Kendall Jenner’s guide to maintaining mental wellbeing

Kendall Jenner’s guide to maintaining mental wellbeing | Soho House

The supermodel appeared on Jay Shetty’s wellness podcast to share how she learnt to set boundaries and prioritise inner peace – here’s how you can too

Saturday 17 September 2022   By Tilly Pearman

This week, Kendall Jenner didn’t just turn heads at New York Fashion Week, she got candid about mental health, spotlighting a healthy conversation around the importance of prioritising inner peace. 

Speaking on the latest episode of the On Purpose With Jay Shetty podcast, the supermodel opened up about early career burnout, the false narratives she no longer cares for, and how she holds onto happiness by living through her ‘higher goddess’ – who, in her words, is ‘awesome’.

It’s not the first time Jenner has been vocal about dealing with anxiety, but this time she made it clear that she wanted to use her voice and global platform to share the personal learnings that have guided her through her struggles and helped her achieve overall mental wellbeing – from self-affirming mirror talk and tuning out from external ‘noise’, to dropping the need for validation and learning to be kind to your inner child. 

Here, we’ve rounded up the key takeaways that we think are worth musing over.  

1. Set boundaries and have the courage to say no
‘There were so many people around me who told me not to say no, taught me not to stop. The core five years of it [modelling], I was extremely overworked and not at my happiest. Not because I wasn’t doing what I love, but because I was overwhelmed. I was saying yes to everything, as I felt really honoured and grateful to be in this position. It took a lot out of me, to the point that I wasn’t happy anymore. So, I had to set those boundaries for myself because I want to continue to do this, because this is what I love. I needed to start saying no, and prioritising me, my happiness and my wellbeing. And it has done wonders for me. I feel like I can show up better for myself, and for the people I get to be around and work with that day.’


2. Own your happiness by tapping into your higher goddess 
‘If your happiness depends on the action of others, you’re at the mercy of things that you cannot control. And that’s not where I want to be. Me and my therapist talk about my higher goddess, my higher self. I always live by holding on to my happiness and not letting anything else affect it. And although I fall victim to it at times, as we all probably do, I strive to live in that place.’


3. You are the only true perception of yourself
‘Sometimes it feels weird to say good things about yourself. I’ve learnt a lot from talking to myself and looking in the mirror. I love words of affirmation; just sitting there and reassuring yourself of who you are. There are so many false narratives out there and it can feel really unfair. So many people think they have you figured out when they don’t know the half of it. And that really gets to me sometimes. But then looking at myself in the mirror, and knowing that I know who I am, then why does anything else matter? Everything else is just noise.’


4. Remember, your feelings are valid
‘I’m big on keeping a really honest and communicative relationship. But it’s OK to not be on top of each other all the time. If you need to run to the bathroom and take a couple of breaths, then take a second; your feelings are valid. Sometimes my family can be a lot. I am prone to a good amount of anxiety and taking everything too seriously sometimes, so I like to just step away and be like, this is OK, I’m allowed to feel this way, it’s valid. I’m just going to take a deep breath; I’m not going to react, and then I’m going to go back out there and I’m going to be fine. Sometimes it’s just as simple as that.’


5. Stop being mean to your inner child 
‘I do a lot of inner child work with my therapist. There was a trend on TikTok, and coincidentally we ended up naturally speaking about it in a session. It was this trend where a girl would say something like ‘any time you’re being mean to yourself, this is who you’re talking about. Then it would flash up a photo of her as a kid. So, I did that. I pasted a photo on my bathroom mirror and I talk to her. And if I’m ever looking in the mirror and being negative towards myself, I always glance at her and I’m like, she’s dope, I love her. It’s just another way of self-love, I guess.’

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