Mental Health Awareness Week

Seeing as it’s one of the most important week’s of the year for bringing a much needed discussion to the table. We thought we’d hand over to the team at Flexitone Fitness (team of one, yes) to share some first hand experiences with mental health, therapy and tools you can use to manage your own low times.

Here are a few snippets of their open diary… Check out Flexitone on Instagram to follow the rest of the journey.

DAY 1

SELF-ESTEEM 🌻

I'm going to be straight up about this. I'm an anxious person and over the last 10 days of being in full isolation my anxiety has taken such a hit. This has led to my self-esteem going south REEEEEAL QUICK.

Self-esteem is something we're all probably aware is important but do you ever take note of whether yours is high because you believe it or because you rely on others to make it that way?

We're all guilty of it - particularly in the world of social media - we get a little buzz every time we get a like, and feel deflated if they don't reach the numbers we were after. But how often are you showing this behaviour in real life too?

Do you feel low if your partner doesn't give you 'enough' attention? Do you notice if people around you get praise and you don't? Do you mentally replay every little comment you heard that day, either good or bad, and pick them apart until you find them to be negative?

Well I do. And it's torture. Like it actually feels like some kind of self harm, as if I'm punishing myself repeatedly.

So, I need it to stop. And as of today I'm going to start doing something every day to make a positive impact on my self-esteem again. I will be sharing it in case anyone needs it too, lockdown life is hard and it's taking such a toll on a lot of people. Particularly those who are already suffering with their mental health.

DAY 2

It's time to make like Beyoncé and put everything you own in a box to the left 🎶

Years ago my therapist took me through an exercise when I was in a particularly low period. She made me draw on a piece of paper the different boxes of my life and how much space they took up. As in; one huge whopping box for work that takes up most of the page and then a few small boxes around the edge for my diminishing social life etc. Then she asked me to draw another one for how I wanted my life to look. It was pretty different.

The idea is that once you can visualise this you can start to make the changes you need to find more balance in your life. ✨

The biggest take away for me from this exercise was when she explained that having fewer boxes can be damaging and risky to your well-being. If your piece of paper only consists of three boxes and you have issues with one area... It's a much bigger percentage of your life that is affected. Whereas if you have a healthy amount of boxes all varying in size and importance then you can cope a little better if something goes wrong. It doesn't feel like your entire world is crumbling *quite* so much because you know your life is made up of more than that one area.

At the time, I had recently started my business and I'd ploughed so much time into it that my social life/family life/anything-other-than-work-life had taken a plunge. Meaning when I was having a stressful time with work (which was a lot), it felt like my whole world was under attack. The more I moved towards making the work box smaller and my other boxes bigger, suddenly work issues were much more manageable.

Yesterday I realised I needed to do this exercise again, not for the future but for the past. Lockdown has changed a lot for all of us - but are we really aware of how many boxes we've made smaller or gotten rid of at all? This time I did one page with pre-lockdown boxes and one for right now. All of a sudden I started to make more sense of why I've been feeling low lately. Now I've got to start shifting my boxes to create a new visual - not quite what it was before but something to work in with this 'new normal'.

DAY 5

THERAPY 🧠

Today I had a much needed session with my therapist. I don't see her regularly anymore, just as and when I need. AND LET'S FACE IT I NEED IT RIGHT NOW 😅

It was my first experience of it on Zoom and actually it worked surprisingly well. I'm not sure how well it would work for a brand new client with a brand new therapist but I would say it's definitely worth a shot.

In just an hour she gave me multiple tools & activities to work on so we can start dealing with what's going on in my head. Not only that but she re-framed a few of the problems that made them seem much more normal, justified and like I wasn't a total nut-bag. I've now got some homework to do, of course, but I'm already feeling so much more empowered to get through all this.

I've been seeing a therapist on and off for over 10 years and I can honestly say it's the best investment I've ever made. I know I'm very fortunate to be able to afford it but I also prioritise my mental health, even if I'm struggling financially (errrr hello self-employed lockdown life) I will scrape some pennies together if I need it. We often spend money on much less essential items but we see self-care as a luxury.

Therapy isn't a luxury. At times it's a necessity. For some it's the difference between life and death.

If you need it and you can't afford it, firstly I would encourage you to reach out to loved ones. You'll be surprised who wants to help you. I've paid for a friend's therapy before because I couldn't stand seeing her go through such agony and I knew she couldn't afford it. People want to help you.

Alternatively there are free options available other than on the NHS. A quick search has come up with: @giveusashoutinsta @7cups @youngmindsuk @mindcharity and CIMHS.com.

Life is hard. At any time. You are not always expected to have your sh*t together without a little help from others.

You can always ask for help, give me a shout if you need some guidance 🌻❤️

Take care of yourselves,
Sara x