I am not a psychiatrist or therapist. I am an ordinary woman who has lived with mental illness due to childhood trauma and mental, physical, and sexual abuse. The things discussed here in this post are things that have helped me. You should always seek medical advice or attention.
Introduction
Are you so stressed that you just don’t know where to start healing? It is confusing to try to get relief from anxiety and depression. I have found a few simple activities that help me and want to share them with you. Everyone is different. You should always listen to your mind and body. They will help guide you. As already stated, always seek medical attention if you are in crisis.
- Rely on Your Support System
If you have a support system, you are so lucky! It can be friends, family, co-workers, therapists, pastors, or local deli friends at your favorite meat market! You know who you are! Seriously, these people love you and want to help you. Use them! Call them or text them when things are bad, be honest, and say, “I’m doing bad; I need a shoulder to cry on” True friends are always there for you! You can be a great friend to someone you know is hurting. You have been there, so you can relate. Use your stress for good and encourage the people you love with your knowledge.
- Journal Your Thoughts
Almost all my therapist has recommended journals. There is a sense of release by writing it down and seeing it on paper. It’s also a great release to write it and then shred it, burn it, crumple it up and throw it out!
But back to the journal, you can look back and see how far you have come, and it’s always good to see your progress and equally important to see that you are reverting to old ways and need to start again.
You can use your journal as a tool to help in your therapy. Your therapist might say, “I need you to walk outside three times this week” well, you will not remember when you did that; if you don’t write it down unless it was traumatizing, then you might remember what day it was!
- Simple Activities of Hobbies
My favorite coping skill of all is my hobbies! Hobbies are enjoyable even if you are not using them for coping, so you can relax and have fun. My main hobby for managing is crochet. If you crochet, then you just flat out know!!! If not, it goes like this; you must concentrate on keeping your stitches straight and even, for if you don’t, your work will look awful because some stitches will be significant and loose and others tight and small.
A lot of projects require that you count the stitches. You seriously can not think about trauma while you are counting to 210. The feel of the yarn sliding through your fingers is so relaxing! As you see your project take shape, you feel accomplished. You are making beautiful things, making you feel better about yourself.
All my hobbies help with coping skills; some of them are cooking, reading fiction and the Bible, The Sims 4, Letter writing, and Kindle magazines! (I’m obsessed with my crochet magazines!) and now this, learning the website and making blog posts! I plan to cover some of my hobbies here on the blog for the fun stuff! I have some ideas to showcase my favorite Sim, Ms. Monica. James bought me some equipment to take pictures and videos of my crochet and just life to share on the blog.
- Sleep Schedules
Now I would like to talk about the sleep schedule. It is a challenging subject because I want to sleep it out when I am upset. I love naps, and my medicine makes me tired, I feel sleepy after eating, and I love to sleep late. These things are nice but not a good idea for people with mental health issues.
Number one, you need to take your medication at the same time every day. Medicine needs that time to work correctly. It also keeps you from taking them too far or too close together.
When you have a poor sleep schedule, you can have more risk for high cholesterol and high blood pressure and even gain more weight.
- Exercises
My least favorite topic is exercise. I say it is not my favorite because I don’t do it. I need to, but I don’t. My back hurts, and I know exercise would help with this. It would also help me to lose weight. I want to exercise, which could be just walking, but I think about it and then don’t. It is excellent to relieve stress and anxiety.
- Learning about your disorder
You should learn about a mental issue if diagnosed with it. Google is your new friend! Be careful what you read. You might want to check out sites like the Mayo Clinic, WebMD, university websites, and large hospital pages for information that includes different medications you might take, things to look for, and items you need to discuss with your doctors or therapist.
This sort of falls under this, but if you are on more than two medications, I suggest a website called Drugs.com, and there is also an app with the same name. It lets you list your prescriptions and shows if there is an interaction between them and if there is an interaction with common foods and drinks. I will add a link to this site, which is very helpful!
Conclusion
I am not a doctor or therapist; I have learned these things from experience and by researching for myself about my mental disabilities. I would love to be a support person for you. Feel free to leave me a comment on my Facebook page
If you are my friend or family, call, text, or Facebook message me always! I love you and want to help you sincerely and from my heart!
Please share your thoughts in the comments and share them on social media to help your friends and family!
2 Responses
I love the way you described crochet! It’s the same for me with Cross Stitch. It’s very relaxing but I definitely have to pay attention to those counted stitches. It’s a wonderful destresser for me.
I agree totally!!!! Your mind can not think about worries when you are counting! It helps me so much!!! I am so glad you liked the post! Thank you!