Stuck in a negative loop cycle of worry and low mood?
Don’t know where to start or what to do?
Anxiety and Depression can go hand in hand and feel very much like an emotional roller coaster of doom and gloom. Just going through the motions, stuck in your head and not getting anywhere.
There is an element to life that quietly chants that everyone else has their s**t together whilst you feel like your failing or slowly falling apart.
I have had so many of these moments in that space of self comparison that doubt crept in via a perfect Instagram post or a conversation of ideas that made me question that I do no do enough.
Hey, I hope your well and of the realization that January is actually solely coming to an end.
The longest month of the year but also a time to not push and do. A chance to relax, take time, hibernate and rest. A spacious time to just be for a while. Sounds great unless your brain is running on 300 tabs open and a driven sense of cortisol.
I had this exact issue trying to wind down over the Christmas period and then when I did hit a nice, relaxed state of being, I had to speed back up for the doing again.
As a children’s therapist over the years I have had so many varied conversations with children and teens who genuinely think they are broken. That their brain has stopped working properly or there is something seriously wrong with them.
Add to that the increase in neurodiversity, mental health conditions, school avoidance and we end up with a daily potion of behaviour that as parents we are trying to manage.
With mental health awareness week upon us is a good time to share shizz and stories. The honest and real places that people have been.
As a therapist people always assume that I have it altogether because I have a good knowledge bank and always look so positive and happy.
Change is inevitable. It happens.
Sometimes small things just happen and we accept them and move on. At times the larger things arrive and we feel unable to process and move through in a way we feel in control.
Now just imagine that as your stress levels increase and your lack of control and certainty is taken away from you. The people who help you to regulate and gain control back aren’t there. You look around to find a familiar face but the people who are looking back at you are people who have no idea how you are feeling and now it is getting too much.
If you have ever struggled with an anxiety disorder you will know how much at times it can be so debilitating. Not only with change and new things but also with the day to day things that life brings.
I remember a few years ago I was asked to teach in Birmingham for the weekend. Knowing I was capable of delivering the course wasn’t the issue. The choice to stay over was. I hadn’t been away from home over night on my own for a long time and my anxiety knew it.
The temperature has finally dropped, the nights are drawing in and there is a fresh nip in the air in the mornings. Wardrobe choices changing and the big boots have replaced the flip flops…
Heading on into autumn with the same gusto as a pumpkin spiced latte all wrapped up in your favourite hoody. Whilst most people are planning their pumpkin patch visits and how to make costumes for the Halloween disco or turn the doorbell off in time to ignore the trick or treaters ( lol) there are some who have begun to notice the change in weather and start to get anxious about how this will effect their mood heading into winter.
This year we have just launched the random acts of kindness for 2023
An initiative that began a few years ago when I gifted a bunch of flowers and a coffee to someone struggling and going through a hard time. They sent me a message a few days later to thank me for such a kind gesture when they were going through a difficult time.
Not just a great old skool song but in reality, we are the ones that hold all the answers to ourselves and where we want to go.
No one knows more about you than you. This truly enlightening piece of information truly enables us to understand that when stress and life stuff gets in our way, we find it harder to find the answers and manage our own issues. When this builds up over time, we then begin to doubt our own capabilities and answers. Struggling to know what to do. Incomes overwhelm, uncertainty and a whole load of negativity, our internal stress bucket begins to fill.