My head is in the clouds; it’s more often than I would like to admit, and once I’ve entered the “thought realm” it’s difficult to return to reality. It’s a repetitive cycle of dissociating from reality and getting warped by constant thoughts that seem to consume your day. A never-ending thought loop, to say the least. Remaining strong against those negative thoughts is so important to a positive mental health and an overall peace of mind.
Speaking from experience, it’s so hard to even perform life’s simplest tasks, such as getting out of bed in the morning, when your mind is clouded with overwhelming and debilitating thoughts. It only contributes to feelings of exhaustion and establishing a sense of disconnect to what is significant in life.
The failure to acknowledge the passage through a difficult time, will not make anything better. I know it will be difficult and confusing, but the easiest way to cope during hardship is to first establish that you are struggling. It is inevitable that you will undergo challenging episodes in life, because not a single person’s life is continuously rainbows and unicorns, but here’s an interesting concept: you have to feel lows to be able to embrace the highs. If bad days did not exist, the human race would not have any point of reference to compare to a good day. Hence, I’m not, by any means, invalidating the idea of going through a rough time, only highlighting the necessity of having bad days in order to truly appreciate the better things in life, and trust me they are limitless.
The journey of transition from a negative headspace to a more positive one is not defined to anything and can vary immensely from person to person. No one truly shares the same struggle, as they inhabit each one’s life in numerous different ways. Though I speak as if I have cracked the code to euphoria, do not be misled. I’m human, and we all have horrible days, but even on my worst days, trust me there are many, I work my hardest at bettering my relationship with my mental health by practicing mindful habits that I feel assist me in finding my grounding.
It’s the art of practicing mindfulness and it’s embodied in a specific, distinct manner for each individual, meaning that no one knows you better than you, and what works for you may not work for those around you. Personally, I find mindfulness in my writing by using it as a coping mechanism to unleash any stress and anxiety. After putting the negative thoughts circling my head on paper, I flesh them out. I use a simple process that is straightforward and open to adaptation, consisting of first pinpointing why x is bothering me, assess whether it’s worth my stress, (will it matter in a month? or even a week?), and then decide if x is worth investing more effort in.
Figuring out what’s important things allows you to put life in perspective and allocate your effort and energy into the things that better you as a human being. Freeing your mind from degrading and deconstructive thoughts is only accomplished through practice. Repetition of healthy mindful habits, in whatever constructive form that applies to you, prevents those negative thoughts from impacting the balance of your life, keep that in mind the next day you’re feeling down and feel as if the world is against you. A reminder: life is what you make it, so you might as well make the most of it; we’re only here for so long.