Hi, all I hope you are well. I’m sure many of you will know of my mental health struggles I just can seem to get away from. The whole 2020-2022 period has probably been the most testing time of my life with last May being the worst experience of my life and is something I will never get over (read here). Through a combination of counselling and learning to accept that not everything isn’t Rosie all the time and that ok past trauma peaks its ugly head getting triggered seems to be my thing at the moment probably the toxic trait I need to deal with most but some trauma cannot be undone … cheers childhood issues. As long as you do your best to carry on don’t be too hard on yourself if you crash and have a bad day there’s always tomorrow keep pushing forward and one day if we’re lucky we can be where we want to be living our happier lives. A lot of the time it may feel unmanageable but below are a few things I do to help myself…

Three ways I manage my mental health

1. Struggling to sleep is often something i deal with my brain likes to find random senearios to make me worry and stress myself out or keep me awake with the never ending to do list.

2. Distraction – probably my favourite because I’ve always been a bit of a gamer hidden objects are my favourite at the moment secret hidden garden is a good one and it’s free too. (Play here) The busy scenes distract my busy mind and stop worrying quite so much obviously there is a limit and you shouldn’t hide from your problems but to simply forget them for a while can be a much-needed break and my brain personally needs it. I think I’m a huge fan of the hidden garden because one level at a time so when I get annoyed because they hide things so well in the beautiful picture I don’t lose my place in the game.

Obviously, the hidden objects might not be for everyone but if you want to give gaming a go you know I love a freebie (read here). There are so many kinds of games available from solitaire to word games all free with no in-game purchases which is even more of a win spam-free gaming bliss.

3. Negative people need to go obviously this is a personal choice and not for everyone. Over the years I’ve found that people tend to take advantage of my being kind and aversion to confrontation… people-pleasing ways if you please. I’ve allowed people to treat me so badly and its taken me 30 years to realise I don’t have to put up with it it certainly doesn’t help me or the way I feel. My fear of not being good enough was being fed by not conforming to how other people want to take advantage of my kind nature. Doing things to make others happy is lovely but doing things to please others that makes you feel rubbish isn’t worth it. This is something I’ve only learnt since I moved, some of the crap I put up with then felt sorry for them because I’m a mug I’m actually annoyed at myself for this but I will learn to say no I’m worth more. Once I can fully accept my worth I think this process will be easier for me and I will still be kind to people who show me the same respect and kindness everyone deserves without using my mental health and kind nature against me.

I would recommend if you are able and ready to see a doctor and get that extra support the first steps are always the hardest but when you reach your goal it will be worth it… Thank you for reading Jade x