26 Nov 2 of the most important lessons I’ve learned for my mental health and happiness
Today, right now, I’m happy.
But I can’t say that every day. In fact, some days, at times many days, I’m seriously unhappy. In fact, some days I’m quite depressed and anxious.
And this is true for everyone. At least it is to some extent.
Even if you don’t experience mental ill-health to the extent I do, your mood will fluctuate. That’s normal. But we sometimes forget that which can mean when we’re down, ew think we’ll be down forever, or that there’s something wrong with being down, neither of which is true!
There are, in fact, many things we might think about low moods, like depression or anxiety or any form of not being happy, that can actually make things worse. It’s bad enough feeling crap, without adding additional layers of crap-ness on top of the crap!
Today’s post, then, is about 2 of the most important lessons I’ve learned to better accept the bad days, to NOT add unnecessary distress on top of distress, and to bounce back to happiness as soon as is possible.
The first lesson is … this too shall pass.
It might take an hour or a day or a week or even more, but bad times don’t last forever! Reminding myself of this when I’m feeling low can really help.
The second lesson is … I’m not alone.
I often feel alone and when I’m depressed I withdraw and isolate so I can become alone but the fact is, there are always people ready and willing to help if only I let them.
I know I’ve written about this before but I want to reiterate these fundamental components of coping because I know they’re not just important for and relevant to me, but I think they can help many others.
And as well as that being a good thing to do, helping others makes me feel good : )