Gratitude

Jellyelephant · June 2019

hey guys

i am feeling positive today and wanted to share. I feel really grateful to have all you guys at the mix, who I see as my second family. I was sharing my achievements in chat tonight and everyone was so supportive and encouraging. I am also grateful for the people who have been supporting me on my harder days, both in chat and on the boards!

as some of you probably know, I have an issue with alcohol to put it lightly. Since I had a scare with my liver function tests I have been trying so hard to reduce my alcohol intake as much as possible. I haven’t drank for 4 days now

and I have started writing daily lists of everything I need to do, from the simple stuff like having a shower, eating and taking my meds... to self care stuff and tasks like putting in prescription requests. I’ve found that planning my days this way helps me feel more in control and also have some routine. I have some memory and concentration problems so for example I realised I had forgotten to take my meds for quite a few days. So I have put that in my list so I have been taking them regularly for a few days now. I think these things have really helped me feel better, as before I was losing lots of time and forgetting to do stuff and just staying up all night feeling confused etc.

Every evening i have scheduled in self care time for myself. So this evening after chat I had a shower and washed my hair, I put on fresh pjs, I moisturised, I put my nice candle on, I used some of my nice face serum (I find the smell relaxing) and I put fame on snuggled under my fluffy blanket. I have taken my meds and am about to go to sleep. Having a good sleep routine and making sure I go to sleep at a normal time is helping a lot too.

Tomorrow i I have planned to challenge myself and go to arts and crafts at the women’s centre. Then I am going to buy some new stuff for my self care box. Treat myself to something nice for lunch.. and I’m going to book an appt for a few weeks to get my nails done as a motivation to stop self-harming.

i just wanted to share these things I am doing as I thought it may help some of you too, as well as to say thank you to all you lovely lot! When you aren’t working it can be hard. I have found various groups and activities run by charities (such as the women’s centre) and try to incorporate these into my days so that I am not spending all day every day at home.

Anyway i have rambled on for long enough now lol! Love to you all

xxx

Riley · June 2019

Wow @Jellyelephant this is such a wonderful post to see, always really heart-warming when people talk about how much The Mix has helped them.

I also really like your idea of keeping a list of things you need to do every day, it's so easy to completely forget about something you're supposed to do! How has your self-care plan been going over the last couple days?

JustV · June 2019

This was wonderful to read @jellyelephant. What a great bit of reflection.

And it's so warming to hear that you've found a home here - a place you help to build as much as anyone else.

Love that you're working hard to build up healthy habits and routines. It's genuinely a bit mind-blowing how much of a difference it can make to your mental health when you make sure you've got the basics covered: hydration, diet, sleep, hygiene, etc. Freaking ridiculous.

Big fan of routine, too. Particularly the self-care part. Personally I find I need a good couple hours of nothing in the evening to make sure I reclaim a bit of headspace, and I really notice it if I don't get that. Then the routine tends to help keep everything else in check.

Well done for getting to this place. And just a reminder that, even if you have off days or days where you need to let some of this go, that doesn't mean you're doing any 'worse' or that any of that progress is lost. You're doing great either way.

As @Riley mentioned, how's this been going for the last few days?

Gratitude

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