7 Simple ways to feel better

Because people are basically complicated plants, here’s some simple ways to feel a little better.

1. Drink water

Drink the clear splashy stuff, or put some squash (cordial/ juice/ whatever is the American equivalent) with the water to make it bearable if you have to.

I’m not going to sit here and tell you an amount you’re supposed to drink, just try to have a little between the coffees or whatever your caffeine of choice is.

2. See some sunlight

Ideally, you might also venture out into it but let’s start small, make sure you get some from a window. Maybe crack the window to let some fresh air in while you are there.

Next step would be going out into, experience some nature and shit, take some breaths.

3. Get some sleep

Now, notice I didn’t say an amount because that ‘8 hour shit’ just does not work for me. So I spent a bit of time paying attention to what was enough sleep for me to feel functional, from the bare minimum I could cope with to what was the amount I needed to feel completely energised.

Then I spent some time working out how I could help myself sit somewhere in that window most nights. See? Lots of wiggle room and no pressure. I tried a few different things, a few different techniques, until I figured out how to make myself sleep alright, the majority of the time. As someone who has had sleep problems their whole life, this was a huge win.

4. Eat regularly

Now, once again, notice I did not say ‘X number of meals a day’, or that it even had to be meals at all. You just have to eat as often as your body is asking to, learn your hunger queues and start to feed yourself, the rest will come later.

5. Make your space tidy enough to be functional

This whole concept is talked about more in depth in this book: How to Keep House While Drowning

But it is not about making your place completely tidy or clean, it’s about making sure it’s functional for what you need, even if that means just making sure the bowl you need for breakfast the next day is clean and ignoring everything else.

6. Find time to do something you love

Whatever your obligations are, whether they are work or family, school etc, a super quick way to feel like a not-person, is doing nothing but your obligations and none of what brings you joy as an individual.

Now, I know maintaining hobbies is really hard when your mental health isn’t doing so good, but if you have the energy to try, even if it’s hard, it’s one of the easiest ways to start to feel like yourself again.

7. Humans need other humans, no matter how introverted you are

People need community and they need social interaction, whether that is from an online space, from sitting in a cafe and experiencing people (even if you are talking to them), or a pet. No one is wholly an island, people need people.

So, I don’t know, I was thinking about what were the simply building blocks to feeling better and made a little list, I know some of these are super hard if you’re not in a good place, but doing just a little bit of some of them is better than nothing. It’s always better to half ass it than no ass-ing it… *

*I will caveat this by saying I am not a mental health professional, nor do I have any diagnosed mental health conditions. Please seek help from the appropriate channels if you are really struggling.

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