Mental Health Month!

 

May is mental health awareness month. Pretty much all of us have been greatly affected mentally with the current pandemic.  If you are one of the millions who have lived with mental illness before Covid arrived, you are dealing with a double-whammy! And this nasty disease is still very much around.

How have you been caring for yourself? Gently, I hope. Give yourself plenty of leeway. This is no time for perfectionism. Let the house be messier if it is too much for you. On the other hand, I find my depression greatly increases when my trailer is a wreck. It is difficult to decide how much to do, to save my strength, or to have a neat home where I am not tripping over stuff, and cannot find important things. I tend to clean or organize 5 minutes at a time so as not to be overwhelmed. And during the interim, I give myself greater rewards than ever before. I am watching episodes of a favorite 1970s show that lifts my spirit. In other years, I would feel guilty about this 'waste of time' but now I understand it to be essential. My 'treats' take up way more hours than in the past.

I am practicing gratitude like never before. It helps to focus on all of the good things in my day. When I add them all up, I feel truly lucky. I put things on an imaginary old-fashioned balance scale. The lousy feelings and experiences go on one side, the blessings on the other. If I am truthful, the good always outweighs the bad. The image of that unbalanced scale is one of the most potent tools I have for looking at life in a better way.

On really bad days, I will think, " I have a roof over my head and heat and running water," but right away, my response is, "oh, sure, the pipes freeze in the winter and it is 90 degrees in the bedroom in summer." I understand that my scale tool is not a magic wand. I must work at it daily and forgive myself when I develop a bad attitude. I have a choice. I can be miserable and focus on the negatives, or not. I have that power. No matter how many things are going wrong, I do have the power to reframe anything.  

My OCD has gone through the roof since the pandemic began. It is exasperating and makes me feel so helpless. After 2 years of fighting it, I am now telling myself, "this is a part of you at this time. Do not berate yourself for its development. You do not need to assume it will haunt you for the whole rest of your life." Just the acceptance of it is making me more comfortable. I still have it, but the misery has greatly diminished.

nami.org, the site of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has an abundance of excellent coping skills.  Please consider taking some time each day to care for your mental health. And remember how closely mental and physical health are aligned. 

-GG