Happy Monday!

It’s no secret that I struggle in winter but especially in November, so while my mental health is pretty ok right now (you know with it being November and 2020!) I have been lacking in mojo. My get up and go, got up and went and I need it back at least from now until Christmas.

The struggle is real but I know what works best for me and that it an almighty kick up the backside and starting to take control. There is a balance between rest and activity, the problem with too much activity is that you get tired. But I’ve gone the other way, I’ve had too much rest and in resting, haven’t done the things that give me mental respite, like having a tidy house. Don’t knock it, if the house is tidy, it’s restful to my eyes and brain.

So this morning, after doing a thorough anti mouse clean of the kitchen, I started to gently sort things out. All my work Christmas boxes are wrapped and ready for the post office because I need them gone! I’m going to spend this week getting properly on top of the house, so that next week I can finally put up my new bedroom curtains and start making sure that the flat is in good shape for Ma’s birthday and Christmas.

I’ve also been slipping on Golden Hour activities and it’s time to get back to them. It’s really easy at the moment to slip into feeling down and feeling that we can’t change things that aren’t right in our life or how we feel, sometimes that’s true but not always. I know that a bit of SAD and being at home all the bloody time is the least of what some people are going through at the moment. I can’t change much about a global pandemic, but I can order my environment, I can call a friend and go for a walk. Those things help.

I would like to encourage you, if you are in a similar place, to find one thing you can do, that might help you feel that you’ve positively helped yourself. That could be a walk, or a phone call to a friend. It could be committing for this week, to making your bed in the morning, or doing all the washing up in the sink once a day, it could be making sure that you brush your hair every day. Find the thing, do it regularly, when it’s habit, find the next thing. Better mental health is possible for most of us, with tiny little steps.

It’s a bit hokey, but my depression tells me that I’m useless and unloveable. I can look at the concrete things I’ve done in my day (the tidy kitchen or made bed, the friend I spoke to today, the dinner I cooked) I see that it’s not true. These things are not going to fix you overnight but they will help.

So clearly my plan for the week is to be active and engaged in managing myself, my time, my work and my flat!

Let’s see how it goes!