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Struggling with Confidence, Motivation, and Moving Forward
Redemption
Community Connector Posts: 4,458 Community Veteran
I’ve been feeling increasingly weighed down by stress, pressure, and a constant sense of self-doubt. It’s started showing in other ways too, like a loss of appetite and frequent unsettling dreams, including another disturbing one just last night. Recent events have only added to the strain, making everything feel even harder to manage. While support is in place, I’ve been questioning whether it’s enough right now. At the same time, I know that getting into work could be a major step forward. It would help me regain some of the confidence that’s been chipped away over time. The longer I’ve been out of work, the more difficult it’s become to feel like I’m keeping up. Setbacks have taken a toll, and holding on to any sense of belief in myself has felt more and more like a daily battle. In general, I’ve been feeling demotivated to do things, even simple stuff. For example, I was going to wash my car yesterday afternoon but ended up not doing it because I couldn’t bring myself to. It’s been the same with other activities I might have enjoyed before.
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You mentioned that self-doubt has started to show up in some slightly different ways for you, impacting your hunger levels as well as your sleep. That sounds like it could feel quite overwhelming, Redemption, as you notice this touching different aspects of your life.
Would it feel helpful to share a bit more about how your sleep is being affected? And also, I wonder if you'd feel open to sharing about your relationship with food? How's that been feeling this month so far?
You mentioned that its hard because while you do have support around you in ways, it sometimes just doesn't feel like enough, and that is valid. As you said, it sounds like at the core of some of the stress you're dealing with right now is the practicalities of being unemployed, and while you're doing everything within your control to try to find a job and change this for yourself, there are some factors that you can't control (such as the wider job market for instance), and in those ways, you're feeling held back right now or limited. Would that be fair to say?
We're here with you, and you're doing really well to talk about this.
Thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful message @Sian321 . It really means a lot. Yh, I think you’ve described it quite well it’s been hard feeling like I’m trying my best but still stuck. I’d be happy to share more about the sleep and food side of things, so it just I have struggled to sleep because my mind is in overdrive about stuff, hopefully I sleep well tonight. I'm atm just trying to take it one step at a time right now. Thank you again for the support.
That sounds hard to struggle to sleep when your mind is in overdrive. I hear you, and see that nighttime can sometimes be a moment where all the different things we're processing kind of floods are brains and it sounds like its hard to switch off. What do you feel might feel helpful for you around this? I wonder whether allowing yourself to scribble down a little list of the things on your mind just before you go to sleep could feel helpful? Or maybe expressing your worries in a different way?
I'll share below some posisble resources that centre around helping you sleep -
Every Mind Matters is an NHS service that offers practical help and advice on how to cope with your mental health and looking after yourself. They offer support for anxiety, low mood, stress, sleep as well as advice for parents and carers on how to support your children and self care tips for young people. Their 'Mind Plan' is a function that offers support tailored to you by answering a quiz. . For more information go to https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/
(Specifically their SOS audio guides for racing thoughts/anxiety) - DARE Panic and Anxiety Relief is an app designed for people coping with worry, anxiety, intrusive thoughts, insomnia, or panic attacks - helping you to regain confidence and live life at its fullest. While certain parts of the app require payment to be unlocked, there are hundreds of free features and the app itself is free to download. Some of the apps' free features include a bank of "SOS" step-by-step audioguides to help you calm down during a panic attack and to manage your intrusive thoughts, based on the evidence-based DARE technique by Barry McDonagh (BA, Dip Psych). The app also includes free breathing exercises, soothing meditations, and motivational 'pep talks' to help encourage and reassure you. It can be downloaded on the Apple App Store or the Google Play store.
You also said that food has been a struggle in ways. How's that been this past week specifically?
@Sian321 hey thanks so much for your multiple replies again, I really appreciate it , I have been not too bad in terms of confidence and motivation, it's just can be a bit of a push to get myself up for my course im currently doing but I do it. I find venting like this about this stuff helps but scribbling down might be a good shout too. These suggestions you said could be so thanks so much for sending them ill have a look. I'll check them links in the spoiler too. I think I have been fine in terms of food, when I made this original thread I might have been struggling with appetite but that's been all good for now, hopefully I get myself sorted soon.