Mental Health, Motivation and Moving Forward.

If you're reading this, then you're probably already aware from past posts that I have been living with poor mental health for a large portion of my life. I've been having a particularly tough time managing that during all of the Covid-19 business and while I've been getting frustrated with myself for not handling things better, I also know that right now all of us need to be a little more lenient with ourselves.

You've undoubtedly seen all of the posts on Facebook or Instagram telling you that now is the ideal time to do something "meaningful" or "worthwhile", you're being pressured into productivity and guilted if you're not contributing in the form of learning something new, creating or performing.

I just wanted to tell you that it's totally normal to be feeling the way we're feeling right now; anxiety is through the roof for everyone and the uncertainty and instability we're all facing is enough to knock anybody off balance. You're no better or worse a person if you're not using every spare minute to learn a new instrument or devising the perfect homeschooling plan for your children. Even if you only managed to get out of bed today, that's a huge step towards the next achievement you set for yourself.

That's the important thing, though. At times like this it is still important to set ourselves small goals, fitness related or otherwise. I've set myself the goal to shower every single day instead of thinking "I can do it tomorrow", as well as making sure I eat 3 separate meals per day at planned times rather than forgetting to eat until 6pm.

We must try to find some form of routine, even if yours looks nothing like the next person's and nothing like your usual pattern, it is integral to maintaining some kind of equilibrium and keeping ourselves from undoing all of the work we'd done up to this point to get to where we are now.

Start small, set little goals that help you maintain some kind of normality. Don't worry about appearing productive to the people around you; just keep yourself healthy and safe, and try to set aside time to do one thing you enjoy each day.

We're all riding the same waves, but each of our boats are different. We don't need to hold ourselves to other peoples' standards.

Take care of yourselves and let those around you know if you're having a hard time.