A head full of thoughts, and they can get pretty negative and dark. Something I think we’ve all been dealing with, possibly even more so in the current situation. This is a subject very close to me, cause it’s something I’m dealing with a lot myself. For that exact reason tho I’m here to do this, I have a lot of knowledge on the subject. Especially in these times with corona it can be hard to stay positive and keep a good mental health, so I just wanted to try to hopefully help some people by sharing information I’ve learned.
Accept that it is okay to not feel well mentally! There is nothing wrong with having negative thoughts. You are not alone, everyone does from time to time or on a more regular basis! But also realize that there are things you can do about it, so don’t dwell in your negative thoughts.
If you have thought about yourself, image the thought of feeling like you aren’t good enough, try to remind yourself that it is your thought, and thoughts aren’t facts. Thoughts are feelings, and that you feel that way doesn’t make it reality. This is called Cognitive Defusion, seeing your thoughts for what they are, thoughts. So instead of saying to yourself:
‘I am not good enough’
A first step could be to change it into:
‘I have the thought that I am not good enough’
Distancing yourself from your own thoughts allows you to look at them more objectively, and I’ve learnt that most of the time doing so is good enough for me to get rid of it! It just creates some distance from them, which makes it possible to look at them more objectively and put it into perspective.
Focus on your breathing. Deep breaths, and preferably close your eyes. Make it a moment to relax your whole body and mind. The app Breath In helped me quite a bit to learn how to calm down through my breathing. Goodfull has also 3 good meditation videos on their YouTube channel, I will link the shortest one, but they also have a 10 and 15 minute video.
A simple way too also relax your breathing and body is by pretending to inflate a balloon, en then when it’s completely inflated let it go, until it’s completely deflated.
Talk to people you trust. I mean, at the moment I have a few friends who really are my safe space, people I can trust completely and who I can be open with if I don’t feel too good. If you don’t feel comfortable talking about it with others, don’t! But if you do have that safe space, use it. It’s something that can really help, it’s good to not keep it to yourself but let it out. And remember, you’re not alone, so you have nothing to be scared about.
Focus time on things you actually enjoy doing, especially if you are down. It probably will feel like you aren’t in the mood but trust me, it can help you to focus on something fun. For me that’s photography, reading and writing. Also, watching a series or movie is an amazing thing for me to do when I’m down.
If it’s something more than sporadic, your daily rhythm can be an essential factor in your mental health. Give your day some more structure, wake up at a certain time and take enough time to sleep. A lack of sleep is one of the biggest negative influences on your mental health kinda ironic I’m working on this at 2 am
Please push 🙈💜
Thanks @fraud for proofreading this for me and giving me the inspiration in first place to write this. Love you
This thread will be updated if I think of other things, but feel free to share some of your advice as well!
thank you so much for making this thread coming back from a mental health break and seeing this literally made me feel so much better
lol not to be rude but a few things you could maybe add
Ask for help. I know this is similar to talking to someone you trust, but here is a key difference. Sometimes talking about it one time isn’t enough. Sometimes, not only do you need to let it all out, but you also need to find solutions, or outlets for positivity. And you shouldn’t have to do that alone. So please. If you ever feel like you are in a hole that you just can’t get out of, reach out to someone for help.
Don’t compare yourself to things that aren’t even real. I know I really am not one to preach about body positivity, but I acknowledge that this is a skill I must learn. Almost nothing online or on social media is real. People only post the best parts of their lives, because let’s face it, who would want to see a bunch of ugly crying pictures and videos of people on their feeds. But just because people are posting the good in their lives, doesn’t mean that their life is perfect, or any more valuable than your own. Everyone has struggles. Some people are just better at hiding them and projecting “perfection” than others. That does not mean that they don’t have problems too, and that certainly does not deem you less worthy of happiness.
Surround yourself with positivity. Again, I struggle with this a lot and I will admit that I am not a model example of this. I know that sometimes we give ourselves less credit than we are worthy of, and that we treat ourselves believing we don’t deserve better. But we do deserve better. We deserve the world, so we need to stop cutting ourselves short and surrounding ourselves with less than what we deserve. No one deserves toxic thoughts or people in our daily lives, so why are we cutting ourselves short? That being said, we also cannot set the bar too high, and expect people to meet impossible standards. No one is perfect, but we all deserve true happiness in our lives.
That is all thank you if you read all of this and I hope you are okay. If you ever need anyone to talk to, or if you ever need advice, I am here to help EVERYONE. No matter if I know you or not. No one deserves to go through things alone.
This actually is a pretty good way to deal with it. Crying is a healthy way to process something that’s going on so letting out that emotions can be a huge relief.
Ohh, I totally forgot to add this. But yeah asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness. Actually in my opinion it’s strong when you realize that you can’t do this alone and need help from either people around you or professionally.
Hmh, this is a mistake many people make and it’s even a human tendency to want to compare ourselves to others. In general it’s something that would be better if we wouldn’t do it, but especially with all this influencing and stuff, think also about all the very skinny bodies you see in these media, it’s just not healthy to compare ourselves to that. And no, just because they are skinny or have this life that looks amazing, that doesn’t make you any less at all.
Ohhh, I have a nice suggestion for this. Write something positive on a post it, can be that you had a nice conversation that day, did something fun or even that you saw a cute duck outside, something as little as that. But try to make it differently every day. Then stick them on a place where you regularly see them, I did this on a door. Just seeing that always made me smile and more positive
This is fun, haha, such a simple activity as pushing some buttons can really help to get rid of the worst emotions and start to calm down, because your mind is distracted for a few seconds that can be enough.
I’m happy to hear this, thanks I was hoping people would like it and it would actually help people feel better, and I guess I kinda succeeded a little bit
I tend to use physical things to deal with anxiety. Some of the less harmful ones include chewing gum and playing with my Medic Alert bracelet (it’s a beaded bracelet, so it makes a cool sound if I hit it). I’ll also put earbuds in and listen to music.
coming back from a mental health break and seeing this literally made me feel so much better 
