The Abridged version:
- Brianna Taylor’s reporting in 2025 inspired new habits for good health in her own life.
- The list includes ways to improve your mental health, such as limiting screen time, focusing on what you can control and making meaningful connections.
- While most of the habits come from health experts, Taylor says the most important tips came from community members.
As a health and wellness reporter, I often leave conversations with experts feeling moved.
I’ve tapped the minds of numerous Sacramento-area therapists, nutritionists and physicians in 2025 to write stories such as how food insecurity poses health risks for residents, how to make friends as an adult and how to find the ideal therapist. Soon, I’ll publish a piece on how to combat seasonal depression. With each, I’ve gained a new perspective on how to both physically and mentally feel better, pocketing advice and applying it to my life.
Here are five things my stories have inspired me to do in 2025:
1 . Walk without distractions
I’ve always enjoyed going on walks, but now my time outdoors feels purposeful.
I developed a newfound appreciation for walking after Shideh Chinichian, a family medicine specialist at Dignity Health Mercy Medical Group in El Dorado Hills, told me in September that limiting distractions while walking is mentally beneficial.
Chinichian’s sentiments were backed by Lori Roberto, a licensed clinical psychologist in the Sacramento area, who mixes counseling with walking.
“Let’s say you’re feeling really stuck in your life. … Going on a walk can mean something,” Roberto told me in September, using walking as a metaphor to represent how people navigate life’s challenges. “It means I’ve gotten myself up and out and I’m, quote, ‘doing something.’”
I’ve spent the past couple of weeks walking without my phone in hand and instead, tapping into the environment around me. It took some getting used to because I’d typically use my outdoor walking sessions to catch up on notifications or call my parents (long-distance daughter here).
After the shock of being left alone with my thoughts wore off, I began to look forward to my time alone outside, surrounded by nature.
2. Lean into the joys of wintertime
I love summer and adjusting to Sacramento’s gloomy winter season has proven to be a challenge every year.
After interviewing Kasturi Banerjee, a clinical health psychologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, Health, in December about how to combat seasonal depression, I told myself that this winter would be different.
Although I’m not one of the roughly 13 million adults across the U.S. who develop seasonal depression, I experience mood and energy dips as my circadian rhythm adjusts to the summer-to-fall seasonal changes.
Banerjee’s advice about focusing on what you can do instead of what you cannot has changed the way I think about wintertime. She told me this could look like trying an indoor activity or testing a new recipe using seasonal produce.
I am also talking about my feelings as they arise instead of letting them fester.
“Suffering in silence, I think, is one of the worst things that people with any form of depression or anxiety can do because our internal dialog can oftentimes sound very factual,” La Viola Ward, a licensed professional clinical counselor, told me in December. “If you allow yourself to just sit and listen to it, it can tell you really, really bad things.”
It’s too early to tell if these behavioral changes have positively affected my mood. Still, I’m optimistic that I won’t spend another winter waiting for the sunshine to return to make new memories.
3. Gain the courage to ‘feel seen, known and supported’
Childhood friendships can feel effortless, and forging new connections as an adult can feel arduous and uncomfortable.
Kathryn Brown, a licensed marriage and family therapist in Roseville, was one of the first experts I interviewed this year for a story about how to make meaningful relationships as an adult. The story idea was plucked from one of my late-night journal entries after one too many failed Bumble BFF connections, so to say I was waiting on the edge of my seat for her answer is no exaggeration.
The trick to forging adult friendships is to exercise self-compassion, Brown told me in August, while setting realistic goals to curb feelings of panic and avoidance. I felt seen at that moment.
“It’s really important in adulthood to feel seen, known and supported,” she told me, labeling adult friendships as a “human need.”
I assessed my relational patterns one day and identified interests I’d like to connect with the next. Brown was right, taking things one step at a time gave me the confidence to keep showing up in the process, regardless of how awkward it felt.
4. Find the right therapist
Personally, I’m all for therapy. But after what felt like a revolving door of therapists, I’ve become frustrated with the process of finding my match.
That’s until I interviewed Ward, a licensed professional clinical counselor, for a separate story in August about how to find the therapist for your needs in the Sacramento region. She told me to approach the hunt like I would a job interview or a date. That means don’t skip the consultation and come prepared with an idea of what you’d like your therapeutic experience to look like.
“If we’re going on a job interview or a first date, we take those things very seriously because of the long-term impact that it could have on our life,” Ward told me. “I think it’s important to consider a mental health professional to be just as important.
“A therapist … can quite literally save your life.”
I made a list of preferences and deal-breakers, eventually leading me to finding a therapist who checks all of my boxes. I’m excited to start therapy (again).
5. Advocate for your health
The single most important piece of advice I’ve taken from my reporting this year didn’t come from health experts, but rather the Sacramento-area residents who’ve shared stories with me about their health journeys.
Whether it was an interview with Jennifer Kidwell, who was diagnosed with an incurable autoimmune disease that caused pain in nearly every joint in her body, or with Shawn Habermehl, whose friend died of breast cancer after doctors failed to take her symptoms seriously early on, it always arrived at the same conclusion:
Advocate for your health.
“A lot of people don’t understand how precious time is until they’re told they may not have the time they think,” Habermehl told me in October.
“One day you’re healthy and the next you’re sitting in front of a doctor saying, ‘You’re not so healthy,’” she told me. “Your perspective quickly flips to what’s important and what’s not.”
My sources taught me the importance of preventive care, speaking up in health care settings, and standing firm in seeking answers for your symptoms.
Brianna Taylor is a regular contributor, covering Health and Wellness for Abridged.