“Stay Home, Stay Safe” During COVID-19 and Mental Sanity
Being introverted, you would think this new “Stay safe, stay home” life would be a super easy adjustment for me!
Being introverted, you would think this new “Stay safe, stay home” life would be a super easy adjustment for me!
I was happiest at the gym but I was eating less and doing more there. I was averaging 4 hours a day of the hardest exercises I could find. Baptism by sweat.
INFJ is the personality type that I am and stands for Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Judging. Often, INFJ types are prone to depression….
It’s scary stuff, and yet so many put their mental health on the line every day to stay longer at the office, finish that project and earn that promotion. Work is often to blame for the worst stresses of modern life, and when you throw social pressure into the mix, it makes for a nasty recipe.
It’s time to take my power back. It’s time to give myself permission to move forward. Enough of feeling powerless and hopeless. I wake up frustrated and feeling defeated. Also, I have been jealous of everyone’s everything lately, a sure sign that I’m feeling stuck and need to change things- drastically, if possible. Josh agreed to be with me in sickness and in health. Right now, it’s sickness but I want to go back to health.
I hand my unhealthy self a bottle of water and take away the can of pop she’s holding. The first small step, I indicate, without words. My unhealthy self nods in silent agreement and gratefulness. I hug my unhealthy self in a warm embrace. “I’m here for you,” I whisper, “I’m always here for you”.
Why would mania be a struggle, it’s the “happy” part of bipolar disorder right? Essentially, yes. Words synonymous to mania are passion and enthusiasm- unfortunately, lunacy and craziness are also synonyms. Deep in the throws of mania, I’m an emotional “yes man”. My inhibitions are lowered and I’m craving socialization, so nothing sounds like a bad idea. I am incapable of checking myself. Mania can create some of the saddest moments of the illness.
My daughter is amazing. She is smart, fiery, caring and forward-thinking. She is a champion of causes and a voracious reader. She can be opinionated and is quick to anger, but those propel her forward instead of letting her give up. A professional once told us she is, “Highly attuned, highly sensitive and impulsive” and was quick to point out…
Remember the Wizard of Oz? It is one of my son’s favourite movies. You know when Dorothy is trying to figure herself out and she gets so stressed out that she dreams of Oz? Yeah, that’s my life in a nutshell right now. I’ve been so stressed that I am in survival mode. I just go from one obligation to…
This year has been a lot. That’s the best way I can describe it- just a lot going on. It has been more frantic and busy and emotional than other years so, of course, my anxiety and depression have been higher than other years. Fortunately, I don’t rely on meds as I did in my teens and my early twenties,…