Just Surviving Life

👋 Hi! I’m CeCe. I’ve struggled a lot with my mental health, which has sucked, but I’ve also learnt a lot. I hope that this blog helps somebody else. ☀️You are not alone 🌻Things can and will get better

[beebascloset]

Can we make this a therapy tips thread? Like comment/rb with advice you've been given by your therapist or anyone that's helped you!

[cecesurviving]

Trauma is anything that was too big or too little. This means that many different experiences can be traumatic. It’s okay if it was something that you think ‘shouldn’t have upset you so much’. You deserve support and help to process those experiences, regardless.

[cecesurviving]

Managing mental illness is a devilishly tricky balance between respecting your emotions and feelings but still understanding that your brain is lying to you.

[cecesurviving]

Please don’t feel bad for booking an emergency GP appointment for your mental health.

Mental health is health. You deserve help when you need help.

[cecesurviving]

Recovery from mental illness isn’t linear. You can’t judge your recovery trajectory from day to day or even week to week.

Recovery is complex and it takes time. It’s full of so many changes, choices, knowledge, support, little nuggets of wisdom and sometimes medication to balance and discover.

I promise things can and will get better, but it probably won’t happen straight away. It is worth holding on. Let’s fight this shit.

[cecesurviving]

So Sunday is world mental health day and I am angry.

I am angry that even in countries like the UK and Australia that treatment just isn’t available or has a wait list of months or years.

In the UK waiting lists for eating disorder treatment are up to 2 YEARS. 2 fucking years. This isn’t just for individual therapy, this is for group therapy.

Waitlists to see a psychologist are commonly 18 months long.

Personally, I have been on the waitlist for eating disorder treatment since December and was told today that the next stage of the waitlist was usually 6 months long, but due to COVID it is likely going to be much longer.

This isn’t good enough.

My mental illnesses have nearly killed me multiple times this year, but because I have access to private treatment I have survived. If I didn’t have access to private treatment I would be dead.

Mental health care shouldn’t be a privilege, it’s not something that you can go without or hold on for. This is ridiculous. People are dying on these waitlists.

It’s all well and jolly telling people to reach out and ask for help, but it’s soul destroying and devastating when you finally ask for help and it’s just not there.

Do better.

[cecesurviving]

It is bad enough. You deserve help. 💛

[cecesurviving]

It takes a lot to pull yourself out of depression. It completely unfair that a disease that makes everything hard, pointless and impossible requires you to have to put in so much effort into recovering.

But I promise recovery is worth it.

It might take many attempts and lots of help. But you will get there and it will be worth it. I promise.

[cecesurviving]

DBT Distress Tolerance Skill- TIP

I know this stuff might be the last thing you want to do when you are feeling anxious but it really really helps. T is the most helpful for me.

Temperature: (to calm down fast) Try splashing cold water on your face, a cold shower, cold pack on eyes/face and/or holding an ice pack.

Intense exercise: (to calm down body when revved up with emotion) Engage in intense exercise, even if just for a short while. Spend your body’s stored up physical energy by running, walking fast, jumping, dancing or lifting weights.

Paced Breathing: breathe out more slowly than you breathe in.

Paired muscle relaxation (try pairing it breath):

•while breathing into your belly, deeply tense your body muscles.

•notice tension in your body

•while breathing out, say the word ‘relax’ in your mind.

•Notice difference in your mind.

[cecesurviving]

DBT skill- STOP

Stop is a really useful skill to use when you are dealing with urges that come from strong emotions.

Stop: Do not react. Stop! Freeze! Do not move a muscle. Your emotions may try to make you act without thinking.

Take a step back: Step back from the sitch. Take a break. Let go. Take a deep breath. Do not let your feelings let you act impulsively.

Observe: Notice what is going on inside and outside you. What is the sitch? What are your thoughts and feelings? What are others saying or doing?

Proceed mindfully: Act with awareness. I’m deciding what to do, consider your thoughts/feelings, the situation and other peoples thoughts/feelings. Think about your goals. Ask Wise Mind: which actions will make it better or worse?

