The Self-Care Mental Health Butt-Kick Thread

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It occurs to me that like, tons of us sttuggle with one form or another of mental health disorder or illness. That sometimes, possibly often times for many of us, it is necessary to fight said mental health disorder or illness by taking good care of yourself. That this is often hard & feels like a fight, and an act of defiance against whatever bullshit brain thing is plaguing us.

This thread is NOT an advice thread, but a thread for mutual encouragement.

It's a thread for being proud of yourself for making healthy choices & doing the things that are gonna be good for you, even and especially on days when it is HARRRRD to bc of mental health struggles.

You can use this thread to post what you did that was good for you today, to post what you're going to do that is good for you, or to cheer others on for doing things that are good for them.

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I'll go first, as an example:

For the last few days I've been feeling really, really depressed. I'm not new to it, I've been dealing with depressive episodes for years now, but it is harrrd. The worst part is waking up with no energy & feeling guilty about it. 

I resent being depressed honestly! i'm sick of it! 

I use that resentment to motivate myself to kick my depression in the shins by doing the self care things that I know, from experience, make my depression go away faster.

so, a few days ago I cleaned my room, even though i haaaated it, because i know that living in a clean space relieves a lot of my mood & is good for soothing any anxiety and guilt that pops up when depression is grappling at me with its ugly swamp hands.

yesterday, i took a shower, even though i had less than no desire to make the effort to and really low energy, because i know that showering makes me feel more human and capable & less like a pathetic sludgey garbage bag. I also washed my clothes so that I would have something nice and clean to put on today, for the same reason.

today, i changed my bedding out for clean sheets and pillowcases, and i washed my blanket, and i put all my laundry away so that my room would stay the nice clean soothing place i worked so hard to make it a few days ago. 

i've also been eating really healthy & not giving in to my desires to eat nothing but various combinations of carbs + cheese, which is always comforting for about 5 glorious minutes & then makes my body feel even more sluggish and my mind even foggier and unable to focus on anything in a few hours. I've been eating vegetables and trying to remember to stay hydrated.

Tonight, I'm going to reward myself for doing good things for me, while it's been a real slog, just a bitter fight, by taking a nice hot bath with a fancy bath bomb. 

And I'm going to do my best to go to sleep early tonight, so I can start waking up earlier and feel better about myself in thay way too.

[MzMental]

Despite my overwhelming amount of anxiety and depression, not to mention a bad cold, I managed to pull myself together and sit down to type up a list of job and personal references for a new job offer. Normally tasks like this are extremely difficult for me to do, the crushing fear that I'll mess something up and make a fool of myself bubbling up in my anxiety. I was pretty proud of myself. 

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7 minutes ago, MzMental said:

Despite my overwhelming amount of anxiety and depression, not to mention a bad cold, I managed to pull myself together and sit down to type up a list of job and personal references for a new job offer. Normally tasks like this are extremely difficult for me to do, the crushing fear that I'll mess something up and make a fool of myself bubbling up in my anxiety. I was pretty proud of myself. 

Good job!!! That took a lot of bravery & dedication. You did it! 

[MzMental]

Thanks! Now I just need to get through the job interview in a couple weeks! 

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You can do it!!! 🌟

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just a follow up post to say, for the most part, it worked! i feel a lot better than i did. depression is really regretting haunting my head right now, i chased it off! at least for now, which is all i can ask for haha. now i just have to keep up the taking good care of myself... 

[Coffee Mug]

So, despite being angry, frustrated, overwhelmed by anxiety and depression I managed to get my lazy ass at the gym. Because even though I loathe going I KNOW it will make me feel better afterwards. 

I try to go at least twice a week, it’s like injectying a natural boost of serotonin in my brain, but actually getting to go there takes out a huge effort, so I’m quite proud I made it today  

[Kimberly]

Oh I seriously needex this post. I am currently in the middle of EMDR therapy for complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  Some days (like yesterday) are amazing, I feel the progress and it's great. Then there is today... my anxiety is so high I can't even deal. I have to adult, I have kids who need me, I can't hide all day even though I feel like I NEED to. So, I managed to make some phone calls today (I despise dealing with people) I am getting ready to clean the Guinea Pig cages and make dinner. It's so hard when it feels absolutely ridiculous being so proud of "normal" things... but, that is where I am at today.

[MzMental]

Just stopping by to say I'm so proud of all of you! A++ to everybody. 

I did another adult thing today, despite my anxiety, and actually made a doctor's appointment for myself since I've been sick. And I actually went too (I hate doctors). So, yay adulting!

