Showing posts with label mental health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mental health. Show all posts

Tuesday, 4 August 2015

A guide to Positivity

Hey guys, so this is a bit of an odd blog :D 
But I got to thinking lately about the toxic negativity people are letting into their lives and what it's doing to them. 



With depression and anxiety on the rise, the world is fast becoming a place dominated by people's image and self obsession. Nobody wants to be themselves anymore! Everyone wants to be Kim Kardashian, or Khloe, have the perfect body, perfect abs, fitness, perfect life etc etc. Everytime I go on my social media accounts all I see is #health, #fitfam, #lifegoals, #hyliejennerlips and so much more. What happened to just being YOU? People have become so obsessed with being fit and beautiful, drawing eyebrows, lips, contouring in cheekbones and a cleavage (I'm guilty of this myself) destroying our bodies with protein shakes and fast food, before agonising at the gym. Meanwhile not realising what this is doing to our bodies. 

Call me old fashioned, but whatever happened to the odd treat, can of coke or bag of munchies and just exorcising regularly? Rather than gorging on peanut butter and fast food and breaking your legs doing squats and burpees the next day. If you ever take a look at our grandparents era, they worked and worked all day, in the bog or the fields etc (I'm sure we've all heard the stories) they walked everywhere and they only had so many meals a day. Yet they had plenty of fatty bacon, apple pies and sweets. The difference is unbelievable. I tried doing it the old fashioned way for a few weeks, just cutting out the crap, sticking to a few meals a day, not stressing over it and making sure I got my daily walk in. About a week after I noticed a difference in myself and I stopped caring about other peoples bodies and weight. Everyone is made unique for a reason, not to be a carbon copy of anyone else. We each have our own finger prints, our own dna, so why do we try to be like others? Only when we realize our unique value will we be able to be positive in our own beings.

Somebody said to me not so long ago, that after they lost weight and changed their image, people noticed them way more and they got more attention on facebook. I was in shock, but I noticed it too. Every day my feed would be riddled with 'transformation tuesday' pictures of people who lost weight or toned up and they would get 100's of likes. So this is the only way to get noticed anymore?
 What is the world coming to? People might post photos or statuses to get attention, but they will start to depend on them and their insecurities will grow when they don't get enough.

Personally I am all for a person wanting to get healthier, in a natural way, but do it for yourself, not for facebook or instagram. Because you are only going to be happy if you do it for yourself. Comparing yourself to others on social media is worthless, because realistically, it is all a front! People aren't always what they post to be. So do everything in life for yourself, life is too short to do it for anyone else. Here are some steps I have to being happier and being more positive n your life. 

It is hard to transform into a positive person overnight and even the happiest of people aren't always happy. Everyone has bad and good days. But the trick to overcome the bad, is to remember that good days happen and will happen again. Think of a day you were extremely happy and remember what you felt. You will feel that happy again. 

Be thankful for you, have an attitude of gratitude! Try to be grateful for everything good that does happen in your life. This boosts the positivity. Slowly you will start to notice good things happen to you more and more and you will appreciate them.. Be thankful for your life, your health, friends, family, job, etc, even that nice cuppa you made at lunch! It will make you appreciative of every thing.

Cut any negative people out of your life. Negative people feed on negativity like oxygen, they literally live just to see you unhappy. Just like pulling out a thorn from your skin, you have to get rid of what does you harm. Even just spending less time with them and more with people that bring out the best in you will help. Delete them off facebook, block them, etc. Because some people literally live to see you upset and want to do better than you. Once they see you ignoring them and living a happy life, they try what they can to break that bubble. 

Preach positivity to others. If you teach others around you what you have learned, they will start looking on you as a dependable person and someone to help them. It will even make you feel helpful and proud of yourself. Even sending a nice quote you saw on pinterest to them may brighten their day and make you feel good for helping them. 

Have positive friends. When you grow older, you will start to notice your circle of friends get smaller. People change, as will you , it's all part of growing up. But it is also necessary to cut any negative friends from your life and keep the positive ones closer.They will grow with you and nurture you, rather than dragging you down.

Some people will always try to drag you down or talk about you and spread negativity like a plague.  It is best to just ignore it and stay away. Unfortunately some people get dragged down into the negativity and can't think for themselves, Stay positive always and be yourself! I myself have dealt with this situation plenty of times recently and always it is the same negative person coming back to cause drama, Just ignore it and move on like I have!  

I hope this blog helped you if you are feeling down and lacking positivity :) I just had some issues myself with people and decided to take my own advice of preaching to others :P 

Hope you enjoyed ! 
Sandy.S
xXxXx

Monday, 22 December 2014

Mental Health Awareness: What is Depression to me?

I realize when reading the varying topics of my blogs people will think I have a split personality disorder or something (god forbid) because I literally go from one thing to the other :) and two topics in one day can be so different. I do apologize for this, however, whenever I feel the need to type I just have to put hands to keyboard and off I go :)

Tonight I was reading a few articles about depression and Mental Health, Anxiety etc and I got to thinking what does it all mean to me? What is my explanation for it? To be honest I have yet to completely understand it. All I know is that it is something that unfortunately rears it's ugly head every now and then and it's like that horrible mouth ulcer on the side of your tongue that comes so unexpectedly. No matter how much Bonjela you put on it, or Listerine, or salt and water mouth rinse. It's still there.

Depression is like this, it comes at random, it hurts, no matter how many songs you listen to, chocolate you eat or chick flicks you watch. It just hangs over you and pulls you down deeper and deeper. You could be finished an exam and got the highest mark in the class or even the lowest and still feel this numbness. You could be told you look a million dollars in that new top or skirt, makes no difference to you. I used to think it was just PMS, or being a teenager, but I've been out of my teenage years for two odd years now and it's still there. I was told by one doctor it was just circumstantial, because of the way the country was with recession and this, that and the other. But deep down I knew, no it's not that. I knew there was something there that got me down and I couldn't control it. No matter how great a job I ever got or will get, or how great a life I lead (which I am thankful for) or what great friends, family and new Fiance I have, this 'thing' will always come back to keep me down at times.

Personally, I find that it comes so unexpectedly. One time it got so bad I just took to writing in a diary I had when I was 15 and I just balled my eyes out lol. I felt better afterwards but to this day I don't even know what it was that caused it? I literally have no idea. Does it affect my life? Yes, it does. I find it hard at times to even be in people's company. Strange and all as that sounds, what I mean is, that I will find myself comparing myself to them and how they have a better this, that or the other and it really gets me down. I will then come back to myself eventually and hate myself for even thinking like that in the first place! I even used to compare myself to other people that suffered from depression and felt that if they were suffering so badly, surely mine wasn't as bad and there has to be something else wrong with me. But no, depression and anxiety is exactly what I suffer from and it comes to people in different forms and strengths. Luckily I was able to acknowledge the fact and seek help before it got to a worse stage. I visited Jigsaw in Galway for a couple of sessions to build myself back up and it was one of the best things I have ever done.

Fortunately the stigma surrounding Mental Health in Ireland is lifting, it is too late for some but hopefully it can help others. Like Bressie speaking out and many other celebrities, I too feel that if we share our stories and listen to others, we can help to spread the fact that it is not making you a freak or a coward. Quite the opposite in fact. It is one of the bravest things you can ever do, walking in to a doctors office or Help centre and asking for help.

Just remember, you're not alone!

Bit of an odd blog, but I hope you will share your stories and feel free to ask me for any help or guidance that is in my power to give.

Thank you for reading,
Sandy.S
xXxXxXx