Friday 14 December 2018

Christmas Post ........ Ideas for Resilience as you Navigate Mental Health


Sometimes I know that my blog posts border on dissecting the negative aspects of Mental Health so I thought for a Christmas blog I would look at resilience and the kind of things that might help you navigating your mental health condition.  Resilience is something that I have always struggled with after a BiPolar episode, getting back to that place where things are not whirling around anxiously or low mood has you tied up in the mornings or mania is feeding a confidence frenzy and forward momentum beyond what others can cope with.  So think on the following as some good hygiene for resilience:-

Waking Up – Talk positively to yourself when you are carrying out your morning routine, try and dispel negative thoughts about the day ahead, visualise a successful day
Starting the Working Day – Get 1 or 2 tasks out of the way before you even reading your eMails***
Dealing with Distractions during the Working Day – Try and avoid leeting Social Media into your working day. Manage your eMail and communications, don’t let eMail manage you.
Mid Morning – Get up and walk somewhere away from your desk before returning to continue working
Morning – Try and carry out a short mindfulness exercise during the morning, even if this is just concentrating on the Breathe for 3/5 minutes
Lunchtime – Try and have a light lunch & a brisk walk
After Lunch – Same rule applies, Get 1 or 2 tasks out of the way before you even reading your eMails
Mid Afternoon - Try and carry out a short mindfulness exercise during the morning, even if this is just concentrating on the Breathe for 3/5 minutes
Afternoon – Find somewhere and do some stretches
Before finishing work for the day – Plan your first 1 or 2 tasks for ***
Reflection – It can be really good to Journal for resilience, a reflective diary can really give you insight into yourself and your navigation of your mental health
Evening – Approach the evening in a similar way to the working day, get any home tasks out of the way and then chill & relax, do stuff you and yours really like doing

& if you only do 1,2 or 3 of the above don’t ever beat yourself up , start again the next day

Tony

( in case I don’t blog again before Christmas, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year )