[Rook]

Even tho I absolutely struggle with depression/anxiety and ADHD my father and I made a appointment to straighten things out regarding my bio class, And I finished a exam today and did my best I reached what i can tolerate for right now and that's ok. (right?)

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I'm so proud of everyone in this thread!! We are rlly kicking butt!! 

Last night I put on some nice smelling hand lotion before bed & I noticed I woke up in a better mood today bc of it. I think I am going to try putting on nice smelling hand lotion before bed on days when I anticipate a rough morning. 

[facet]

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Wow, nice job, facet! Holy shit i'm so proud of you for all you've been able to accomplish, you're doing a rlly good job for yourself & u deserve to feel as proud of yourself as can be. thank you for sharing! ❤️ 

[Rook]

I'm acknowledging my flaws (have been for a while now tbh) and now people are noticing and im downloading everything in mankind to keep me on track for school even though i;m a mental emotional mess I'm doing my best my grades don't show it but thats ok

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I'm going to bed now, even though I really want to stay up even later and keep writing this dumb little fic I'm working on and will probably never even publish. Bc I know it's good for me to go to bed earlier!! Truth be told i wanted to go to bed ummmm, a little earlier than this but I'm trying!! Bedtime is the hardest for me to get the hang of  I'm calling this a win bc I'm not doing a s badly as I could be or would have done in the past. *pats myself on the back*

[Kimberly]

I just want to say that everyone who is participating in this thread is amazing. It can be sooo hard to talk about struggles with people, and you all are doing amazing. ❤❤❤ 

I'm gonna add my update in here now. I finally realized yesterday the mountain this therapy is going to be. My therapist said it could take a year or so for me to process everything. I should smile I mean 1 year to process almost 30 years of traumatic events, but... I'm really just tired, and a years worth of all this kinda work just seems like a lot right now. But, I will do it. Thanks for listening.

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You can do it Kimberly! Just take it one day at a time, and by the time you know what's happening so much of the year will be behind you already, and then the whole year. I bet you've already made meaningful progress, and that is only going to continue to grow. Good job in taking steps to take care of yourself!

[MzMental]

Update on the job interview: I got the job! I was so nervous at the job interview and I was so certain I tanked it but they called and gave me the job! It's only part time but it's my first management job. I've never had the courage or faith in myself to apply for management until recently, so I'm proud of myself. 

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6 hours ago, MzMental said:

Update on the job interview: I got the job! I was so nervous at the job interview and I was so certain I tanked it but they called and gave me the job! It's only part time but it's my first management job. I've never had the courage or faith in myself to apply for management until recently, so I'm proud of myself. 

Congratulations!!!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[forestdaze]

Been dealing with some things but I've been eating better and I went to the gym the past 2 days even when I really, really didn't want to and had to drag myself out of bed. And then I went to work. Boom.

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17 hours ago, forestdaze said:

Been dealing with some things but I've been eating better and I went to the gym the past 2 days even when I really, really didn't want to and had to drag myself out of bed. And then I went to work. Boom.

Good job, forestdaze!! That took a lot of perseverance & determination. You're doing rlly well!!

[facet]

.

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aw, yeah. crying can be really good for you!! it rlly does release tensions right out thru ye olde eyeballs. good job taking some time to decompress, even if that's just by crying it out, and getting recentered. soon holiday season will be passed and you'll have some regularity again! ♡

 

as for me i'm rlly proud of myself bc i ordered a bullet journal and wall hanging calendar! i know that i function best when i have some structure in my life, so these organizational tools could really help me i think. it's gonna be some work to set up and maintain but hopefully worth it! 

[Reader]

It’ll definitely be worth it! And I second that having structure and organization can cement some stuff down when you feel like everything is floating around you and out of reach. So that’s excellent and I hope you quickly see progress. 

I’ve been having survivor’s guilt big time for a while, and it was overwhelming me and silently depressing me. Once I realized that, I started implementing things in my life, listening to my friends’ advice, turning survivor’s guilt into motivation, and pushing forward with my goals. I’m happy that when I realized I was showing signs of depression, I took action to work on it and to make sure it didn’t take control of my life.

One more thing. I used to be a JADE. I used to justify, argue, defend, and explain myself. My sister has been really working on me to stop doing that and over Thanksgiving, I finally saw why and really got it in my head. It’s only detrimental to me when I JADE. The other person is fine. So in this upcoming new year, I will try very hard not to JADE.