Me felt bad. Feel triggered past week. Bad stuff come up, past pain. Heart hurt. Excruciating pain. Me feel better now. This how:
I had a really fucking bad ~mental health episode~ this past week, I’m chill now but I realized that even though I’m pretty open about my mental health, I’ve never been open with how I get myself out of these episodes so here is what I have learned & how I emotionally support myself through it
Following this guide will obviously vary on how bad your mental health is, but this is just how I get myself happy again. Take what resonates, leave what doesn't <33333
STEP 1: ALLOW MYSELF TO TAKE UP SPACE, HEALING THROUGH REST
I did not shower for 3 days, I literally just laid in bed. In these emotional / mental states (idc if this sounds gross, the people that get it get it) if I do not have the energy to brush my teeth or shower, then I won’t. Until I do. So I didn’t. This obviously varies on how bad the state of your mental health was, but again this was a rough one. Healing through rest is huge with big emotions but there are also some things I do for myself when I’m in this state:
A. DO IT GUILT/SHAME FREE
I don’t shame myself for doing nothing. Feeling guilty or ashamed the entire time while you rest does not equal rest. & I also want to acknowledge that this is a really big privilege to be able to take a day off & do nothing, so if you can’t take mental health days from work, try to carve as much time as possible for yourself to process & to emote as you can. Nothing is worth your sanity.
B. Nourish my body
I feed myself nourishing foods. I didn’t have the energy or will to shower or even brush my teeth so I most certainly did not have the energy to cook. I made sure to get food that was high in protein, had big leafy greens & nourishing vegetables. I doordashed Sweetgreen so many times I lost count. I fucking love that "order again” button. Food is DIRECTLY connected to my mental health. Eating disorders, starving & binging & autoimmune disease blah blah blah, you can read about that in this post:
In these emotional states, I eat foods that will nourish my brain & I literally speak to my food & thank it for healing me. I also drink as much water as possible & speak to my water
Dr Emoto's water experiments on the way water holds energy:
(google it if you've never seen this, this study is literally everywhere)
C. Do something for your inner child / teen
Do something for the wounded part of your consciousness. So if your inner child is hurting, what was your favorite movie as a child? If you inner teen is hurting, what was your favorite movie or thing to do in middle school? I really liked books so I started reading vampire academy again <3333 & I also started watching avatar the last airbender again
D. self hypnosis!!!!! Every night as I fell asleep, I would program my brain to release what was going on. This is the most important step of them all & the biggest reason I’m even able to make this post. Our brains & subconscious are responsible for fucking everything, I was programming my subconscious to heal. You can do this however you want but I recommend this hypnosis:
E. I go to bed early. That’s so fucking important for me & my silly little brain. I pop a melatonin & I pass out each day at 8pm & I listen to hypnosis as I fall asleep, these steps put together are really fucking important to get me out of this state. I try to do this step every night even when I’m not in a bad emotional state.
F. CRY. our tears literally release toxins in the body, our emotions need to be felt in order to be released from the body. there's a reason why you feel refreshed after a good cry <3333
G. As I was writing this, I noticed that there’s a recurring theme of intention setting. I set the intention that I would heal through rest. I thanked my food for healing me. I did intentional self hypnosis for releasing & healing. So that’s another thing, setting the intention that all the things you do in this state are for healing <3333
Step 2: TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF PHYSICALLY
If I feel resolved with step 1 then I'll do step 2 but sometimes I'll try to move on to step 2 too early & literally have to start all over so I make extra sure that I’m actually ready
I finally took a shower, brushed my teeth & I even got myself a massage. I hadn’t gotten a massage since last October but I felt really called to. I think I just needed an extra push to get back into my body.
When all of our energy is in our minds, we suffer. When we can shift our energy to our bodies, we come back to the present. It’s simple but not easy. That’s literally why I did all of the steps above ^ so I could get back into my body. It can be difficult, but it is simple.
