Hello All!
Merry Christmas and a (nearly) Happy New Year… Thank goodness.
I am aware I have been relatively quiet both on my blog and my social media account and thought it would be good to share with you as to why. No major or catastrophic event has happened to me, but there doesn’t have to be in order for your mental health to suffer – contrary to the beliefs that many people have. And so, I thought it would be something that is relatable to a lot of people and maybe help others recognise that it is a ‘normal’ thing to experience at this time of year – or any time for that matter.
For many reasons, people can find this time of year particularly difficult, stressful and even overwhelming. I am openly, one of these people. Whilst I can admit I don’t have the most demanding job there is, anyone who has worked in retail will understand the struggle of working with the public, especially during the christmas period and especially during a pandemic!! Regardless of this, or any job you may be in, being constantly on the go, busy, stressed, tired – to name a few, can really start to take its toll on you, both physically and mentally. For me, both of these go hand in hand, so if I am feeling physically drained, I start to feel mentally drained as well. Therefore every year without fail, I find myself feeling near exhasuted, run down and really low in mood on the lead up to christmas.
I used to really beat mysefl up about this (and occasionally still do), thinking ‘come on Victoria, giver yoursefl a shake, there are people in far more stressful jobs and situations than yourself’. However, I have become much better at retaliating to these negative thoughts with much more positive ones and through learning about me as a person. For example, I have come to learn and accept that I posess the traits of an ‘introvert’ personality type and therefore can often find constatnly being around people and not having time to myself, draining and can drastically alter my mood. The best way to describe it is to compare it to a battery – that being when I am around people a lot, I can start to feel like I am running out of charge, and therefore need time to rest and be in my own company in order to re-charge.
In accepting this is part of who I am and how I am able to function, I have found it easier to overcome periods of when I am feeling overwhelmed and not myself and therefore I would encourage you to think and reflect on times where you might have felt the same. What caused you to feel this way? What were your tell tale signs? Did you respond to these feelings or ignore them? I really do believe that it is important to recognise your own thoughts and feelings and understand why you react in certain ways to certain things, in order to develop your own set of coping mechanisms and acknowledging when to use them. If you can take anything from this post, believe that no matter what job you may find yourself in, what your family life may be like etc etc – it doesn’t matter. You are just as entitled as anyone else to feel overwhelmed, stressed, struggling to cope or just not yourself. It does not mean you are weak, a failure or a dissapointment to yourself or anyone else, it means you are HUMAN. Read that a few times until it sinks in (I know I certainly have to at times).
The Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH) have a wealth of extremely valuable resources for all things mental health related and is an organisation I will refer to and advocate for often on my platforms. On this occasion, they recently shared their ‘Winter Wellbeing Information’ which provides helpful tips and informtaion on how to take care of your own and others wellbeing this winter as well the ‘Wellbeing Assessment Tool’ which I think is a great idea to check in on your own mental health – it could be highlighting how you are really feeling and offer support which you may not be aware of (and it only takes 5-10 minutes to do). Here is the link – https://www.samh.org.uk/?gclid=CjwKCAiA57D_BRAZEiwAZcfCxWAmCcRtrFxSIHHzuYtCVw1Th2LOrDalf6dn6VyCJt9-qIGE6DB8PRoCkOcQAvD_BwE
To round off this post I want to say how much I am looking forward to writing more and sharing more with you all next year. I asked you all to feedback on any secific topics you would like me to cover and I was really interested by all of your ideas. I want this to be a platform that we are all part of, not just me rambling on about things only I find interesting or helpful. So look out for future blogs that will discuss: creating awareness around mental health, the impact of social media on mental wellbeing, the instant gratification culture, overthinking, coping with the stresses of multiple priorities, anxiety and panic attacks and coping mechanisms for these, being in tune with your emotions, attachment styles and many more…
Thanks again for reading and take care all!
The Mind Matters
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