#503 | The Foundations of Good Mental Health

Your mind is shaped by the habits you practice every day. In today’s episode, we unpack what it really takes to build stronger mental health, deeper resilience, and a steadier inner world in a life that keeps changing. We explore the foundations that influence how you think, feel, handle stress, take action, and stay connected to yourself and the people around you.

This conversation is not about perfection, pressure, or fixing yourself overnight. It is about the small, consistent choices that quietly shape your emotional strength, personal growth, and overall well-being over time. If you have been craving more stability, clarity, and ownership in your life, this episode will meet you there and help you take the next step forward.

Episode Reference:
Caring for Your Mental Health

Here are related episodes that build on today’s conversation:
#481 | Why Waiting to "Feel Ready" Is Costing You Your Life - https://apple.co/4ezunKO
#478 | How to Advocate For Yourself - https://apple.co/4ndYjOC

Learn more about:
🤝 Out of the Mud (OOTM) - "Being Strong Is Exhausting: The Mental Health Cost of Always Holding It Together" - https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/IykObX8eR7ixJaQ-qqZogw#/registration

📽️ Insightful films. Meaningful growth. Join our Evolve Movie Club - https://forms.gle/bBZUbFEeD2ijypCT7

🌱 The #YouDoYou Therapy Program gives you support when and how you need it. No pressure. Just real help. Start your free 7-day trial today - https://buy.stripe.com/fZe8Avdfx8bW9gcfZc

_________________

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Emilia’s IG - https://www.instagram.com/evolvewithemilia/
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https://calendly.com/emiliasmith/free-evp-communityconnect?month=2025-07

Show notes:
(2:42) Why complaining replaces real action
(6:26) What mental health really means
(10:09) Brain health and better sleep
(12:59) Why nature supports resilience
(14:09) Fitness without harmful old narratives
(17:06) Finding purpose in each season
(19:08) Therapy, coaching, and cognitive growth
(20:13) Belonging where you are celebrated
(22:40) Outro

Transcript

Bianca Thomas

(0:00) Having really good mental health, there's not actually a secret. (0:06) What if I told you that it's actually like a recipe? (0:10) There's foundations that create it.

Emilia Smith

(0:14) Okay, and those foundations can be translated into habits that, when done consistently, can make for one heck of a resilient human being for the times that we have ahead.

Bianca Thomas

(0:30) Most of us are looking for hope, answers to the madness, certainty that we'll be okay, and someone safe to help guide us through the most challenging parts of our lives. (0:41) In a world that's changing and evolving every single day, where chaos, uncertainty, and cycles we never chose wreak havoc on our lives, it's easy to feel lost, hopeless, and scared of what future will hold.

Emilia Smith

(0:57) Evolve Ventures is here to provide that hope, direction, and data-driven strategies to growth-minded human beings just like you every Monday and Thursdays, where each new episode is filled with vulnerable stories, interesting lessons, and simple tools you can use that will help you evolve into the person you were always meant to be. (1:18) My name is Emilia, and I'm Bianca, and as the co-founders of Evolve Ventures, we are so grateful to be a part of your evolution. (1:26) Let's get into it.(1:27) Hey, everybody. (1:28) It's Bianca. (1:29) Welcome back, Evolvers.(1:31) It's Emilia. (1:32) Here we have the foundations of good mental health. (1:36) Now, obviously, if you're in the Evolve community, we want to make sure that you have extraordinary, excellent, resilient mental health.(1:44) But for today's episode, we're going to start scratching that itch, and it starts right here at the surface. (1:52) So Bianca and I, just before recording this episode, she and I got in a brainstorming sesh where essentially I forced her into this. (1:59) If we were to do this episode and really lock in some of our foundations, what can we both agree upon?(2:06) And so by the end of this episode, y'all will have a couple, a few, a handful of places to start. (2:14) Say, for example, when you listen to this episode and you want to start to implement change, and this is something that you're like, all right, I'm ready. (2:22) I'm ready to move the needle forward.(2:24) I want good mental health and I want high quality mental health. (2:27) These are the foundational pillars that we want and encourage you to improve upon in your life. (2:34) Why?(2:35) Why does that matter? (2:36) Why should people care? (2:38) Bianca, what's your hot take on that?

