When Life Has Got You Down

Well hello!

Mental health check!  How are you?

Me, I’m on a mild downswing with my bi-polar disorder.  For me, that means mild depression.  Oh joy.

I say mild because that’s what it is.

I find myself having a lack of desire to do things other than sitting around my house playing Animal Crossing.  And I only want to do that because it involves just sitting around my house!

I’m having trouble falling asleep at night and then, in the morning, I’m having trouble waking up!  That’s what you call a no-win situation. It’s because of the lack of sleep the night before leads to a desire to sleep in, but the alarm I set to try and wake myself up every day says no.  Bother.

This week I told myself I was going to start doing things.  I know, doing things won’t snap me out of my depression, nor do I expect it to, but my house won’t clean itself.

When I looked at the idea of cleaning my house it felt too daunting, so I skipped doing something on Monday.

On Tuesday I told myself that I was going to clean the master bathroom.  That didn’t happen.  It felt like an insurmountable task.  Like Sisyphus and his boulder.

Then, on  Wednesday, I decided to try something different.  If the idea of cleaning a whole room felt too huge, why not just clean part of it.

So I cleaned the shower.

Finally, a win!

I did something.

Thursday, I woke up early and met with my psychiatrist.  He doesn’t recommend changing my medication at this time, because, like most people, my change of mental state can be directly related to the chaos caused by Covid-19, even though my day to day life hasn’t changed much.

So for now, I just have to remember to be not to harsh with my self when I find it hard to get out of bed and to practice good self-care.

Oh, and lots of cuddles with this one.

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A Musical Day

Like so many us, my mental health hasn’t been great lately.  I have generalized anxiety, among other things, so pretty much everything has the opportunity to make me anxious.  And lately, there’s been a lot to be anxious about.

So I decided to take a day for me.

That’s right, I’m taking a self-care day!

I know I’ve talked my friends and family to death about this on social media because it makes me happy, but this past Friday all the musical things came out.  There were two Disney musical experiences and Phantom of the Opera!  I also watched some Golden Girls in between my musicals.

Yup, my self-care day was full of musicals and the Golden Girls.

And also cake!

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I made a vegan chocolate cake the other day, so I can eat as much of it as I want and not upset my egg allergy! Mind you I only had one piece on my self-care day.  It’s a self-care day, not a make yourself sick on chocolate cake day.

Time for self-care has never been more important.  If you can’t break away for a whole day, try for an hour or two.  Just make some time for yourself.

You deserve it.