What's keeping you from being happy?

This week begins National Mental Health Month which, if you can believe it, has been around since 1949. To help you maximize your own feel-good vibes, Mental Health America has launched an initiative called Live Your Life Well, an online campaign to help people manage stress and create better lives.

The campaign lists 10 tools to live better and the list is a good one, backed up by plenty of research. It includes connecting with others, nurturing a spiritual aspect, and eating the requisite fruits and veggies. We hear this advice over and over. But why isn't it enough to help some of us make a change?

A new survey conducted by Self magazine and Discovery Health found that 1 in 3 women experiences anxiety, and 1 in 5 will have a bout with clinical depression. The survey found that 40% of women thought they could treat anxiety and depression on their own, but with a clinical disorder, it's not a matter of pulling yourself up by your boot straps. Getting help from a pro is key, and not a sign of weakness. If you're interested in therapy, you can get more information here.

But what about those of us who struggle with the smaller, daily needling of stress and dissatisfaction? You're well acquainted with the symptoms of day-in, day-out stress: your heart races, your thoughts flutter, you have trouble sleeping. These physical manifestations of stress can lead to something more serious, like high blood pressure, a weakened immune system and heart disease. Dissatisfaction with your life can lead to feelings of ennui and disconnection.

In other words, taking care of your mental health isn't some sort of luxury for the hippie-dippy among us: it's vital to our whole well-being. Yet so many of us struggle with making over this area of our lives. It's easier to commit to an hour of cardio three times a week than it is to manage our stress levels and create a daily spiritual practice. One is concrete and visceral; the other is conceptual and invisible.

So let's talk about it. Why is this area of your life so hard to make over? What's keeping you from living a life filled with vitality, optimism, and fulfillment?