Bianca Thomas

(2:43) Everyone complains that life sucks and then isn't willing to do the things necessary to make it not suck.

Emilia Smith

(2:48) What? (2:50) We prefer complaining than we do taking action.

Bianca Thomas

(2:53) What? (2:55) There's actually like things that you can do to make sure that like you're good? (3:00) What?(3:00) Yeah. (3:01) Crazy.

Emilia Smith

(3:03) Yeah. (3:04) So I know we're being playful in this and also we deeply believe in these things and we're not just speaking out of that belief. (3:14) Every single day, Bianca and I are living in these beliefs and we are the beneficiary of the fact that the compound effect over time with good quality choices, and what I mean by that is good quality choices, taking the science that is readily available to us and applying it in our own life on a habitual standpoint, we get to benefit from that.(3:37) And so I want to make sure that everyone knows for this episode, you get to benefit from that as you apply that in your life, too. (3:45) And so we want you to walk away not only with the recipe per Bianca's opening, but also encourage you to actually take those action steps that seem like they are possible and doable in your life. (3:59) I know everyone's going to hear some of these things and be like, OK, yeah, but yeah, but and the excuses are going to come out and that's normal.(4:06) However, I'm going to encourage you if you're an evolver and you want change to take one small action step in at least one of these six areas that we have for today.

Bianca Thomas

(4:22) This also is not a one and done, and I want to make sure that I make that abundantly clear. (4:27) This is the foundational steps. (4:33) The foundational pillars are habits that you build upon every single day.(4:39) It's things that you get better at every single day and through every different phase and journey of your life. (4:45) It might look a little bit different. (4:48) You might need a little bit less of certain things, a little bit more of certain things.(4:52) And that's OK. (4:53) Just like a recipe, it depends on what the outcome is that you want. (4:57) So if you want super, super crispy chicken, for example, you're going to need a lot more like batter and breadcrumbs and whatever.(5:07) If you want grilled chicken and you want just like a little bit of crisp to it, you only add a little bit. (5:13) So it depends on the outcome. (5:15) And that's part of that's one of the pillars that we're going to dive into.(5:19) So I'm not going to give that away. (5:20) But these are all steps that you build upon. (5:27) So be mindful of the fact that there might be a part of you that comes up that says, I'm not good at any of these or I'm not good at one of these, but I'm good at a couple of the other ones of these.(5:39) And I need to be perfect and I need to get all of them right now all at once. (5:46) I am the queen of that. (5:48) That's why I say it.(5:50) Because it's very easy to get caught into that trap. (5:53) So just be mindful. (5:55) You're going to build on these slowly over time.(5:58) That's how Amelia and I got to the places that we are at. (6:02) And it's why we are the women that we are because we have made this a daily life long practice. (6:10) It's not a one and done.(6:12) It's just like eating, right? (6:13) You don't eat once and then you're full for life. (6:16) You have to every single day.

