These are Jesse’s notes from Darius Boyd’s, mental health and wellness awareness presentation made at the Chamber of Commerce hosted by the Gympie RSL. Darius shared his personal story of resilience and success, which included his struggles with mental health, the impact that had on his family and ownership over the fact he still regularly visits a psychologist to keep his mental health on track. What a great guy to get to know.

Darius had five key things that he believes led to his ongoing successful journey out of bad mental health and passed them on for anyone to use.

1. Gratitude. Create a book of things you are grateful for. This book never finishes and you can write in it everyday.

2. Empathy. Practice, empathy and own your own story, and be proud to share it to help others.

3. Support. Be aware of where you can get your support from. Who is your support, create a list. That list is a list of people who have your best interest at Heart and will be there with you through the good and the bad.

4. Exercise. Exercise is a great outlet for the Mind & Body.

5. Mindfulness. Mindfulness means to be present. Practice, noticing your breath, noticing what you’re feeling, noticing what you’re thinking, noticing what you’re smelling.

Darius explains that once you have those five key tips understood, backed by a good understanding of what makes a perfect day for you, you then need to create a plan.

You’re perfect day is quite literally that, consider exactly what your perfect day would look like an insurer you find a way to include these things within your plan as often as possible. Ie. Dinner with your spouse, spending time with your children, having coffee with a friend, going for a walk…you create your own list of what’s important to you.

The plan. Is an action plan. You need an action plan to ensure that when you are in your day-to-day life, the "real world" where you will face interruptions and distractions, you can stay on track.

Darius finds his action plan down to 3 components:

- A **well-being plan** which is to ensure your well-being is top of mind and being managed before all else.

- A **work plan** which is to ensure that you are entering an environment that’s going to support your well-being.

- A **family plan** to ensure a healthy balance of meaningful time is spent with them.

You can follow Darius on Linkedin.