| I'm very sorry to hear about your experience. I went through a rough patch recently with mental health too. I know how hard it can be but I have come out the other side a much stronger person and a lot clearer on what is important in life. Always hang in there, it gets better. Everyone is different I know and I don't claim to be an expert but thought it might be worth listing some of the big things that helped me and seems to help a lot of others as well, just in case you find something: - Exercise like you've never exercised before. If you ever had dreams of getting in shape or conquering a fitness challenge nothing motivated me more than knowing I might feel a little bit better mentally for it afterwards. - Sleep. I got serious about making sure I got a good night sleep which was extremely hard at times. All the sleep hygiene tips are worth learning. Not getting too hot at night, blocking out all light, ear plugs, sleep meditations, stretching before bed, reading something calm and positive before bed, writing everything on your mind down so you can let it go etc etc - Every day writing down 3 things I'm grateful for (even small things like a warm cup of tea), 1 happy thing that happened in the last 24 hours and 1 thing I'm looking forward to. There's something to all the gratitude diary stuff. - Meditation and mindfulness were often the best way to get a break from it. Learning these skills is one of the best things I've ever done. - Controlled breathing gave me some control of my nervous system. To calm things down and slow my thoughts (especially in the middle of the night) I personally found the 4-7-8 breathing technique worked well for me if done properly but there's lot of others taught in yoga etc as well. - Socialise and talk to people a lot, even if you don't feel like it. - Help others. It is the right thing to do and it feels good and takes the focus off you. - Learn new things, take on new challenges, things that you have no expectations about. - Possibly the hardest but best lesson I learnt of all though was not to buy into the negative thoughts my brain was having. Realising that I'm only thinking that way because of the state my brain is in and that the state it is in today isn't necessarily the state it will be in tomorrow, next week or next month. The world is a great and amazing place. If it doesn't seem that way right now it's just because of the state I'm in now but that state will change and when it does change the world does indeed seem great and amazing again. I also tend to agree with the advice of staying in your job. For me there was an element of not being able to deal with too much but at the same time, running from all responsibility and work wasn't the answer either so it was a balance to be found until I could get back to full capacity. Taking on as much responsibility as I could handle at each step helped to improve my self worth and helped a lot too. But that's just me so I hope you find what is best for you. Hang in there and best of luck to you! |