Weapons

Afflictions: 

  • Good perseverance, poor self discipline
  • Over conscientious (what I’ve been told to say in an interview, to describe my ‘weaknesses’!)
  • Bit (or a lot) of anxiety
  • Over-optimism that invariably leads to a crashing low mood

Current Weapons:

  • Making a conscious effort to get 8  (or at least 7) hours sleep/night, eating 3 proper meals a day
  • Making a conscious decision to “put fun in wherever I can”, especially when I feel anxiety rising
  • Generally trying ‘not to upset the apple cart’ (to use Enise’s words)

Rusty Weapons:

  • Sertraline: various doses: 25-150mg/day, on-off since 2003 til early 2011
  • Diazepam: 2mg PRN (now a ‘rusty weapon’ as I haven’t needed it since middle of June! Had been needing it once or twice a week, more around deadlines)
  • Mirtazapine: 15mg/day, March-October 2011
  • Omega-3 fish oils: started taking these while tapering off Mirtazapine and for a few months after. Not sure they helped much. Only noticeable effect was their cost on my purse. 
  • Guided Self-Help: 1hr/every few weeks with Stress Guy (SG), an NHS support person who came to my university
  • Talking Therapy: 10 1hr/week sessions (more or less) with Celine, an NHS CBTherapist who came to my university.
  • University Mental Health Advisor: a meeting with Enise every now and again (every few months) during my final year at uni
  • cCBT: ‘Living Life to the Full’ website and following the Small Book course. A poor stand in for face to face therapy, but better than nothing after graduating from uni and hence leaving that town/therapists.

Undercurrent:

Art  – The type varies according to my whims of the season. Lots of sketching, at one stage it was botanical illustration. Then knitting. Now I’m obsessed with doodling! Anything that helps slow me down and I can focus on fine detail which actually produces something at the end. Helps especially when I’m getting really frustrated.

Walking, photography – though this only helps before I’m wound up!

Running – Doing something that requires little thinking (at least I always manage to put one foot in front of the other) gives me sense of achievement and something positive to do when other things aren’t going well. Not recommended when already sleep deprived or on not much food.

NOT yoga (tried. failed. miserably)

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