We keep hearing the phrase ‘we’re at a tipping point’ a lot at the moment, and that’s how I feel with my own mental health right now. We spend some much of our time looking after other people that we forget to check in on ourselves.
Just recently I’ve started finding the constant ups and downs a struggle. It’s the YoYo of emotions that have made me think I’m at tipping point. It’s the constant, 24 hours of news about tiers, restrictions, another full lockdown. It’s the missed celebrations, cancelled plans, thinking about Christmas. It’s the worry will school close, will my children be ok and on and on and on and on.
Like most people, we thought (back in March) this would be all over by now and be a bad dream by Christmas but even now there’s no end it sight.
I’ve decided I need to do something about my feelings. I don’t want my low mood to spiral out of control. Spending quality time with my family at weekends definitely helps and as you know being outdoors always makes me feel better. But I think I need to change my mindset and just reset my thinking a little at the moment.
STOP WORRYING ABOUT THINGS YOU CANT CONTROL
Definitely sounds easier said than done, but to stop worrying about what I can’t control would help me a lot. Worrying about if we’ll go into a higher tier or a full lockdown is something I have absolutely no control over.
Whether I worry about it or not give it a second thought wouldn’t make a difference to it happening at all. If I can accept that then hopefully I could stop worrying so much and focus on things that I can control, such as my own behaviour, my own family and it’s day to day life.
MINDFULNESS
This is something we hear a lot about these days but what does it actually mean? It’s paying attention more to the present moment, actually being in the moment and it can help your mental wellbeing.
I’m not very good at ‘being in the moment’. I’m usually looking to what’s next. I love planning and looking forward to things we’ve had booked in our diary. But maybe that’s part of the issue as so much has been and is still being cancelled.
Just being aware of a moment and your area around you right now can allow you to not take things for granted that you may have done normally. This is certainly something I can work on.
SWITCHING OFF
News broadcasted 24 hours a day right to your phone is something that I also need to sort out. Whether you want to read the news or not it’s hard to get a way from it. You open a social media app and it’s all over that, you open WhatApp groups and it’s shared all over there too. Plus there’s ‘newspapers’ that share what they class as ‘news’ and it’s just scaremongering.
I’m certainly going to try and switch off more, which is a big one for me as I’m always on my phone! I love social media (as you probably know) and I love taking photos. But over the weekend, I’m definitely going to switch my phone off and take a break. This weekend I might even take a camera out on our walks and leave my phone at home.
Plan for this weekend- I’m going to try and be more in the moment, embrace what’s around me and switch off from the news.
Have you got any tips for me to be more mindful?
Out and about mummy 