Sometimes it can be difficult to know exactly where your headspace is at when you’ve been dealing with mental health issues for a long time. Eventually, you begin to become numb to a lot of the symptoms and it ends up harder and harder to know if you’re actually having a good day or not, or even to just pinpoint what’s actually doing the damage to you in the first place.
When I’ve struggled with this in the past, the first thing I check is what direction my daydreams are heading in.
And I know, that probably sounds a bit strange. But seriously, your daydreams (or more specifically, what you daydream about) can tell you a lot about your subconscious state!
If you tend to dream about far-off things like dragons and castles or storylines way removed from reality, you’re probably untethered because something in your everyday life is stressing you out. It’s most likely either a habit or a repetitive event that you feel trapped by and crave escape from. In this case, it’s good to figure out what that thing is so you can better manage it or, in some cases, weed it out entirely.
If you tend to have in-depth dreams about a perfect future where all the things you wish for are a reality, you’re probably anxious about what your real future will hold for you. Something about the direction you’re currently heading in is making you worried, for whatever reason, and it might benefit you to stop and observe your current life to find out what exactly is making you so nervous. Once you find it, a good exercise would be to think of what the absolute worst-case scenario might be, then brainstorm the absolute best-case scenario in turn. By finding these two unrealistic polar ends of “best” versus “worst” outcomes, it’ll be easier for you to become centered on a more realistic playthrough of what’s most likely to actually occur, therefore lessening some of that anxiety.
If you tend to romanticize a place, person, or time in your life that has already passed, there’s probably something about that thing that you are craving in your current life. It might do you some good to think about what exactly you miss about it and in what ways that something is absent from your present. Then you’ll know what categories of your life probably need more attention paid to them so you feel more comfortable.
Daydreams and a drifting conscious aren’t always bad things. They can aid you in being more creative, thinking outside the box, and other forms of problem-solving. However when you find yourself in that dreaming state more often than not, it could be beneficial to understand where those dreams are coming from since daydreaming is, in essence, a coping mechanism that distances you from what is currently harming or negatively affecting your current life.
Even if it’s difficult to uphold at first, the best habit I’ve ever gotten myself into is that while I’m lying in bed at night about to fall asleep, I’ll think of at least one thing that’ll happen the next day, no matter how seemingly small, that I can be excited about.
Even if it’s just “I wonder what’ll happen in the next episode of the show I’m watching??” or “It’s supposed to be a few degrees warmer tomorrow!”
Findsomething that makes you want to get up the next day. Hype yourself up about it the night before, and you’ll be shocked at just how much easier it is to leave your bed the next morning and face the day.
There are still lots of important topics that need to be normalised in society. They don’t get spoken about often enough, and in the end become taboo topic. A conversation to be had under hushed voices, or to not be talked about at all. In my own personal experience, it can be incredibly damaging and has had a massive impact on my overall wellbeing. 01. Periods Periods are one of the most natural…