[cecesurviving]

When it comes to mental health, you have to fight for yourself. No one knows what’s happening inside your head unless you tell them.

Some people can be suicidal, severely depressed, anxious and struggling and manage to hide it from everyone. Something to look into is smiling depression.

You are not faking it or exaggerating. You deserve help. If you are good at hiding your real feelings you might have to ask for more help than you are originally offered.

It is so important to get the right amount of help. Please fight for yourself. Even if that means having to explain how much you are struggling or asking for more than you are offered. You are not exaggerating.

[cecesurviving]

I promise this feeling won’t last.

No matter how dark things seem, you will be happy again.

The weight will lift off you and there will even be times where you’ll feel so light that nothing could ever tie you down.

You’ll smile at strangers because there’s a balloon of hope and love filling up inside your chest.

There are days ahead where you won’t even think about the darkness that used to swallow you.

Your brain is telling you lies. Things can and will get better. Keep holding on.

[cecesurviving]

A reminder that you are not being a tattletale for calling somebody out. If someone is making you uncomfortable or doing something that isn’t okay, speaking up IS the right thing to do. No matter what anybody else says.

You aren’t going to get someone in trouble for something that doesn’t deserve trouble. If someone is doing something they know is wrong, the more they will try to make you feel like a tattletale for saying something.

[cecesurviving]

Please speak up for yourself if you are struggling.

I used to think that I needed somebody else to tell me that I was ‘sick enough’ or that what had happened to me was ‘bad enough’. Waiting to hear that did so much damage to my mental health.

You don’t have to be in crisis to deserve help.

You’re allowed to go to therapy because you’re curious.

You are allowed to go to therapy because you want to talk about your past, even if you’re not sure that you have experienced any trauma.

You are allowed to go to therapy because you want to be more focused.

You are allowed to go to therapy because you worry more than you would like to.

You are allowed to go to therapy because you struggle with self esteem.

You’re allowed to go to therapy if you would like to try therapy.

You’re allowed to go to therapy.

You don’t need a diagnosis.

Please, please, please try and be brave. It can make all the difference.

Love, CeCe 💛

[cecesurviving]

Mental illness can make you feel things more intensely.

Sometimes at work I feel like I am making my mental illnesses up. When it’s stressful or when I get constructive criticism my mind takes everything to extremes. But that’s what mental illness does.

Obviously, it’s important to try and see things in a more balanced way. A small mistake isn’t a catastrophic disaster. But feeling like it is, and struggling with that feeling, doesn’t make you attention seeking or dramatic and it isn’t you making excuses. It’s just an extremely unpleasant extra challenge that you are doing an amazing job navigating.

You are doing amazingly.

Love, CeCe 💛

[thepeacefulgarden]

[cecesurviving]

Being smart doesn’t make you a more worthy person.

We always talk about how weight and appearance doesn’t change your worth. Which is absolutely true and incredibly important. But just like your shape or skin, your ability to get A’s in school or solve puzzles doesn’t change your worth.

You are precious and deserving of respect because you are a person.

You are worthy and deserving of love and respect and no achievements, or lack thereof, will ever change that.

Lots of love, CeCe 💛

[cecesurviving]

Real life family drama

Family drama is often spoken about in such a casual, nonchalant tone. This doesn’t always acknowledge just how painful family conflict can be, or how difficult and complicated it is to navigate family dynamics.

For me, interacting with my family and expressing opinions sometimes feels like a complicated pattern of dominoes. It felt like one wrong move would set off an uncontrollable chain of events. This is even more dangerous in a family like mine, where there was domestic violence.

Families are complex and hard to navigate. Forums such as AITA and comment sections on the internet don’t show you the whole picture. The people responding to the situation don’t have to commit to the consequences of a judgement or action. They often oversimplify situations that have very real and scary consequences.

Be kind to yourselves and know that this is hard. So hard. But you are doing so well.

Lots of love,

CeCe 💛