tracey moffatt, jordan bentley ricks
How I Stay Mentally Healthy
This is a guide I made to maintaining mental well-being via preventative measures and coping tactics without the use of drugs or the psychiatric industry. It is very directly based on my own experiences and may or may not work for you. You need to do your own work on getting to know your own needs.
Anyway here is what worked for me.
RULES, REGIMENS, SCHEDULES, LISTS
- have at least one regular thing going (e.g. school, exercise, work, creative project, learning project)
- keep a schedule and try to fill in the blanks as much as possible
- keep lists to keep mind clear (things to do, things you like, etc)
- make realistic goals
- keep a mood chart
PHYSICAL HEALTH
(it definitely helps)
- food
- raw food
- dark leafy greens
- herbal tea
- water
- avoid unhealthy foods. some people say: meat, dairy, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, msg, soy, wheat, trans-fats
- get your vitamins
- fresh, unpasteurized juice
- smoothies (made at home with sweet fruit and not sugar)
- homemade guacamole
- salads
- rich desserts occasionally
- chocolate bars on emotional emergencies or for occasional seratonin boost
- sunlight (for vitamin D)
- exercise
CREATE A SUPPORT GROUP
1) make a list of friends who care about you at least a little bit. narrow this down to about five people (if you only have one though that’s fine).
2) contact each person individually to tell them what you’re doing, admit that you need help sometimes, and ask if they would like to be part of the group.
3) after confirming people, make a list of them with their contact info. also include contact info for family member(s), suicide hotline, your therapist, hospital, etc if applicable.
4) if you are at risk of anxiety attack, seizure, depersonalization, drug overdose, self-injury, suicide attempt, domestic abuse, or anything else that needs special care and expertise, make or find a guide to handling it. if you have post-traumatic stress make a list of triggers to avoid.
5) make a list of coping tactics that work for you (things that make you feel better).
6) put a copy of your list of supporter(s) and contacts in your purse or wallet to have on you at all times. maybe post it on your wall. make a contact group in your email account with your supporter(s) in it. put your supporter(s) at the top of your contact list in your cell phone. make it easily accessible in case of a crisis.
7) email/mail your lists and guides to your supporter(s) so they know what to do if you’re in trouble.
8) call/mail/email/text your supporter(s) when you’re in trouble!
* other things that work for me:
- do as much myself, manually, as possible. the more external systems I have going to mediate or control my activities in life the more detached and depressed I get.
- walk all over the place, to see things closely
- when walking not possible, bike. when biking not possible, take public transportation. when all else fails, I take my car
- ride my bike! especially in traffic downtown because it makes me feel free in comparison
- take nature walks with friends – talk, study plants
- sing
- go outside
- sit on my back porch and drink tea, looking around at the yards, trees, birds, squirrels, sky
- meditate
- watch a favorite tv show or movie
- orgasm
- cook food and eat it
- be held tight
- get a massage
- go someplace new
- go grocery shopping in a big supermarket
- eat at an all-vegan restaurant (cuz I’m vegan)
- go out to eat with a group of people and share everything
- make art! (draw, photograph, write, etc.)
- play guitar really hard and fast (I’m not very good but sometimes I just play the same two chords over and over)
- listen to music
For more info try The Icarus Project.
calming scene
I read somewhere about a stress and trauma reduction technique. You rest your hand against your thigh, and press your fingers against it one by one, imagining a calm beach scene. First, your thumb, and you think of all the smells in this scene. Just the smells and nothing else. Then your forefinger, thinking of just the sounds. You go through each finger, and each of the five senses, and you will feel calmer. Eventually, if you really make a habit of this, they said that you will get to a point at which you can just tap your thigh with each finger. Without having to go through the whole scene in your mind, you would feel the wave of calm.
I went down to the beach yesterday. I was almost completely alone, and it felt very beautiful. I decided to record my experience there, so that I could use it for the aforementioned technique.
smells
very clean, light air
soft scent of wood
sounds
pat, pat, pat of my feet as I descend down the steps, to the beach
rustle of long grass, occasionally
squeeches of a seagull, a staggered sequence of harmonizing notes
trickle of water as it crawls over damp sand
short chirps of small birds
children playfully screaming, and beating their fists against their wet swim trunks
“ouh!” he says, with a quick smack of the sand
“hi dtay! ah shan de gun! way uh!” she says
slowly pulsating cshrahnnnnnnn of airplane
chorus of leaves crashing in the large trees behind me
a muscle clanking against a rock, by a seagull
to be played simultaneously:
A) shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
B) dun dun
bell-like sound of echoey metal, of boats, touching
sights
long, slender blades of calm-green grass, with tan-yellow tips
fence-like row of thick sticks, broken at the ends, rising from the sand, some decorated with dark green moss and/or sand
shining, clear blue water, breaks up into flashing waves of a deeper, grayed blue
white seagulls, lots of them. one is dipping its head swiftly in and out of the water, half-flapping its wings, digging its beak into its side. one is stepping through the very shallow water. some are flying, in every direction, at every height
the clouds are short and wide, a pale lavender with white tops, looking painted and stretched
a white boat, with a long thin mast, floating so very slowly along in the distance
glittery stretch of land to the left. docks, houses, trees.
pale grey sand
row, clusters of heavy round stones
green, fluffy, abandoned island in the distance
clear, solid line dividing water from sky
ants circling and ascending a piece of straw in the sand by my foot
tastes
a homemade chocolate chip cookie
sensations
wind gently brushing my bare arms, across my breasts
hair pushing back and forth in front of my face
it’s warm
large rock beneath, supporting me
soft, find grains of sand. I push my bare foot into them. it reaches a hard point, a patted-down layer. cools the bottom of my foot, the top layer warming my toes.
dry little seashells as I walk along