Sunday, 12 July 2020

Feeling Low


With all that's been going in these past few months (the coronavirus and lockdown/quarantine, and then the murder of George Floyd and all the racial tension and unrest), I've been feeling quite low lately. I'd imagine that many people are feeling the same, so I thought I'd write a post about feeling low and how we can start to pick ourselves back up.

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, so if you're having mental/physical issues please seek medical help in addition to reading this. :)

I have written before about having depression and anxiety, and last autumn I went through a period where I was struggling. I did start to feel a bit better but then the end of the year was quite hard for me personally, and then of course in early 2020 the coronavirus spread and lockdown happened. I wasn't able to get to places and do things that I usually did, since everything shut down and we were all told to stay home. And then with recent events I've been feeling more unsettled. I wrote about my thoughts on the year so far in my Mid-2020 Reflections post. You can read that here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2020/06/mid-2020-reflections.html
So the first half of 2020 has been hard for pretty much all of us, and some people may have been going through a hard time before. I've learnt over time that feeling low is a natural part of life sometimes (especially when something like this pandemic happens!), and it's important to accept our emotions, and not beat ourselves up for feeling down. And as Anika of Chapters of May says in her post about opening up, it's important to share how we feel with others in our lives (in the best way you feel comfortable). :)

In 2017 I started a series of posts called Feeling Your Emotions You can see the intro post here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2017/11/feeling-your-emotions-introduction.html


In May I wrote a stand-alone post called Feeling Lonely which looked at loneliness. While neither that one nor this one is part of the Feeling Your Emotions series, they are related to it, so feel free to read those posts as well if you'd like to. I will provide a link to all the FYE posts at the bottom of this one. :)


What does it mean to feel low?

Feeling "low" can mean feeling sad, depressed, down, having a low mood etc. Feeling like this occasionally is a normal, natural part of everybody's life. We all go through low points at some time. However, it becomes a problem when it's prolonged or happens more frequently. Please note that this post is not dealing with depression specifically. For posts addressing depression in particular visit these links:



Important note: As per the disclaimer, if you have clinical depression/are suffering serious depressive episodes, please seek help from a medical professional. My posts are not a substitute for medical advice.

Here are a couple of useful articles from the NHS about low mood:




Why might you feel low?

You may feel low for many reasons including situations in your personal or work life, losing a family member, relative or pet, or events in the outside world, such as the current events mentioned above. You may also be suffering from trauma or experiencing discrimination.

The lockdown has left many people feeling low and there has been concern that many people will be affected long-term. Some people who didn't previously have mental health issues have been feeling anxious and depressed during this time, and others may have been finding themselves feeling generally low.

If you feel down for a longer period of time- the NHS says a low mood that lasts 2 weeks or more-  it may be depression. In that case the best thing to would be to see a doctor/healthcare professional. You can read more here: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/clinical-depression/

This post isn't covering grief, so if you are grieving right now you may want to have a look at the 1st Sadness and Depression post, which has a section called Grief and contains some links that will hopefully help: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2018/07/feeling-your-emotions-sadness-and.html

You can take an NHS mood self-assessment here (UK based): https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/mood-self-assessment/



Advice/help for feeling low


Here are some links with advice and help for feeling better. Some of these posts and videos reference the Law of Attraction (LOA). For a basic background on LOA check out this post: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2013/08/law-of-attraction.html

You may go through periods of feeling despair. This video and post from Diana of The Chic Life has some good tips for moving past that feeling: https://thechiclife.com/2020/03/how-to-get-out-of-despair-5-high-vibe-steps-to-get-out-of-negative-energy-and-feeling-hopeful.html

I also really like Diana's High Vibe Support Guide for Turbulent Times: https://thechiclife.com/2020/03/high-vibe-turbulent-times-support-guide.html

This is a useful post about surviving bad mental health days: https://sarastrives.com/surviving-bad-mental-health-days/

Tips for when you're feeling low: https://taniajoy.me/2020/06/10/2020-6-10-my-top-tips-when-im-feeling-low/ (Formerly Joy Felicity Jane)

Lauren Victoria shares things that have helped her mental health recently: https://www.itslaurenvictoria.co.uk/things-that-have-helped-my-mental-health-recently/

Video from Leeor Alexandra about coming home to yourself and getting back to a positive mental state: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2-TUitNdVY

Here's a post and video from Jasmine Lipska about mindset shifts you can make to feel more positive: https://jasminelipska.com/2019/04/23/how-to-actually-be-positive-change-your-life-8-easy-mindset-shifts/

Update 16/12/21: The above blog post is now gone, but still find the video on Jasmine's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARchltUSbE0&t=3s


Post and video from I Heart LOA about keeping a positive mindset despite what's going on around you:


My FYE- Happiness posts:




And now a couple of videos on raising your vibration aka feeling better:

5 Ways to Raise Your Vibration from Dominique of Brown and Bendy): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUhDV2-pX0E

6 NEW Habits to Raise Your Vibration (Leeor Alexandra): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHP2BZ3ApF4


Gratitude

Gratitude can be helpful, although it can be hard to reach for feelings of gratitude when you're feeling down. I've found it helps me sometimes but I probably don't do it regularly enough. I have a gratitude journal and also a monthly gratitude list here on the blog. You can find all posts here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/search/label/Gratitude%20List

I previously mentioned gratitude in these posts:




And here are a few more links on the subject:

Another I Heart LOA post on how practising gratitude can change your life: https://iheartloa.com/practicing-gratitude-change-your-life/


Post from Michelle of Daisy Butter about documenting gratitude: https://daisybutter.com/2020/02/documenting-gratitude-how-it-has-transformed-my-life-outlook/

Post about starting a gratitude practice: https://www.carlytheprepster.com/a-gratitude-practice.html


Update 24/7/20: I just came across the blog with risa through a DaisyButter post and found this post about how to cope in a heavy world. It has good advice so I thought I'd add it here: http://www.withrisa.com/2020/06/how-to-cope-in-heavy-heavy-world.html


I hope that was useful and that at least one of these links can help you. :) It's been a difficult time lately and for those us already struggling, it's been extra hard. If you're going through a hard time, I hope things get better soon. :) I'm planning to do a post about resources such as books, blogs and videos that I find useful in future.

If you have any tips about things that help you when you're feeling low, please share. Here are a few more links with extra help:

Help if you're feeling severely depressed and/or suicidal: http://lostallhope.com/links





Photo: Buckingham Park, Shoreham-by-sea. Taken in 2019 by Moonsparkle.
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