Emilia Smith

(6:20) That's a good one. (6:21) I like that. (6:24) Yeah.(6:24) So, so true. (6:26) So I think what's important, the starting point for all of us is to recognize what is mental health. (6:33) And I think it's a really easy thing to not even define in this episode.(6:37) But if we were to really, really get in on that shared definition, mental health, and I have this in front of me. (6:45) So I'm going to read it directly from the National Institute of Mental Health. (6:49) And we'll link that below.(6:51) Mental health encompasses our emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing how we think, feel, act, handle stress, and relate to others. (7:03) It is essential at every life stage and is more than just the absence of illness. (7:10) In other words, it is at a state of well-being that you have, hold, nurture, and practice.(7:18) And so you are the one person that gets to make those decisions that improve your overall well-being in all of these facets, hence the habits, or someone who neglects your well-being, which is the not doing and the becoming or developing or cultivating a practice within your life on the day-to-day. (7:42) And so all of these areas, all of these zones, the emotional, the psychological, social well-being, influencing how we feel, how we think, how we act, and how we handle stress and relate to others. (7:54) It's that practice on the daily that we need to all have.(7:58) And it's going to look different. (7:59) Like we said, it's going to feel different. (8:00) It's going to be a different recipe for every single human being.(8:04) However, one of the biggest things that mental health and good mental health, high-quality mental health requires is that consistent devotion. (8:15) So we need to recognize it as a garden that we all get to steward. (8:21) And to what, Bianca, you said earlier, if we don't have a belief that we are deserving of good mental health, then we're not going to invest in that garden.(8:30) We're not going to cultivate that garden. (8:32) And so the first ground belief, Bianca, that I would suggest for our listeners to open their minds to when it comes to these behaviors and these pillars that we're going to discuss is recognizing that I, Emilia Smith, am deserving of good mental health. (8:50) Bar none.(8:51) Any listener, please put your name in that sentiment and give that to yourself before we get into this. (8:57) Anything, any specific belief, Bianca, that you believe would be helpful for listeners to get started so that they can absorb these six that we're going to get into and really start making practical changes in their life.

Bianca Thomas

(9:11) It's an add on to what you said. (9:13) So I, Bianca Thomas, am deserving of good health and I am capable of achieving it.

Emilia Smith

(9:20) Great. (9:22) Love that. (9:23) And I am capable of seeing progress and I am capable of the inputs that are necessary, even when it's hard, even when I'm uncomfortable, even when I don't believe in myself.(9:35) I am capable of persevering through that discomfort, through the change and through the resistance that my body, my mind, my psychology might show. (9:45) Okay. (9:47) We say that because anyone that's in the pursuit of good mental health, you know, it's kind of like you're getting in the gym every single day with yourself.(9:56) It's a you versus you. (9:57) I had a client say this the other day. (10:00) I am my biggest barrier.(10:02) And it's like, yes, we all are sometimes. (10:04) And that's one of the biggest mirrors that we have to face. (10:07) Okay.(10:07) So let's get into them. (10:09) So number one, the number one pillar that we believe at Evolve is absolutely a requirement as a foundational pillar of good mental health falls under the category of brain health. (10:25) Why?(10:26) Brain health is everything from your sleep to how active your brain is, to what you're feeding your brain, to what you're not feeding your brain, to the thoughts that you're essentially letting come into your brain before sleep. (10:39) It's everything around your brain health. (10:43) And so one small practical tactical application is looking at your sleep, how you sleep, how much time you get asleep, how the quality is of your sleep.(10:57) And that, believe it or not, is a huge foundation that is overlooked by so many people around the world. (11:04) We are a society that is incredibly sleep deprived. (11:08) And when you look at all of the mental illnesses and challenges that we experience in life, a lot of that ties back down to poor brain health and ultimately incredibly low levels and poor quality of sleep.

Bianca Thomas

(11:23) So I'm not weak, lazy, incompetent, unmotivated, reckless, careless, not driven if I sleep?

Emilia Smith

(11:34) Not at all. (11:35) As a matter of fact, all of those narratives are from generations that knew nothing about brain health and how important sleep is for a high quality of life, great health, and ultimately incredible levels of well-being and positive good mental health. (11:54) So we see you, we see those narratives, and let those bounce right off of you.(12:00) And if you struggle with that, reach out. (12:03) Okay. (12:05) Pillar number two.(12:06) Pillar number two is nature. (12:08) What I mean by that is getting outside, not being inside in these artificially created places, although your home, your office, the workplace, those cafes that you love, the libraries, the education buildings, whatever we love to spend our time in, protect and shield us from the elements, nature is incredibly important to support our over well-being. (12:32) I could get into the nitty gritty of the sciences underneath that.(12:36) I won't in this episode, despite my deepest desires to, but getting out in nature, that means outsides, outdoors, in the elements. (12:45) So many people, you wouldn't believe it, when it's a rainy day, want to stay inside. (12:49) I get it.(12:50) However, your mental health will always get better on those days where you actually go get out in nature, because nature is, it's the ecosystem that without that, we wouldn't be able to survive. (13:01) The sunlight, the air, the fresh air, right? (13:05) And ultimately the elements that we can interact with that is foundational to our mental health and well-being.(13:14) Number three, fitness. (13:16) So this is a big bucket that both Bianca and I adore, and are obsessed with, to put it lovely. (13:24) And this fitness is this overarching category of being as fit as humanly possible in your circumstances, in your age, in your life, given whatever conditions you have, et cetera, et cetera.(13:39) And so what that involves is nutrition, training and exercise, stretching, mobility, pliability, hydration, all of the efforts that are involved on the physical realm for your fitness to be at its highest level, because the body is either atrophying, meaning it is decaying, or it is being used and building itself. (14:05) And so (14:05) when you are focused on building yourself, going to the gym or moving or stretching or yoga or any (14:11) sort of movement, making sure that you're mindful of the nutrition, the molecules that you're (14:18) consuming, essentially the hydration that you're giving the machinery in your body, (14:23) the cells in your body to be able to function at a level that is baseline, not to mention even (14:29) better, your body will work for you and help support your mental health.

