Having a lot of trouble keeping my head on straight during my day to day. The standard bursts of anxiety or daily episode of depression are happening with more frequency, and I’m having a very hard time getting through the day calmly and with a good thought process.
What techniques do you use from the moment you wake up, to even those times when you feel stressed? What do you say to yourself? How do you stay happy? Or at least how do you TRY to stay happy.
It’s always been hard for me to live in the moment and appreciate what is around me, I don’t want to feel like everything is passing my by anymore..
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Kevin87
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Lately I've been trying to be gentler with the negative thoughts that come up. I discovered recently that It is possible to watch the thoughts as they ramble on and choose not to believe in them. There's a quote that I've been trying to remember that says something along the lines of "Believe in the silence beyond your thoughts, not the thoughts themselves."
Sometimes I also imagine myself as a person walking along a busy New York City street. I imagine the thoughts in my mind to be the many people passing in many directions all around me. When you're walking along a busy street you dont take the time to greet and involve yourself with every single person you notice walking amongst you. You may notice someone with a nice smile, and smile back. You may bump into someone and they may be pleasant or unpleasant, but you can choose to keep walking or to engage with them. If you can imagine your sad and anxious thoughts, as well as your positive thoughts, as passersby, then you are resting in the stillness in between them.
I have found that trying to stay happy all of the time is unrealistic. Happiness is nice, but peace is better. So to stay at peace, I notice the happy moments but don't grasp them. I notice the sadness, and I don't push it away, nor do I grasp at it. Instead, I give both the time they need to express themselves, and hope I come back to a state of rest or peace.
You're not alone. you're doing a great job, and it's not easy. Be kind to yourself.
For some reason, visualizing things into lists really helps me. I'll jot down all my worries in a book or an app, then just focus on my top worry and literally close the book or app on the rest until I've resolved my top concern. Once I've tackled that, I'll move on to the next worry on my list. I reprioritize as needed, but I never let myself think beyond that one item that I'm worried about.
It's a technique I learned in therapy. After awhile, I can do it mentally without a physical list, but when I relapse, I go back to making my list. There's just something so relieving about closing the list and putting it away. I have a separate list for home repairs and boy do I like closing the list on that one. 😁 There's a lot in that one, but the only one I think about is "repair master tub".
I just take one thing at a time. In the morning I have to do so much with my child and then get to work and then get ready to assist in surgeries. It's all overwhelming. I wake up in a panic most days but then I clear my head and think of cooking breakfast for my child first and then go on to the next task. Before I know it, I'm at work and then again, one step at a time. By the end of the day, I've tackled so much but a small bit at a time. I also go over in my head what the good things in my life are instead of stressing about the big problems. It can always be worse and at least I have this or that. Then I go to the forum. Also I pray at night and go over the good things in my life again. I also read positive quotes daily to remind me of the little things. It's a process but, fake it until you make it really does do wonders for your mind. It's perception that is reality and we can change our perception.
It's hard to control the emotions at times. Especially when I go to work and my morning would start very stressful already. My day already destroyed and will turn bad until I fall asleep at night and start over again in the morning.
I am trying to control the thoughts, the OCD feeling is hard to control for me. I want something I want to do asap. It's hard to be patient about it.
I tried to deviate my thoughts into my hobbies. Keeps my mind busy. Keeps me excited to wake up everyday.
I try to forget about work especially on weekends. Cause it's so stressful already.
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