It’s so easy to get consumed by the dark intrusive thoughts and low feelings of depression. A quote I shared on my Instagram story the other day summarised depression so well - you feel empty, emotionless and hopeless. People seem to think if your depressed you are just sad and you stay at home crying. What I find is in order to fight it you need to do is the opposite - get out in the fresh air, meet a friend, and most importantly distract your mind - cook from scratch, paint a picture, clean the house - do whatever it takes to block out the negative thoughts. All that said I can’t say I manage to do that all the time.. the thoughts creep in that I’m not good enough, I’m a bad mother, I’m never going to get through this.
Another piece of advice I was given by my GP was… nostalgia. He told me to ring my best friend and reminisce about fun things we have done over the years, holidays etc. Nostalgia helps boost serotonin apparently (the happy hormone). Just last week I was home in Limerick for a night and I met some of my friends for dinner - it was such a tonic just chatting and catching up… no one asked me to delve into how I was feeling as everyone silently knew that distraction was the best medicine for me. The same evening one of my friends gave me this pocket hug just when I needed it ❤️
This week I’m not feeling as well as I was last week as I haven’t had a good nights sleep in a few nights (baby plus sick dog)… and the sleep deprivation makes the anxiety so much worse but that said even when I’m feeling my worst I try to take at least 3 positives from everyday even if it’s something as small as just having a nice cup of coffee in the morning.
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