Mental Health Adventures

Life has a way of throwing us curveballs, doesn’t it? Like many others, I’m navigating a particularly challenging season in one area of my life right now. The saying “This too shall pass” is comforting in theory, but it doesn’t always make the present struggle easier to endure… Sometimes I have hope and sometimes the hope gets beaten out of me, until I pick up my hope and start again. When you’re facing a big problem, it can feel all-consuming—like it’s taken over your entire world. It looms large, like an elephant sitting smack in the middle of your neatly kept lawn, impossible to ignore. If my life were a pie chart, this problem would feel like it’s taking up 99% of the space. But recently, I’ve started to approach it differently. By stepping back emotionally and thinking more rationally, I’ve found a small but meaningful way to cope: distraction. Not the kind of distraction that ignores the problem entirely, but one that focuses on building up the good in other areas of my life. I’...

Have you ever felt like life is going pretty smoothly, and then suddenly, something trips you up, pulling you back into old habits or thought patterns? This happened to me recently. Things were going well. I was working, earning a living, and maintaining a good routine. I had a solid support network and even took a week off work to enjoy a well-earned rest. Life was good. But then, everything shifted. Without my routine to anchor me, I stayed up late because "I could," slept in longer than usual, and let the days blur together. At first, it felt like freedom. But soon, I found myself spiraling. The familiar weight of emotional pain hit me hard, like the world had yanked the rug from under my feet. I felt like I’d been transported back to a dark time in my life—a time marked by depression, suicidal thoughts, and a stay in a mental hospital. Those same scarred thoughts resurfaced: I want to die. A wave of mental and physical panic overtook me, and I was desperate for relief. O...

Hi all, I have asked my network of fellow bloggers for their take on their own mental health journey, either of themselves or of those they support. My good friend Nick Mance has offered the following blog post. Please welcome this as a 'Guest Blog'. Any feedback or comments welcome. You can contact me at  mentalhealthadventuresuk@gmail.com Cheers Tom Exelby "A few weeks back I took my gloom for a walk, trying to shake it off. It’s hardly a reliable solution. Sometimes by escaping the four walls of responsibility and drowning out my thoughts with music I find myself released. Sometimes, if I can find a patch of wilderness somewhere and break free of the imagined gaze of “society” I can truly break free and dissolve into a weeping, snot-flowing, shoulder-shaking ball. Those are the moments I feel most real, as though I’ve been playacting life and the mask has finally come loose. Those are the moments I feel closest to God. On the evening in question, I found no release. I...

Having good mental health is great isn’t it?! With an attitude of gratitude and an acceptance of ourselves we can really grow and blossom. The sun shines and… even when it doesn’t… we know that the rain makes those sweet scented flowers grow.  With me it’s a full-time job in itself to manage my thought life. 99% of the time these days I’m well and can remember to be kind to myself. I enjoy 'civilizing my mind and making savage my body' (meaning being disciplined/motivated/sharp-minded and fit, strong and healthy in body - a savage). But there can be the odd occasion when I forget to be kind to myself, where I don’t look after my mind or my body. I am unmotivated to do the simplest task, such as washing up. I even like washing up! I love the sight of a clean kitchen, a blank canvas on which to create. So why do I sometimes struggle?  I had a situation recently where I went on a mountaineering adventure with a friend in the Lakes. It was amazing! I loved it. I live for this stuf...

I met up with a friend for coffee this week. He asked me the following question… ‘How do you cope with situations that are out of your control that are stress inducing? ’ In my last blog post, I talked about making a problem into an opportunity to ‘exercise patience’. In this blog, you could say of any stress-inducing situation is an opportunity to ‘exercise carelessness’. Sometimes, it helps not to give a rats ----! Serenity Prayer God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. Sometimes we can fall into the trap of caring more about something than what is good for us. Apart from getting addicted to worrying (which releases adrenaline and other chemicals into our bloodstream, so we want more! More worry, please!) we need to find ways to step back emotionally from situations that are out of our control. This is a skill. Like any other, the more you practice it, the better you get at it...

  ‘Bear with me’ is a common saying, meaning ‘be patient with me’. When someone is in hospital, they are called a patient. That’s because they have to learn to be a patient patient while waiting for the care they need to be received. It is all too easy to get carried away during the hurricane of daily life and to be drawn into being impatient. It can be almost humorous for us to experience: ‘Come on! Move!’ Can be heard amongst the many miles of queuing traffic each and every day in the UK. Roadworks, road traffic accidents or forces of nature can get in the way of our hurry to wherever we are going next (usually, work). Often, almost every time, the cause of our impatience isn’t the reason for the delay, it’s our response to the reason for our delay. Maybe if we weren’t spun into so much of a hurry, we would be able to take a step back from the hot headed fury and take the time to breathe. Deep breathing can hold the key to remaining calm in a crisis. Queuing in a traffic jam...