Learning to be your own best friend!

Stay connected:

Feeling isolated or unable to connect can have detrimental effects on our wellbeing,
we are tribal beings and need the support of others, it is a basic human need, nothing to do with dependence.
Anxiety and low mood can make us feel like we want to withdraw from others at just the time when we need to connect.
Talk to others about how you feel and share your thoughts, it can be light conversation or deep and meaningful, the importance is that we notice it happening and create the opportunities in our daily lives for connection. When we connect with others we feel less vulnerable and realise we are not alone.
We have more in common with others than differences.

Look after your physical health:

Nourish your body with movement, food, water and comfort.
self care is very important in the road to recovery,
we can sometimes recognise that we are feeling better while we are looking after ourselves; eating well, sleeping restfully and being active. All these things can boost our immune system and that is indeed a good plan.

Acknowledge your own feelings

Validate them, even if it is just to yourself!
It can be so easy to become disconnected from our emotional self, sometimes we just do not recognise how we feel, this may be because we dampen them down with food, alcohol, drugs or exercise or maybe we don’t feel as though we have a right to them and minimise our feelings or deny them. We possibly developed these strategies for coping with our emotions through learning experiences or social pressures, however if we are disconnected emotionally this can have an effect on our health happiness and relationships.

Therapy can be helpful to reconnect to your emotional self in an authentic way so you can feel at peace and accept with all parts of you.

Thoughts are not always facts;

Be curious about some of the thoughts that you allow to play in your mind. We are predisposed to notice the negative, (from evolution it gives us a survival advantage) However it can also be the main driver for increasing our experience of anxiety and stress.
Be curious about your thoughts evaluate them for truth and how helpful are they to you right now?
Maybe reframing some of those thoughts into something more positive and hopeful would be useful? Try noticing what you can do rather than what feels too much in this moment.

If you feel a need for some additional help:

Therapy can help you have a confidential space to explore your thoughts and feelings and offer some techniques that may be useful to you.

Contact me to book your initial consultation or ask any questions.