10 Tips to help you on the road to recovery

Living with a mental illness like Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Depression or Anxiety takes hard work to get through the days. Some harder than others. Regardless, every day we need to make choices. An example of such a choice deciding if you are going to stay in bed all day, or go out and get some sun. Often, the easier option isn’t the best option for our long time health.

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) is all about Building A Life Worth Living. To help you on the way to building your life worth living, in this post I will share some tips and techniques that have helped me on my journey, and still help me now. Whilst some of these tips incorporate skills from Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), I truly believe they can help anyone who is wanting to build a more positive, healthy life.

1.

One of my favourite tips is called TIPP!

This is a DBT skill that helps to calm one’s body and mind down without medication. Trust me – it works.

2.

Write down three things you are grateful for.

I know! We all have days when we feel like we have nothing to be grateful for. You may have to think a bit for this one, but trust me, you can find something. If your struggling, start small: Have you had a drink today? If your answer is yes (whether it be tea, soft drink or simply water) you have something to be grateful for.Having access to clean drinking water may not sound like much, but not everyone in the world has this.

3.

Bright sun with radiating light rays and hexagonal lens flare against blue sky

Get some vitamin D

Okay, so I realise I have an advantage here, living in a warm city in Australia. I realise it’s not that easy in every country AND most places have some sun. Sometimes! When it’s sunny outside make the most of the free vitamin D – it makes you feel so much better!

4.

Opposite action skill

This is a DBT skill where you do the opposite to what you want to do. Say you’ve had a cold – you’ve been in bed for a few days. You’re starting to feel better and you know it would help your mental health to get up and do something AND you just want to stay in bed. Do the opposite to what you want. That’s it – it’s such an easy skill. When you want to do something which you know won’t help you in the long term, do the opposite.

5.

Water!

I find water so healing. To start with, make sure you’re drinking enough. I know personally I can become very irritable when I’m dehydrated. Next – get in the water. This could be paddling on the beach, having a bath with lots of bubbles and Epson salts, or going for a swim. Water is the best medicine.

6.

Routine

If you’re struggling to get through the day, make sure you have a routine. Your routine will depend on where you are on your journey. Remember to plan your days, even if you’re not up to working or studying at the moment. At one point in my life all I wanted to do was stay out of hospital. I achieved this by planning three things every day.My goal for each day was to go to the pool, cook a healthy meal and read a chapter of my book. Not much, but it kept me out of hospital and was the start of my journey towards healing.

7.

Contribute

Do something for someone else. It doesn’t have to be a big thing, and it doesn’t have to cost money. Whether it be volunteering once a week, doing some gardening for an elderly neighbour or just cooking a meal for a friend; contributing will get you out of your own head for a while and make you feel better about yourself.

8.

Be creative

Doing something creative is so much more fun and rewarding than binge watching a TV show. Don’t get me wrong, there is a time and a place for binge watching AND if you’re feeling crappy watching a whole season of Squid Game in one day may not be the best choice for your health.

Remember you don’t have to be good at art to create. Some people love to create by cooking. Or you could take up knitting or crocheting. For me personally, I write. How you chose to be creative is up to you: It’s a great way to cheer yourself up and when you finish you’re left with a feeling of accomplishment.

9.

Colouring in

Black and white intricate floral mandala pattern with various flowers and leaves

Technically I could have included this in the above tip AND I love colouring in so much I feel like it deserves its own paragraph. A lot of the adult colouring in books have heaps of intricate details – whilst some may enjoy this, for others (like myself) this can seem overwhelming. Don’t let this dishearten you. If you google simple adult colouring in books. You will find lots of colouring books that are pretty basic. Some you can do with just one pen. Just remember, it doesn’t need to be perfect, just relaxing and enjoyable.

10.

Audiobooks

I love Audiobooks. They are AWESOME. Audiobooks make things that are usually boring fun. Things like going for walks, doing the dishes, commuting, decluttering and folding laundry. When you’ve got an audiobook to listen to chores no longer feel like chores. There are some great apps like Audible. If you’re wanting to save money, most libraries now offer audiobooks you can access through an app.

do what is right

not what is easy

So, there you have it ! These are ten things that have helped me on my journey. I still use all of these things often; they’ve helped me and they can help you too! Let me leave you with two things to ponder. Two things to consider when you are trying to improve your health and feel better.

The first is to do what is right not what is easy. When we have to make choices about our physical and mental health, the easier option is almost never the most helpful option. I used to think – “Why would I stick my head in icy water (TIPP skill) when I can just swallow a Valium?” Now I know that the icy water works better as well as being the healthier option.

The next thing I want to say is STOP MAKING EXCUSES. This may sound like tough love AND if you really want to feel better you need to stop making excuses. Sure, some of the above tips aren’t too hard. Listening to an audiobook – that’s not hard right? Then again, if it’s a choice between listening to an audiobook and taking an illegal substance, then it may start to get hard.

I must admit, I did find some of the above tips hard when I started using them. When you’re feeling like crap, and someone tells you to list three things you are grateful for – that hard!

I’m a member of some chronic pain groups on social media. These days I hardly ever go on them. Its full of people blaming doctors for their pain. I do get it – I’ve been there, remember!

There was a time when I was always making excuses. I too would blame the doctors for my pain. I would say they weren’t giving me enough pain meds. Deep down inside I knew that my pain wasn’t the doctor’s fault. I knew enough about science and medicine to know that no amount of medication would rid me of all of my pain (regardless of if it was physical or emotional pain) AND I wouldn’t admit that to myself. Why? Because if I could blame someone else for my pain, my unhappiness, then I didn’t have to take any responsibility for my own health.

These days I’m in a really good place, a very happy person. Why? Because I finally realised that if I wanted to get better, I had to stop blaming the world for my pain. I started

We all face hard moments, but we don’t have to face them alone.

What’s one tip that’s helped you through hardship?

Thank you for reading.

Love, Luna.