Links are embedded where a * follows! Okay so it's been a wee while since I have posted a blogpost... Okay, a long while. But I am serious about getting back into it now. Thanks to my wonderful friend and fellow-blogger Kirsty*. With her helpful ideas and encouragement, I have no doubt that I can stick at this. So Kirsty, if you see me slacking, give me a wee text will you? Haha. Where have I been? Well, I was still in Glasgow. One of my favourite places to be. Some things have changed, others have stayed the same. However, this isn't going to be one of those blogposts that tell you where the hell I have been. This is a blogpost that I hold very dear to my heart. You ready for a heart to heart? No? Well you better run and get a cuppa 'cause you are going to need it. See the picture above this? That appears to be a happy person right? Right! I was happy that day. I was spending it with a wonderful friend, there was pizza and whatever. Best day out! (side note: if you want you can watch my vlog* of the day on my YouTube channel!) In light of it being Mental Health Awareness Week, I thought I would write a little bit about how I overcame my dark thoughts and how I realised happiness is a choice. Disclaimer: this is just what I went through and what helped me to get out of the woods. This advice will not apply to everyone. Every situation is different and advice given should not replace medical advice. The first thing I had to figure out was what kind of help I wanted to receive. I was lucky enough to have a friend and a sister to spill all my emotional breakdowns too, and that really helped. I slowly started to realise that if I wanted help, to really get out of the woods, I would have to help myself. Everything I felt was a choice I made sub-consciously. My head was turning me places I didn't want to go, even though I was the one to put myself on that road. After realising, that everything bad I felt was actually mostly from myself. I decided enough was enough. Then, the "squishing the bug" technique was born. Like I said previously, this is something that worked for me and may not work for everyone. But if you feel like you could relate to what I am saying, then give it a go. If it doesn't work, you can find all different types of help from other places that I will include at the end of this post. So what is the "squishing the bug" technique? The name for this technique actually came from how I explain it. Imagine a single bad thought is a bug in your head. (It sounds gross but that's okay because depression isn't pretty my friend.) You notice this bug in your head, you don't like it. It lingers and the more you think about it, the stronger is gets and it starts to build a nest in your head. It's making itself comfortable. Overtime, the thoughts get stronger, attracting even more bugs to come along helping you to think more dark thoughts. They start nesting away, making their nest bigger which means they start to overtake and get rid of your personality and your traits to make room for their nest resulting in you slowly loosing yourself to these bugs (aka the dark thoughts). It is here where I reached my lowest of lows. But I decided to make myself stronger. How did I make myself strong? And I know it sounds crazy but I literally just started squishing the bugs. One by one. The first one was the most difficult. Whenever I'd think a bad thought, I would stop myself mid-way in it. The more I did this, the easier it got. Slowly, you will find yourself killing all the individual bugs, along with all the thoughts. Soon, the nest will be gone. But there will be a hole left where they took over you. You're still left not fully knowing who you are as person, but you are so much stronger. Overtime, you will find yourself and the hole will be filled with happiness. Happiness is a choice. Even though a lot of external factors may influence how you are feeling. You are a much stronger person. I am a much stronger person because I now know what it means to control what I think. And that is what the technique does, it changes how you think. And I believe in you to know that you can overcome anything you want to, and no matter what, there is always a way. I could go on a lot more about this, but I think I may save that for another post as this one is already getting pretty lengthy. If you're reading this feeling like you need helps. There are some great organisations that you can talk to:
Anxious Minds*, Turn2me* and Samaritans*. If you are feeling depressed or anxious, or feel like you are suffering from another kind of mental illness, please visit your Doctor or speak to someone. That is one step that is guaranteed to help. Thank you for reading this post. This was on something that helped me and if it helps one person, then it is worth writing about, no matter how personal it may be.
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