My Self Care Plan for Bad Mental Health Days (TW)
I think it’s fair to say that everybody has their good days and their bad days, whether you have a past of mental health issues or not. For me, I see mental health as something that effects everybody, it’s like physical health, just because someone gets a broken leg you don’t then claim they’re ‘broken’ or ‘f*cked up’ for the rest of their life, time heals wounds. I see mental health just the same, sometimes it’s worse, sometimes you go through a bad experience or a stressful time, and sometimes you require a little more attention for yourself. That’s okay!
When I’m having a bad mental health day I might be anxious, feel sick to my stomach, a bit sad maybe, mood swings and a bad temper, I might get panic attacks, it can be different day to day. When I feel shit mentally I like to do a few things to make myself feel a bit better and more grounded, now I’m not saying everyone will have the same few things as me, but it’s about finding a few things that you do that you know can make your day a bit more bareable. It might not fix everything but hey you’ll feel a bit better in yourself, and that’s always good.
One of the things I like to do if I’ve got the time is just simply freshen up, have a bath, wash my hair, get dressed nice, do my makeup, just make myself feel more put together even if I don’t feel it inside. For me, I just feel like I’m washing away that mood and starting fresh with the rest of my day.
Another thing I like to do is find a good film or tv series that I love, and distract myself for a few hours. Whether it’s AHS, a random jaws film or something new I’ve wanted to watch on Netflix, I just like to make a cuppa tea and chill for a few hours with a film to get my mind away from overthinking everything.
(I’ve got a big list of Film and Tv recommendations coming soon to the blog so keep your eye out for that to see what some of my go-to favourites are!)
Another of my self care steps is just to have a quick clean up of the house, now I know what you’re thinking- I already feel crap and now I’ve got to clean? What kind of list is this?!
Now I’m not talking about a big clean, I tend to just pick a couple of things in each room that I want to sort out, so say I might walk in the kitchen; pots, walk in the living room; pick up rubbish and hoover up, walk in bedroom; make the bed and fold clothes. It only takes a few minutes but I’ve always been the kind of person who’s physical space closely effects my mental space. I just tend to think clearer and feel more motivated when I’ve got a clear space around me.
Now if I do have a panic attack, I always remember a few ways to stop it. Firstly I just focus on my breathing, try not to think of anything else other than just counting the length of your breaths in and out. I do this usually until I’ve stopped hyperventilating.
Another thing I do is I like to go sit near a window when I can feel my chest getting tight, that way I can open the window if I need to, so I can get a bit of air, which tend to help me a lot. It also means I can distract myself a little, we have a little footpath that runs behind our flat through some trees, and so our window looks right out onto various dog walkers and a road. I like to just look out and imagine the lives of the people walking past. Sounds silly I know but it really helps to distract my mind to make up little pretend lives and names for these strangers.
One last thing I do, if nothing else works, sometimes I like to just get a glass of water and just hold it and drink it slowly, it forces me to just slow myself down and my breathing, I don’t know why but it just works for me?
I hope these self care tips helped you, and if you’ve got any other suggestions that you use yourself- please feel free to add them in the comments, I’d love to hear your recommendations!
Happy Thursday ❤️
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