A strategy for mental-illness
AFNCCF Young Champion Naomi Cross Stuart discusses the personal strategies we can adopt when living with mental ill-health and the difficulties in keeping them on track.
We all struggle with mental health or emotions at some point in our life and it's always good to have strategies to make yourself feel better.
When struggling with mental health there are many activities or things you can do to feel better. These include: talking to friends and family, going for a walk, participating in sports such as running or swimming, doing things you enjoy such as painting or drawing. You can also try meditation or yoga as a way to relax.
These activities can take your mind off upsetting feelings and reduce anxiety and stress. Strategies such as meditation actually have long term effects, meditation can change the way in which your body responds to stress. This is why many clinicians now use it as a treatment for illnesses such as depression.
Personally, I found these strategies from a combination of speaking to friends and using the internet. The internet is a great place to search for strategies or ideas when you're feeling down.
Every strategy has its challenges and for most of these you need to be active and willing to participate. This can be difficult as mental illness can sometimes prevent you from participating in everyday life, in some cases it can be difficult to get out of bed.
However, getting up is the hardest part, breaking things into steps can make this easier. Once you're up it's easier to continue with the rest of your day.