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I will preface this post by saying: I am not a mental health professional. These are the tools I personally use to manage my mental health. If you are struggling, please seek professional help.
Sometimes when you’re stressed and overwhelmed, it’s hard to know how to cope in the heat of the moment. Your logical thinking is clouded and you’re emotionally drained. You don’t know what to do, but you just know you need help. This is why I created “wellness toolkits” for myself.
I like to think of a wellness toolkit as a menu of actions items that I can reach for at times when I’m feeling out of control. With the help of my professional therapist, I’ve created lists of tools that will personally help me when I need it.
I’d like to share them with you in case you find them useful. If nothing else, I hope it inspires you to create your own personal wellness toolkits, for whatever reason you may need them.
Anxiety
My baseline anxiety has always been higher than average. It’s normal to feel anxious from time to time, but I personally have faulty wiring that causes me to experience moments of anxious spiral. Tabs open rapidly in my brain like a computer virus attack, and I travel down the all too familiar worst-case scenario road.
There have been times when my anxious spirals have caused me to feel extreme fear. It manifests in my body as an elevated heartrate, uneasiness in my stomach, sweating, and irrational behavior. The part of my brain in charge of logical thinking shuts down and I enter fight-flight-or-freeze mode. In the simplest terms, I am no longer here and my anxiety has taken over.
In order to bring me back to reality and to help myself feel safe again, I came up with the following action items in my toolkit. The overarching goal is to elicit calm in my body and to become grounded in the present moment.
Depression
I also tend to struggle with depression symptoms. Anxiety and depression commonly occur together. According to NAMI, “estimates show that 60% of those with anxiety will also have symptoms of depression.”1 Not to put it lightly, but I like to think of it as a mixer in my mental health cocktail (along with a splash of my OCD).
My depression symptoms typically set in during the week leading up to my menstrual cycle. It manifests itself as extreme fatigue, lack of motivation for daily activities, and general sadness. In simple terms, all I want to do is curl up under a blanket in the corner of the couch and stay there.
Depression is different than just feeling sad. It takes over your whole being, and it feels like you can’t crawl out of a dark hole. In order to alleviate the symptoms of hopelessness, these are the tools I came up with for my toolkit. Simple action items could be basic hygiene and self-care like brush your teeth, take a shower, or get dressed. Nothing overly ambitious but things that can sometimes feel challenging when you’re feeling depressed.
Panic
I’ve only had a handful of panic attacks in my life, but when they happen, they are debilitating. Panic feels different than anxiety the same way migraines feel different than headaches. It is more severe. Panic attacks are distinct, and scary, and you feel like you are out of body in a sense.
To describe it, my panic attacks have felt like my heart is pounding so hard that I am experiencing a heart attack, or I feel lightheaded and dizzy and forget where I am.
One time I felt lost driving down a familiar street in our neighborhood and panicked that I didn’t know how to make it home. Another time I was walking to the train station and felt that I was having a heart attack on the street and panicked that nobody would find me. In the simplest terms, it is a terrifying feeling. Something happens in the brain that shuts off rational thinking and activates fear.
My panic toolkit is designed to help bring me back to the present and to ground my mind/body using my senses. Slow, deep breathing is meant to activate the parasympathetic nervous system to calm me down…to remind me that I am safe in this moment.
Luckily, panic attacks don’t happen often for me, but I have a set of tools to help me in case it happens unexpectedly.
Create Your Own Toolkits
I hope these toolkits provide value for you. I am not a professional, just someone who manages anxiety, depression and OCD in my daily life.
As humans, we all experience stress and overwhelm to varying degrees. I hope this encourages you to create wellness toolkits of your own. Tailor them to your own personal experience. Design them when you’re feeling well, so you have them in your back pocket for times when you need to reach for help.
What would make you feel good in the moment? Curate a list and refer back to them when knowing what you need feels hard.
My Favorites
I’m currently reading The Guest List.
Using this kale detox cleanser in the shower and my face feels refreshed.
Iced chai lattes with almond milk feel so festive. I like the slightly sweet version.
Enjoying Olive & June’s fall polish collection. Currently wearing Cozy Up.
Listening to this episode of The Tortoise.
Fall days call for cinnamon rolls…Yum!
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Thank you for your kind support.
- Diana xo
I really like using the senses to get back. Brains are so interesting.
Great explanations and tips! Thank you for sharing! 🤍