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 ♥
Until Next Time Stay Happy ♥
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