Yes I know .. I’m one day late 😑.. it’s the ADHD 😑…
It has been an interesting Christmas 🎄 this year for me. There’s a lot of difficult emotions 😣 that I experienced, and there were times when I was totally overwhelmed 😔.
But no matter how hard and/or confusing things are… I do believe one thing: God is good 😌.
Wishing you all a peaceful Christmas 🎄 ❤️ 🤗
— 🌻 Sophie ❤️
PDF: Procrastination – Distractibility – Forgetfulness
Quoting Amy Batchelor (starts on min 5:30),
“You have to take care of yourself as well,
IT’S PUTTING ON YOUR OWN OXYGEN MASK FIRST.
… and that’s … my friends, being outside, in the nature, watching the sunrise with my dogs, just really intense self care…
It’s a gift for me to be strong and happy even if he’s really depressed.
I think my path is to be a truth teller.
And Brad is a truth teller. Trust the journey!
It’s gonna turn out okay. It’s gonna turn out great, actually …” (smile).
You have to put on your oxygen mask FIRST.
Amy Batchelor
If you have a loved one with depression, anxiety, or other brain conditions, sometimes it can be challenging. Unfortunately for many of us, we forget that we have to also take care of ourselves. It is vital to take care of ourselves because we can’t pour from an empty cup. Amy is the first person I heard saying that metaphor; the metaphor I always use to answer people who reached out to me about feeling burned out when caring for a loved one with mental illness.
An article on Guardian
EXCERPTS
“ …It’s one of the deadliest diseases on the planet, often still shrouded in a sense of shame. And for men under 35, suicide following depression is now the leading cause of death. Novelist Matt Haig recounts his own experience of suicidal thoughts and the long path to recovery… “
“… I am not anti pill. I am pro anything that works and I know pills do work for a lot of people. There may well come a time where I take pills again. For now, I do what I know keeps me just about level. Exercise definitely helps me, as does yoga and absorbing myself in something or someone I love, so I keep doing these things. I suppose, in the absence of universal certainties, we are our own best laboratory. If you are a man or a woman with mental health problems, you are part of a very large and growing group. Many of the greatest and, well, toughest people of all time have suffered from depression. Politicians, astronauts, poets, painters, philosophers, scientists, mathematicians (a hell of a lot of mathematicians), actors, boxers, peace activists, war leaders, and a billion other people fighting their own battles. You are no less or more of a man or a woman or a human for having depression than you would be for having cancer or cardiovascular disease or a car accident.
So what should we do? Talk. Listen. Encourage talking. Encourage listening. Keep adding to the conversation. Stay on the lookout for those wanting to join in the conversation. Keep reiterating, again and again, that depression is not something you “admit to”, it is not something you have to blush about, it is a human experience. It is not you. It is simply something that happens to you. And something that can often be eased by talking. Words. Comfort. Support. It took me more than a decade to be able to talk openly, properly, to everyone, about my experience. I soon discovered the act of talking is in itself a therapy. Where talk exists, so does hope. …”
Steph Slack – TEDx Talks
THE QUESTIONS WE NEED TO ASK ABOUT MALE SUICIDE
Steph believes talking saves lives. Having lost her uncle to suicide and supported close friends through suicidal ideation, her aim is to raise awareness of suicide prevention and help people to feel confident and comfortable in conversations about suicide.
Excerpt from TEDx Talks
What would happen if we all went home and had conversations with the men in our lives about what they’re feeling and thinking? The answer to solving today’s male suicide crisis may be simply listening to the men in our lives.
At some point in your life you’ll probably be touched by male* suicide. It’s now the biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK with 12 men taking their own lives every day.
In her challenging TEDx talk, Steph Slack shares her personal story of how losing her uncle to suicide caused her to question how we react to men who experience suicidal thoughts.
Steph asks: what if we stop seeing having suicidal thoughts as something unusual, change our stereotypical expectations of men and instead, support men who have the courage to be vulnerable with us?
If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts or are in crisis, in the UK Samaritans operate a 24/7 helpline on 116 123 or CALM operate a helpline 5pm to midnight for men on 0800 585858.
https://tedxfolkestone.com/the-questions-we-need-to-ask-about-male-suicide/
wwtbyh 