Bianca Thomas

(14:37) There are a lot of people have a lot of resistance to physical fitness and training and whatnot. (14:48) And I get it. (14:48) There's been a lot of very harmful, destructive narratives out there pushed by people who are trying to sell certain ideas, certain products, whatever.(15:00) Fitness is whatever you are going to be able to consistently do. (15:05) So if that's going for a walk every single day, do that. (15:09) If it's dancing, if it's hiking, if it's whatever, Pilates, whatever, it doesn't matter.(15:19) Do something. (15:20) It doesn't have to look like one thing or another. (15:24) Find what fits for you.(15:25) Find what you're going to be able to do consistently and then go from there.

Emilia Smith

(15:33) I'm glad you said that because it is so easy to make sure that we just have that image of whatever we have and then just totally run away from the foundations that ultimately fitness has in it. (15:46) And we do our body injustice, not focusing in on all the different leverage points when it comes to moving our bodies, nourishing our bodies and everything that exists in the in-between. (16:00) Okay.(16:00) So that's number three. (16:01) So for you, make sure that something in the fitness realm for you is being considered to improve upon today. (16:11) Number four is purpose.(16:12) So human beings, we are inherently problem solvers as a species. (16:19) We are very good at applying all of our factories, if you will, to a situation. (16:25) And I'm not talking about on the micro situation.(16:29) I'm talking about the macro situation. (16:31) What is your meaning? (16:32) What is the meaning of your life in this chapter, in this world, at the bigger life at large?(16:37) And that might not always come to you and you might not always know what that is. (16:40) I get that. (16:43) And Bianca had asked me before this episode, do you think that everyone can have a purpose?(16:47) And I said, absolutely. (16:48) As a matter of fact, nature creates human beings to have a purpose. (16:55) And it might not be you are doing that one thing forever, whatever that is, right?(17:02) The job. (17:03) People usually go to the job as their purpose. (17:05) Maybe your purpose looks so differently to be the best sister-in-law or to be the best version of you applying your gifts in the fitness realm, right?(17:14) Whatever your purpose is, it is something that gets you up and out of bed eager and gives you meaning in this world. (17:22) Okay. (17:22) So that doesn't mean every single day you're going to love what you do.(17:26) Doesn't mean that there's not going to be challenge, strife, pain, suffering amongst your unique purpose. (17:33) But the active and consistent, diligent pursuit to find or uncover, I like to use the word uncover and discover, your purpose is often what is so critical to having all faculties of our brains online to give us that bigger purpose in life so that we are exercising our mental health and wellbeing for a purpose, for a meaning. (17:59) And that is critical, critical when it comes to our sense and connectedness to this world, ourselves, and the bigger quote-unquote question of what is the meaning of life?(18:13) So number five, number five is the gym analogy. (18:18) This is where cognitive development is critical. (18:23) Getting a therapist or a coach allows you to get in the gym of the quote-unquote mental health and wellbeing exercising.(18:33) Okay. (18:34) So being in a session or having someone that can sharpen your sword for lack of better words, which is your cognitive skills, your cognitive development, our prefrontal cortex and parts of our brain that no other species can develop the way in which we can through neurogenesis, through the ability to think about our thinking, the metacognition capabilities that we have. (18:59) Therapists, coaches help us become more self-aware and use that awareness for application to reverse engineer our goals, our dreams, be better, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.(19:09) So having a therapist or coach, someone that can help you cognitively develop that is pillar number five. (19:18) And in closing pillar number six, this has to do with our social familial friendships, sense of belonging. (19:28) And this is where that sense of belonging is with people.(19:33) So Bianca, you had mentioned your environment, who you surround yourself with, the sentient beings that you are connecting with and to be able to have this social wellness, all of those other pillars that come before it are critical components to help ebb and flow and weave a sense of community, unity amongst this bigger purpose of life. (19:54) And so whatever that is for you, wherever you feel this deep sense of belonging, Alan shared with me a quote the other day, being in rooms where you're celebrated, not tolerated. (20:03) That is absolutely what this means.(20:06) Right. (20:07) I think it's a Michael Burk quote he said, but I don't know. (20:09) So good.(20:10) Right. (20:10) That's fire. (20:11) Being in rooms where you're celebrated, where you're valued for who you are, not tolerated.(20:16) That's what number six is all about. (20:18) So in closing, I do believe taking one account of where you are in these six will help you improve your mental health. (20:28) And if you want specific guided tactical action towards this episode in your unique life, feel free to book on Bianca and I's calendar.(20:37) We would love to hear from you and make sure that we have a custom tailored plan for you. (20:42) Because again, this comes down to just habits and choices. (20:45) That's all it comes down to.

