Welcome @Gemma21 🌺
Its great youre here 🙂
Im PinkFlamingo, a new Peer Guide here on the SANE Forums.
I thought I'd say hi 👋 and ask how youve been going this week?
I read in your post that its harder since covid lockdown dealing with depression - Im sorry to hear that 💜
I do relate to being isolated; I have been living in isolation since 2018 when I became worse with my immunity, pretty much staying home unless essential.
The strain on mental health to be in significant isolation and in one environment (predominantly alone at home) does pose great challenges to maintaining a balanced state of mind, for sure.
Part of what I do each day starts with some practical self talk: usually, I start with a bit of a health check in terms of my body.. I purposefully tick that off in my mind as a good and positive thing I have going for me.
Then, even if I feel emotionally down, I try to actively find something that will remind me of things I enjoy, to try to shift my emotions. I also make a point to look out the window, watch the leaves on the trees, watch the birds pecking, watch the clouds move, and purposefully enjoy nature - to immerse my attention in it 🙂
If I am feeling down, I dont really feel like eating, however I make a point to make a small healthy snack not long after waking up, and drink a couple litres of water during the day, take some deep breaths whenever I feel emotional.
Bedtime, I wind down, turning off other screens, and just doing work on my projects, on my laptop - importantly, I turn off the blue light on the screen, and have the screen in a 'warm' mode, so it doesn't keep me awake once Im finished.
Heading to bed, I use relaxing music on low, then I read a little of a bland story/novel, and do some slow breathing. If I wake up, I try to breathe slowly, and I picture something that may help me sleep (like a starry night sky). I sometimes use calming sounds on very low volume.
If I didn't sleep well, I still get up and do the day, if I can, to maximise being able to sleep the next night.
I hope there is something helpful there? 🙂
Even if not, please know you aren't alone 🌺
