Thursday 23 June 2016

5 Things To Do On A Down Day


Hi everyone, part of having my Fibromyalgia condition means that I suffer a lot with anxiety, depression, stress, generally feeling down and days when I feel like I'm going crazy, it's not fun and it's hard to deal with and some days even though I can get up feeling ok and quite ready for the day, it'll suddenly hit me for no real reason and I can feel miserable for the rest of the day!  Plus I'm in pain and discomfort most days and have my ibs condition too (you can read about that here) which often helps make me feel down and pretty crappy.

I'm not someone who likes taking more tablets and meds than I have to and I really feel pumping myself full of chemicals is only going to cover up how I feel emotionally rather than trying to deal with it and I much prefer trying to make myself feel better, so I've had to find ways to cheer myself up and make myself feel more positive, it's not easy but it does help and I thought I would share a few of them with you in the hope that it might help some of you too.


My number one go-to thing has to be sleep!  It's really not the best use of my time, but it's the one thing that gets me away from feeling down and feeling ill too.  I've been using a lovely app on my phone lately called Calm, I set it to the 'mountain lake' scene and put the volume up, then lay on my bed with my eyes closed and just try and imaging I'm led on a soft blanket in a secluded clearing in the woods, next to a lovely stream.  With the birds singing and the warm sun beaming down (and usually with my celeb crush led next to me), well whatever works right! ;-)  But lately that's been really helping, even if it's only for 10-15 minutes, I still feel more refreshed and a bit calmer afterwards.  I always set my alarm before I closed my eyes or I know I will doze for too long and I really have to try and clear my mind or I will just lay there thinking of everything I don't want to be thinking about!


The second thing is YouTube, there's definitely a few people on there that always cheer me up.  It's a good 'quick fix' to watch a 5 or 10 minute video, just to get your mind to stop thinking unwanted thoughts and think about something else.  I like chatty ones, vlogs, funny collabs (especially Zoe and Mark ones, they're hilarious) and I've also been watching Sawyer Hartman's videos every day for the last couple of months.  I've watched him for years but he's been vlogging everyday lately, he has a drone which he flies pretty much everywhere and the views are incredibly beautiful.  Just click on his name for a link, that video is probably my favourite one so far, just watching these makes me feel calmer (and slightly jealous and desperately wanting my own drone!!)


Obviously music is a major one, but definitely avoid anything with sad memories attached or generally sad tones, I find any piano music quite depressing.  I usually go one of two ways when listening to music to make me feel better either full on hard shouty rock music, like Linkin Park, POD or Razor Red Noise to help get my anger out or I listen to really upbeat dance music or old 90's music which I love, it always makes me feel more positive and a gives me a real energy-boost kind of feeling.


Definitely try and find time to watch a good movie or your favourite show.  Pick a film that you know always cheers you up and makes you feel good, even if you're not in the general mood to watch it.  Of course my favourite show to watch is The Walking Dead, anytime day or night :-)  And since I love so many films (you can check out my 50 favourite movies here, for some ideas), I know I can usually find one that will cheer me up.  I've been loving Boondock Saints so much lately, it's my go-to film that always makes me laugh plus of course it has my fav man in it :-)  If you get anxiety over things like being single, obviously avoid anything about love stories or breakups!


I know this sounds obvious and but trying to avoid stress as much as possible is a must.  If there's confrontation with anyone, just keep your cool and back off, don't aggravate the situation, if you're feeling depressed anyhow you're far more likely to say something you'll later regret!  Apart from that I mostly just try to avoid thinking, about anything particular.  Avoid all negative thoughts as much as I possibly can and I don't let myself think about past upsets, bad memories or anything that I know will generally upset me whether I'm depressed or not, because lets face it, that's only going to make things worse!  Having a 'power' word has always been quite helpful for me.  As soon as I start to get a negative thought or a bad memory pop in my mind, I literally stop myself from continuing that thought and say my 'power' word to myself, sometimes out loud or just in my mind.  It can be a funny word that triggers a good memory or that makes you think about something nice straight away as soon as you hear it, or a short positive quote - anything that quickly changes your thoughts for the better and stops you thinking negatively.

Once you get into that rut of feeling down, it's like a dark cloud comes over you and you can't see the light through it, so you have to try anything you can to keep yourself calm, stay away from any triggers and try and get your thoughts out of your current head-space.  I find distracting my mind and thinking about something else, anything else even for a short time, can really break the cycle and help lift the cloud!

Having little things to look forward to whether it's planning to watch a good film, saving up to buy something nice, or something a bit bigger like planning a day out with friends or a weekend away can really help too.

***********
Of course friends and family can be a major help, but these are just a few things that I try and do when I'm on my own and there are times when I have to just rely on myself to make me feel better!

I hope you like this post and found it helpful.  Are they any other ways that you use to help make yourself feel better?  If so please share them with us all in the comments :-)
Until Next Time Stay Happy

post signature Follow my blog with Bloglovin

No comments:

Post a Comment

 photo MyBlogSignature2_zps611ebcf4.png