5 Things That Comfort Me When I’m Feeling Low

So with all this lockdown stuff my mood has been a bit of a up and down rollercoaster ride. Over the years, I’ve developed my “mental health toolkit.” When I notice things are going down hill here are some things that give me great comfort.

Walks

I enjoy going for walks with my dog Mango especially in the nice weather. With lockdown I have found that I’m on the screen for a much long time. However if I was at college I would be doing dance classes and moving around a lot more. I find taking Mango on walks helps me not only get exercise and fresh air but helps with clearing my head and staying grounded. Lockdown has really made me realise how doing exercise really does help me to lift my mood back up when I’m feeling low. Going on walks helps me cope with my anxiety I find if I’m not doing much exercise my worries can build up more causing me to worry and not wanting to do much.

Just Watching The Telly

When I’m feeling low I can find comfort in watching something. As much as I love watching new shows theirs nothing better than rewatching shows that you love. When I feel low I find my concentration levels are a bit all over the place and I can’t focus. When this happens I find it hard to read a book. Which is why watching a TV show I’ve watched before is so good. It’s like I can finally rest and let go giving my head time to breathe. Like self care and love for my head. Some of the TV shows I love watching repeatedly are:

Miranda
Once Upon A Time
Downtown Abbey
Fresh Meat
Bridgerton

Making Plans

When my head feels all over the place one thing I like to do is write down and make a list of things I need to or want to do and achieve in the day. Writing it down helps me visual see what my head is trying to tell me at one hundred miles an hour.

Simple Routines

When I’m feeling low self care is very important sometimes you don’t feel like doing lots of things. Here are some quick, simple and kind things you could do on a down day that don’t take very long.

Put some of your favourite lipstick or lipgloss on
Make yourself a nice hot drink for example a cup of tea or hot chocolate
But some of your favourite body butter/ lotion on
Put on some nice jewellery for example a pair of small shiny earrings .

Looking Forward

When people say look forward it isn’t always about making your career plan for the next 5 years it can also be about daily, weekly things to look forward to. I try not to be hard on myself and but pressure on anything as things can change last minute! However having something positive to look forward to can really help me to try and stay in a more positive headspace. For example setting a day up to meet up with friends on FaceTime or House Party, Doing extra activities such a drama with my drama club on zoom, to buying something nice to eat that I can look forward to eating later in the week like a cheesecake.

What do you find helps your mental health?

My Lockdown Photography Project

life

During lockdown I have got back into taking photos around my garden. Photography really helps me with managing my mental health. I wanted to share with you some of my favourite shots so far!

This photo is a leaf I found near our apple tree.

For this photo I put a leaf on our apple trees bark as I wanted to experiment with the colours and textures the image would make.

This is a leaf I put on some of a apple trees bark. In this photo I wanted to experiment with light and how it hits the ground and surfaces in different ways.

This is a photo of a flower in our garden with a bumble bee.

In this shot I managed to get two bees as I was trying out different angles.

This is a pink poppy in my garden. I took this photo from underneath as I wanted to capture how the raindrops sat on the flowers petals.

This is a quince from our quince tree. I wanted to experiment with the different green tones and textures.

I love this photo because of the contrast between the purple flowers and the red leaves blurred in the background.

Just some white bluebells growing in the garden.

My dog Mango exploring in the bluebells.

Hope you enjoyed seeing some of my favourite shots as much as I did taking them!

Stay Home and Stay Safe💜

Spending Time With Lily

life

Fun walks out with Lily.

Recently I met my support worker’s Mixed Border Collie called Lily . When I am with my support worker I can choose what activities I would like to do with them. As the weathers been so lovely and sunny recently I decided I wanted to meet their dog as I had heard so many great things about her.

I also decided I wanted to meet her as I was feeling upset about things and I know spending time with my pets and other animals really helps to lift my mood backup again. I find that spending time with animals really helps me to feel good about myself as I feel that animals don’t judge me and just accept me for who I am and all they want is your love and care.

Enjoying the river.

I decided I wanted to take Lily to the river as it was a really lovely warm sunny day. She could enjoy herself but still keep cool by playing and spending time in the river trying to talk to the all the ducks and a couple of swans.

Watching me about to throw the stick.

At the river I enjoy playing fetch with her throwing sticks for her constantly and seeing her leap about in the water to get it . Splashing everywhere and everything in sight; but still keeping nice and cool and in the process.

I’ve caught it!

Lily going for a swim.

The next time I was with my support worker I was feeling really tired due to having lots of seizures. So I decided I wanted to just spend time at home in the garden enjoying the amazing warm weather. Together we decided I would love to just spend some time with Lily in the garden.

Once we got Lily and showed her the garden she was running around everywhere wanting to explore everything! She even tried to go into the fishpond thinking it was her own personal mini swimming pool.

I’ve caught the ball!

I enjoyed playing football with her. She made me laugh so much because she wouldn’t drop the ball but she wanted it thrown again. I think she might need to work on her drop command a bit more!

My Ball!

Look I’ve got the ball!

Lily practicing her sitting command whilst waiting for fresh water.

I really enjoyed my time playing with Lily and I look forward to playing with her even more sometime soon!