Reflections from Mental Health Awareness Week. How are you doing?

Tori_Scope

This past week has been Mental Health Awareness Week. I think it's important to take time sometimes to check-in with where your mental health is at. I've listed a couple of things to think about below. Feel free to think about these quietly to yourself, talk them through with a loved one, or of course comment here on the community. Please also feel free to add your own reflections, thoughts, and prompts. 

If you're struggling with your mental health, please don't hesitate to reach out to the community for some help and support. We're all here for you

How are you doing?

A simple question I often find difficult to answer. It's easy to brush the question off and say that you're 'fine', or 'things could be worse!', but it's really important that you take the time out every so often to be honest with yourself about how you're really feeling. Perhaps you're doing better than you've given yourself credit for, or maybe you'll noticed that things are a little worse that you'd realised.

What are you grateful for?

We all love a good moan, but it can be a good mood lifter to consider what you're grateful for at the moment. It doesn't have to be anything big, just something that you're thankful for. It could be a pet, loved one, activity you enjoy, having somewhere safe to live- anything!

What do you like about yourself?

If, like me, you find it almost unbearably cringey to say nice things about yourself, that's a sign you should practise! I'll take a deep breath and get us started: I like that I can have a good sense of humour about things.

What's something you'd like to work on?

It can be useful to recognise the things about yourself that you need to work on too. I know that I could be better at making an effort to see my friends, as I usually let them organise meet-ups. I know that seeing my friends improves my mental health, so it's important to me that I start to work on this. You're always going to be a work in progress, and no one is perfect. 

How are you feeling about the future?

The future can always feel a bit daunting, but many people are feeling especially anxious at the moment as things are starting to change, and everything is still so uncertain. How are you feeling about the future?

How do you tend to cope when things get difficult?

There will always be times in life where we have to overcome challenges and difficulties. What are your usual coping mechanisms? How difficult do you find it overcoming or living with these challenges? 

Caz_Alumni

A really valuable post @Tori_Scope. Thanks for sharing this one and highlighting Mental Health Awareness Week.

Definitely some really important questions to reflect on there. Including 'How are you doing?'. A good one to remember to ask ourselves and ask each other as well!

johntotnes

Right now I feel like I’m doing really well. I feel like I have a lot of positive things going on in my life. I don’t feel like I need to make any drastic changes to my life. I’m aware that I often lose sight of this though and feel frustrated with where I’m at. Like recently I came home from one of my voluntary shifts because of a panic attack. This left me feeling lost and worrying about the future. I’ve since been back and though it wasn’t easy I made it through the day and felt proud of myself afterwards. 

I’m interested in the question regarding the future. It’s not something I think about very often. Sometimes I feel like it would be good to have some specific goals for the future. I used to be more like this when I was younger. But as a general rule I tend to go with the flow and don’t worry too much about the long term.

I’m extremely grateful for all of this. Mostly I am grateful for my health and well being. I try and take a moment when I get up and go to bed to remember this.

Cher_Alumni

Hi @johntotnes

Thank you for sharing that with us.  It's good to know that overall things are going positively for you, but I can appreciate how having a panic attack left you feeling a bit lost.  Thankfully, it sounds like you were able to manage it through coping techniques, but here's a link to MIND's advice sheet around Anxiety and panic attacks just incase you ever need it.  Is your GP aware that you sometimes experience panic attacks?  If not, and it continues to happen, maybe consider giving them a call.

Mental health is such a biggie in society and I think we're all sometimes guilty of saying, 'Yep, I'm fine!' when actually we aren't.  Our community and the Scope team is always here - without judgement - so if anyone is feeling a bit wobbly, please let us know.  We really do want to help 

Vanesa

I'm thinking about doing some voluntary work but I'm scared. I'm not feeling confident about anything at the moment

Ross_Alumni

Vanesa said:

I'm thinking about doing some voluntary work but I'm scared. I'm not feeling confident about anything at the moment

Volunteer work sounds super, what sort of voluntary work would you like to do? There's plenty of choice. Is there a particular aspect of it that makes you feel unsettled?

Vanesa

I get anxious easily

Vanesa

I was thinking about voluntary work just to help me meet people and build up my confidence

Tori_Scope

I can also tend to retreat into my shell when things get hard or stressful @woodbine. I can be a bit of an ostrich. I've been trying to encourage myself to face problems more head-on in recent years, with occasional success. Do you think that's something that affects you, or something you'd like to work on? 

Tori_Scope

That's a great reason to volunteer @Vanesa. I've found that past volunteering experiences have helped me to gain some confidence in meeting new people and having a bit of responsibility. I think part of it is about finding the right opportunity, that'll offer you the right level of support. Do you have any ideas in mind of the kind of role you might like to try out? 

Vanesa

I'm.not sure but maybe in a shop or cafe or help/support group

Tori_Scope

That sounds good @Vanesa I'd hope that those would all be supportive environments to volunteer in. Do you have any previous experience?

Katharine_Alumni

I love this post, thank you! I also retreat into my shell when things get tough, go quiet and sometimes snap or get teary. I also often (not necessarily when things are particularly bad) plug in my headphones and listen to music as an attempt to ground me and help me come back to a more even track. @Vanesa that is really great you want to volunteer and I agree that shops/cafes and support groups would be wonderful places to volunteer and learn new skills. Are these environments somewhere you have worked in before or would it be new completely? Are there any places nearby you could contact about the opportunity?

leeCal

My mental health is fine at the moment thankfully. Something I find helpful in maintaining it is meditation and in particular one-pointed meditation. The method I use is to count exhalation breaths from one to ten, breathe in breath out one, breath in breath out two etc and bringing my attention to the breath as it enters and exits the lower point of my nose. All of which may sound tedious but if done for a few minutes can calm the mind wonderfully, that is the least benefit of such meditation. Note; don’t alter your natural breathing at all, just breath naturally without effort.

So I use that method for grounding, and it can be done on public transport or in the home. Good for combatting stress as well. ?