My Current Mental Health

Today, I am going to be sharing with you guys an update about where I am with my mental health. Since the early days of my blog, I have shared very openly about my mental health struggles. I tend to talk about it more, when I am going through a rough spell. Then when things are positive, I tend not to mention it so much.

Over the past year or so, I have tried to resist the urge to write a mental health related post through fear that I would isolate a big portion of my audience. However, I thought that now was a good time to update you guys. I want to let you know I am now, what I have been doing with medication and some of my new coping mechanisms.

 

 

What are my mental health conditions?

I have shared this before here on my blog, but if you guys are new, here is a breakdown. When I was only 14 years old, I was diagnosed with OCD. My OCD is not generally associated with cleanliness, it is more about organisation and planning. I have to have every single aspect of my life planned to the minute and there can be no surprises. This condition then stemmed into anxiety and then later in my teenage years I developed depression. When I look back on my mental health journey as a 27-year-old, there have been many peaks and troughs. Many of which I have shared with you guys.

 

How I have been over the past couple of months?

Things over the past couple of months have been really well for me in terms of my mental health. I have become very good at being open and honest with those around me and I feel like that has helped me amazingly. Even though I don’t want to project my feelings of mental health, I also think that it creates a much more open and healthy relationship/friendship. Just the fact that I am more open in a broad sense, I feel more understood and that has helped me. I completely understand that not everybody has that luxury, but I feel incredibly lucky that I have a great network around me.

 

Coming off medication.

In one of my last blog posts, I shared that for the first time in a very long time, I had to go on medication. In the early days when I was first diagnosed with depression, I was put on anti-depressants. A couple of months back, I realised that I was in a good place. Well, a much better place than I had ever been before. Because of that, I spoke with my husband and doctor about transitioning off my anti-depressants. The amazing thing is that things worked out incredibly well for me. As much as I am glad I am off them for now, I am not against going back on them if I ever need to.

 

Adapting more coping mechanisms.

There has been somethings over the past year that have really pushed me to the brink. Such as, a couple of months back, my husband and I were getting ready for work. When we began walking downstairs, we realised that the house was flooded because of a burst pipe on the top floor. The water had trickled down every single wall, floor and down the stairs. I didn’t deal with it well. I am not the kind of person to get angry, because I understand that these things happen. But at the same time, my OCD cannot stand the thought that I just have to live with these issues until they are fixed. I should have had something in place to occupy my mind and get my focus back to where it needs to be.

 

What I am hoping to achieve.

For me, 2022 has been full of challenges. There have been things that have really pushed me and my mental health. However, I plan that towards the end of the year I can start putting myself first. As part of my OCD, I obsess about things, including my career and other people. That means that I often push myself and my own feelings to the bottom of the pile. I am hoping that with the help of my counsellor I can get much more of an even balance and begin to prioritise myself. That is the aim anyway, but I do also acknowledge that the end of the year is only 5 months away!

 

I hope that you guys enjoyed reading this blog post. I know that to some people, you will not want to know about mental health. However, as much as some people may not want to hear about this, it is imperative that we have an open conversation about mental health. So many people have personal struggles and by learning about what people go through, we can become more empathetic to people.

As always, I would love to hear from you guys in the comments below. Please ask any questions that you may have. If you would like to chat about your own mental health, my emails are always open for a honest conversation.