Step 3: OPEN UP FOR SUPPORT
this is not something I usually do, but I did this time. & it made all the fucking difference. Ask for help. Tell your friends. Tell your family. I told my friends where I was at. My mental health this time & all my triggers put me in a position where I literally had to tell someone where I was at. For people that self-isolate when they’re going through something, FIRST I’d like to say that’s normal & that’s okay & if you’re not ready to open up to others that’s fine. But at least open up to the universe, talk to the universe or if you’re religious, pray. “Hey I feel fucking horrible right now, I need help. I surrender to receive help, thank you” & I KNOW it’s difficult, for me, my emotions were never seen or heard or even acknowledged for a lot of my life, & I was punished for even having them. So isolation is what I learned. & now, it’s something that I’m unlearning :) We are social creatures who need community. Grief demands to be seen, our pain demands to be seen. Open up, it just may save your life.
What asking for help from friends or family looks like:
(I got some of these straight off of google that shit is amazing :-))
“Hey my mental health is really bad right now & I’m struggling, are you free to listen?”
“My heart is hurting (or fill this with how ever you’re feeling), are you in a place where you could give me emotional support by just listening?”
“I feel _______, do you think I could call you?”
“I don’t want to die, but I don’t know how to live. Can you talk?”
also feel called to add this suicide hotline number, you don't even have to call them, you could just text them.
SUICIDE HOTLINE: 988
You are never never ever actually as alone as you feel you are & even though it may not feel like it in the moment, pain is temporary. Storms always pass. Please, please call someone.
Step 4: TRANSMUTE
Do something creative. Transmutation is the act of taking the state of something & transforming it into something else. Transmute your pain into something dope. whatever your medium of art is, do that. For me, it’s singing, piano, guitar & making this guide for you<33333 hehehehe. Do your art form, if you don’t have an art form, what the fuck start one immediately.
We are all creative. You don’t have to be good to enjoy art. It’s not about skill, it’s about the energy of creation & transmutation. & it’s through putting in time that anyone gets “good,” talent is mostly just an accumulation of hours put into an art form, so don't let that stop you
Step 5: GO OUTSIDE
Align with the earth. The earth is aligned with the solar system based off our sun, the sun is aligned with the entire universe. When we ground & align ourselves with nature, with earth, we align ourselves with the entire universe.
I could go on about this for literally 10 straight minutes so instead I’m going to write bullet points in all caps:
SMELL FLOWERS, THEY ARE LITERALLY ONE OF THE HIGHEST VIBRATIONAL TANGIBLE THINGS WE HAVE ACCESS TO. SMELL THEM TO RAISE YOUR FREQUENCY, ESPESH ROSES
TOUCH YOUR BARE FEET TO THE EARTH THERE ARE LITERALLY STUDIES PROVING THIS GROUNDING US AND BRINGING PEACE
BIRD NOISES LITERALLY BRING US PEACE, BACK IN PRIMITIVE DAYS, WHEN BIRDS SING, THERE WERE NO PREDATORS AROUND. BIRDS LITERALLY SOOTHE OUR NEROUS SYSTEM
BIG BODIES OF WATER, ESPESH THE OCEAN. SUNSETS. THE SUNSHINE & VITAMIN D. WIND. TOUCH TREES, GIVE THEM YOUR NEGATIVE ENERGY & ASK THEM TO HEAL YOU. THEYRE LITERALLY LIKE BIG PILLARS ARE PEACE.
JUST GO OUTSIDE FUCK. I KNOW ITS HARD. BUT DO IT FOR YOUR SOUL
Okay & to wrap this post up,
“For every form of adversity, there is a seed of an equivalent benefit”
-Napoleon Hill
Something I’ve learned as truth is that with every piece of traumatic bullshit I’ve ever gone through, there has always been the equal & opposite positive if I choose to heal!!!!! It’s really really difficult to see what the point of something painful is when we are still feeling that pain. It does take time & it does take healing, but it’s always been worth all the pain.
I love you SOOOSOOSOSOSO much. thank you for being here & reading this & remember that you are never as alone as you feel you are. I hope this helped<3