When you have a bad day

Sometimes the week doesn’t go quite as planned I had a bad day but I turned it around! How can you do that when you have a bad day.

I have lived with chronic depression since I was about fourteen, and I have had an anxiety disorder most of my life. My childhood was spent on edge and worrying about everything and by the time I was in my 20s my mental health was really bad.

I honestly thought that would always be my life, and that I would spent every day waking up depressed and nervous of everything. But then I was referred to a chronic depression class by my GP at the time.

Most of the people there seemed uninterested, they would leave the workbook in their car or make excuses as to why they hadn’t done the homework! But I threw myself into it, I did everything they told me to do and I improved!!

Who knew that if you just do what the therapist suggests you will actually start to feel better?!

This started me on a journey of learning self care, a journey that amped up significantly when I became a witch. Learning that I was worth the effort and worth the love and care it took was a game changer and has kept my depression at a manageable level for a while now.

However, this week has been hard, I had to record Monday’s YouTube video twice because my camera or the SD card were not working properly. I was struggling with feeling again like I was letting people down by not getting my content out; though in the end it was only a day late.

YouTube is hard, getting views and people to subscribe is like pulling teeth sometimes and it can leave you feeling overwhelmed and like you are wasting your time! That was how it felt I cannot figure out reels and I am constantly struggling to understand it all.

I spent the morning eating chocolate and feeling useless!

In the past the whole day would have continued that way, but because there are things I put into place daily it didn’t. I took a mindful shower, and pulled on my cosy PJ’s before meditating and having something to eat.

Having a shower and opening the windows is a wonderful and easy way to get out of the negative spiral before it takes over. I got the video out and honestly it really showed me that the daily routine of self care really has made a big difference to my mental health.

So how did I get there?

When you have a bad day

• Prioritise yourself – it is so important to get into the routine of putting yourself first. You cannot help others if you are tired, in pain and overwhelmed. Learning you are worth the time and effort it takes to turn things around is such a big game changer.
• Try it out – if you have ever been to therapy I am sure you have been given tools to try or homework to do that you didn’t bother with. Most of us go to therapy hoping they will help but not feeling worth the work. Try it though do whatever you have ever been told and see what works for you.
• Do it daily – this might be the most important step, whatever you try do it every day whether it’s a good day or a bad day. Building your self care and mental health tools into your daily routine will be the most important thing you can do.
• Have compassion – don’t pressure yourself, if you miss a day or things are hard, ask for help. But also remember those negative thoughts are not reality, don’t listen and instead be kind to yourself like you would for your best friend. You are just a human doing their best so be kind and give yourself a break from the thoughts that invade when things don’t go to plan.

I hope when you have a bad day these tools will help you to recover faster and have fewer of them. But don’t forget to speak out and see your doctor if you need to

Thank you xx

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