful breaks, and calm evenings help rebuild emotional balance.

Her upcoming books expand on these ideas, offering practical guidance for navigating both grief and seasonal depression. She focuses on helping readers understand that healing is not about escaping pain. It’s about learning how to live with it in a healthier way, honoring memories, acknowledging loneliness, and still allowing room for moments of light.

What makes Dr. Leeshe Grimes a compelling voice in mental health is her ability to bring language to experiences that many struggle to explain. She reminds people that emotional seasons don’t always match the weather and that there is no single path through grief. But within those shifts, she believes there is always a way forward.

The seasons will continue to change. And with the right tools, compassion, and support, people can change with them, finding steadiness, softness, and light again, one step at a time.