A Year On…

So It has been a year since my disastrous mental breakdown (I mean, really, is there any other way to have one?) and this is what I have learnt…

1. Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) works… I mean it like really works!! I will be completing the 12 week DBT course this afternoon and I am so excited to start the 6 month course.
2. Mindfulness is a real thing… not just something that ‘hippies’ talk about… however it is something that is really difficult to practice and it takes sooooo much dedication and discipline to achieve… I also learnt that it is impossible to be in this state of mind continuously (at least it is for me… some days I took the ‘fuck this’ attitude and went back to bed). To be able to balance your emotional mind and your rational mind, finding a happy medium is just exhausting- but absolutely worth it!!
3. Sometimes ‘it just is’… and that is perfectly ok… feel the emotion… express the emotion…
4. Sometimes our emotions deceive us… at times when we think we are angry we actually aren’t angry… huh? This is where mindfulness comes into play…
5. Your brain actually heats up when you are feeling extremely distressed… For me the best way to counteract this is to plunge my head into a bowl of ice water… in fact I keep a bowl of ‘ice’ water in the fridge for such an occasion and my kids have labelled it ‘Mum’s cranky water’…
6. We learn how to manage our emotions as children… guess what… if you aren’t taught how to do it… how can you possibly do it as an adult?
7. Establishing and maintaining meaningful relationships (see point 6)…
8. Sometimes people are just shit… we can’t control how others act and/or treat us… we can only control how we react…
9. Zoloft should never be taken at night… (hence the 2am blog post)…
10. My insomnia hasn’t disappeared…
11. Sometimes your values and self respect are more important then winning the argument…
12. Disassociation can last for months!!!
13. Western techniques and holistic approaches go hand in hand when treating mental health…
14. There is always light at the end of the tunnel…

The most important thing I believe I have learnt is…

LOVE STARTS WITH YOU

Self care is the key to laying the foundations for living your best life!!