The Ruth Project

 

Sometimes we don't know we are not coping until we are not coping! I have put together a few different tips I have found through my journey from different places that helped me to take a step back and redirect my focus before all chaos broke loose. These tips are also not limited to mumma, but are also helpful for dads and anyone else struggling with mental health. 1. Be honest with yourself - stop for a moment and speak to yourself about how you are feeling. Its ok to admit to yourself that your overwhelmed or tired. Once you can identify your thoughts then you can figure out what to do next. 2. Ask for help - communicate with those that you can about what your thinking and feeling. Allow some support and encouragement to come through as we process our thoughts and feelings with others. 3. Create some routines - it may be that new family routines need to come into play to help the family move through the day. Routines can become a great support to keep you lifted through the day a...

 

Its been about two years since I would consider myself on the healing side of depression, suicidal thinking and catastrophic anxiety, after having our babies. The consequences of negative thinking from those years are still in affect today. At the end of the day, it becomes very easy for me to be overwhelmed with the family needs, managing feeling tired and wanting a bit of space. My default is to fall into the headspace that everything is falling apart and spiraling out of control. When actually, I just need to take a step away from the circumstance, take a deep breath and get a new perspective and figure out what is the priority for now. These moments are when I find it very helpful to dig from the tool box of mental wellbeing exercises that I have been taught over the years by various health professionals and research. Its not always easy to remember to do in the moment and honestly I could probably do it more than I currently do now, but we are a work in progress. This week I am go...

Today I wanted to talk about that feeling of tiredness and depression. It is known that fatigue/tiredness is a symptom of depression, if not from the depression itself then from the medication. The biggest thing I learnt about tiredness in my depression journey was that its OK to be tired. See, when someone with depression/anxiety say they are tired, its not because they have stayed up late and might just need an early night, it is actually an exhaustion of the journey but the only way it can be explained is with this word 'Tired.'  I came across this really helpful picture explaining what tiredness actually means for someone with depression/anxiety which Ill share below and let it explain for itself: This is from a couple of great guys from  The Depression Project  and I think they have explained this tired feeling really well. My main point for this post today is to reassure those walking with depression that its OK to say your tired, you have a very vali...