How are you making mental health progress?

There's a lot of threads and stuff around the forum for support when mental health is going wrong, but I and I think a few other people have felt that we don't want to interrupt threads like that with positive notes when things are going well. So, I made this thread to function somewhat like the 'what made you happy recently?' thread, but with mental health progress! If you've managed to kick any part of your mental health down, or just managed it better than usual today, feel free to express it here!

To start off, I've been getting better at turning my depressive guilt about procrastination into action instead of a guilt spiral recently! It's been helping me get a lot more work done, even though it's usually work done in the late evening instead of a more prompt time. Still, I'm starting to find more and more ways to work around my avoidance urge and it's really helping me out!

Tell me how you're progressing! (and of course, if you're not progressing, don't feel bad about it :P don't have to progress all the time!)

 

I've been getting a lot better about meditating and it's really helping me stay positive! My current main goals are 1. get a 7 day streak (I got THIS CLOSE but forgot to on Saturday) and 2. no longer have "anxious" in my list of "most frequent emotions before meditating" on Stop Breathe and Think...

 

I'm getting better at stepping back from my extreme emotions and looking at the facts and thinking rationally about something. It doesn't always work because of uncertainty, but it's getting easier to tell myself not to jump to conclusions just because i dont have all the facts

 

I love positive stories, especially on 'Blue Monday'. Congrats to everyone, and that all of you and everyone who posts after me in this thread too may make all the progress they want this year! :D

Gettting work done is getting work done, and is an awesome first step! :D

 

I!! Finished!! Doing Work!! Before 9 PM!!!
(i technically didnt do all the work i planned to do today; but my psych said rn i should be satisfied if i manage 2/3 of the work i plan for myself since i tend to over-schedule the moment i have spoons, and i have done 2/3 of my things for today!)

 

I got private health insurance so I'd be able to go to a non-hellhole hospital for my extensive trauma junk.

 

I managed to actually get some fucking laundry done! Please note that a lot of my laundry had been in the hamper for literal months, so...this is somethin'.

I've also gotten a lot better at stepping back from situations where I know I'll get upset...I still struggle there, of course, but I'm getting better at it!

 

i've actually made progress on a whole bunch of mental health things in the last few days!

• did some work untangling the workings of the Screaming Void Hole of Defensive Self-Loathing i dance around the lip of every time i think about being creative or doing things i like

• made some progress on identifying what selfcare needs i need to take care of at a given moment, whether it feels like it or not and whether my brain tries to avoid it or not

• made some progress on figuring out the quirks and catches of my executive dysfunction

• did a ton of cleaning today!!

 

I am something like progress! (It counts if the decade overall has even a net +1 progress on the climb-the-hill-fall-down-the-hill cycle, right?)

* successfully managing to navigate both ignoring people detrimental to my mental health while staying engaged in communities and conversations I want to be a part of (something I've struggled with both online and IRL, something I've achieved both online and IRL this weekend!)

* had an actually productive conversation with a previously-abusive ex who is currently owning her shit, getting therapy and meds, and made a sincere apology I actually kind of believe. we are capable of being friendly instead of just tensely orbiting each other, which is taking pressure off our whole social group.

 

i did four whole thing today, which is more than the one or two whole thing i was managing before christmas

my mood is also up generally speaking. i'm starting to recognize feelings and thoughts are actually not the same?

 

OH ALSO THIS WEEKEND

* successfully got not just into but out of the screaming spiral of We Are Both Triggered And Ruining Everything with my wife by the power of 1) hugs, 2) stimming, and 3) stubbornly refusing to let everything be ruined. Don't know if that particular tactic will be repeatable but I am excited to try again.

 

Today I shoveled snow and didn't get too freaked out that there were people next door working on their car, while I was doing it.
Screw you social anxiety! I did a physical thing in the proximity of other people!

 

I.....haven't actively made a plan to kill myself in a few months?
idk I haven't got much here I hope that counts

 

that totally counts.

 

:D
yay!

 

I sorta fell down the depression oh-gods-prepare-for-everything hole in the wake of the election and lost like... two months. And didn't realize that that's what was happening until like... a week ago. Because I am the most observant when in the "i am under siege!" headspace. It is me. :')

But! The good part of all of this is that now I am making a conscious effort to reach out to friends in meatspace and online, and am working on pounding in by sheer repetition if need be that I can *talk about shit that is bothering me* and that is absolutely not evidence that I am trying to make people feel sorry for me so I can manipulate them or so I can make someone look bad. Like... people talk about stuff that bothers them without an agenda, and that is a thing that I, Real Human Unit 2Z-whatever, can do too, and that it's not whining or projecting or going to make people look down on me for not handling everything myself.

Crazy shit, huh? :/

 

This is physical health progress actually, but it's definitely having a positive impact on my mental state, so:
It truly was low blood sugar that was making me do so shitty in Muay Thai class! Not that my body is a failure, or that I'm weak and incapable! I just wasn't eating right! And it's because my definitions of eating right were basically "snacks should be fruits, yogurt and granola bars", but no, what I needed in order to kick ass in Muay Thai was carbs and candy! Dude! Is... is this why I was so shitty in gym class at school too? Shut, of course it was, I used to go without having had breakfast! How did nobody ever TELL me this??

 

Today I started doing my homework like, pretty much when I wanted start it (after I felt rested and spoon-regained from class) and took a break and successfully started doing it again after the break without procrastinating- now i'm nearly done with the main thing i need to get done today, and will probably be done with it well before 8 pm, the time i'd been starting work the past several days!!!
I just. I actually feel good right now, like i'm not ashamed of the work i'm going to turn in tomorrow, even for this really tough teacher, i'm excited to hear his critique for once. it's amazing to just. do my homework and feel good. i'm so much more relaxed than i ever was last term despite the probably literally doubled workload

 

I was this close to not saying anything because "this doesn't count it's too little and besides it's more of a relationship thing not a mental health thing" but here goes.

I talked to my dad about stuff I had kept hidden from him (my sexuality, what I did in this group, etc) and that's been a step forward in trying to get my independence and getting better. And that might mean that I'm a step closer to really getting the treatment I need.

 

Have done something productive every day this week except Tuesday, which was FF14 Patch Day and therefore I am excused. Trying to keep up with it is kind of measuring where my spoons are at right now, because I have a bad Spoons Binging habit where I do one day of Furious Activity and then go flat for three or four days.

On the abuse end of things it's still kind of in the processing zone. Loosened a few knots lately and have been taking a step back from my non-kintsugi social group. I think one of the worst things for me to handle right now is that I don't know anyone else who had the paranoid childhood I had; we have a good variety of abuse here and I have other survivor friends, but I don't really have anyone to talk about the paranoia shit with and that makes it Hard.