Bianca Thomas

(20:47) Or send us a DM on Instagram. (20:50) So evolve with Emilia or evolve with Bianca. (20:54) If you reach out to us, you're not going to get an AI chat.(20:58) It's not going to be admins. (21:00) It's going to be actually us responding back to you. (21:04) So send us a DM on Instagram.(21:06) We would love to be able to connect with you there. (21:10) My episode suggestion is 481. (21:13) Why waiting to feel ready is costing you your life.

Emilia Smith

(21:18) Beautiful. (21:19) And my episode suggestion is 487. (21:22) How to advocate for you.(21:25) And this is ultimately a key component to be able to when we engage with other human beings, to get that better sleep, to have better nutrition, right? (21:36) A lot of that is us interacting with the human beings in our life. (21:39) And so we need to advocate for ourself in those needs for having better, higher quality of mental health.(21:46) So as always, we so appreciate you joining this journey with us. (21:50) And thank you for your continued interest in the science of holistic mental health and wellbeing. (21:56) We're so grateful.(21:57) And we encourage you to keep evolving. (22:00) Bye, everybody. (22:04) We know firsthand how important it is to have a safe space with people who support and celebrate your evolution.(22:12) That's why we created our free live virtual event called Out of the Mud that we host the last Wednesday of every single month, 7pm Eastern Standard Time, so that while you venture into new territories of your growth, you can get in a room with others who are too. (22:28) Extraordinary topics with evolved people. (22:31) That's what this event is all about.(22:34) What's great too is that you don't even need to have your camera or mic on, you can just listen in. (22:38) Click the link in the show notes to register for the next topic to kickstart your growth.

Bianca Thomas

(22:43) Be on the lookout for our IG lives that we host every Friday at 12.30pm Eastern Standard Time. (22:51) This is a place where you can connect with us live and in a fun, lighthearted way. (22:55) We are also in the process of rolling out group coaching and online courses and these are sure to help you evolve into a greater version of yourself.

Emilia Smith

(23:05) If this episode resonated with you or you heard something you know will help you evolve, please share it with someone you love and care about, team members across the world, or someone who you believe deeply could benefit from joining this discussion.

Bianca Thomas

(23:19) This content is intended for information purposes only. (23:23) It is not a substitute for professional counseling or psychotherapy, medical advice, diagnoses, or treatment and does not constitute medical or other professional advice. (23:34) Names and identifiable personal details mentioned in respective podcast episodes and stories may have been changed to protect personal privacy and identity.