Mental Health Tips: Things That Have Helped Me (and could help you too!)
Before I talk about anything, I apologise for the long break in posting here. Things have been very busy for me lately but I hope to write here more often, having this outlet has really helped me be more creative and put my writing skills to use!
I decided to write this post to help whoever is struggling with their mental health and needs some support. I am, by no means, an expert in mental health, but I do feel I can give my advice as I’ve managed to get myself to the other side of what I’ve been struggling with, through what I’m going to talk about in this post.
Having support around me
Having the support from my loved ones and counsellor helped me immensely, it was a relief to be able to talk about things that have been bothering me or making me anxious rather than keeping them bottled up inside.
Medication
I will first say, medication is not for everyone. I was very wary about it before I began taking them but I definitely do not regret it, it’s helped me so much alongside counselling, it gave me the mental strength to get through everything that I’ve been struggling with and to recover. It’s helped me so much to feel like myself again, who I used to be before my mental health struggles started.
Therapy/Counselling
Talking to my counsellor every week really made a difference in me alongside my medication. My counsellor helped me expose myself gradually to the things I was afraid of, till I wasn’t afraid of them anymore. Counselling gave me an outlet to talk about things that I wouldn’t have felt comfortable talking to anyone else about. I’ve since finished my counselling but the things that I learned from it will stay with me.
Having a hobby
Having something to work on outside of my mental health really helped to distract me from my issues and feel like a normal person. My hobbies have changed throughout my journey from photography to writing.
Being kinder to myself
Treating myself more kindly has helped me a lot. I used to get frustrated with myself when I would become anxious for no reason, ruining whatever I was doing/enjoying, since it used to happen quite a lot, but now that I’ve learned a lot more about myself, I know that it’s best to treat myself like I would treat someone else who was struggling.
Writing what’s on my mind/what’s bothering me
There’s been times where I have been bothered by something and I didn’t have anyone to talk about it with or I wasn’t comfortable talking about it. Writing about things helped to clear my mind and make me feel better.
Slowly exposing myself to my fears
(until they didn’t bother me as much anymore)
This is safest to do with a therapist/counsellor as in some cases, it can cause setbacks in recovery. I did exposure with my counsellor, it was very difficult at times, but it’s very rewarding.
Taking things one step at a time
One thing that was important for me to learn was to take things one step at a time. Recovery isn’t a quick thing, it takes time, but it is worth all the hard work and effort.
