Tag Archives: mental health awareness week

Mental Health Awareness Letters – 31st May 2018

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As May is Mental Health Awareness Month, I had an idea to write a letter each day to a person, or group of people that have had an impact on my own personal health. The first portion of the month has been delayed, however I hope that I will catch up and there will be a daily post. Thank You for taking the time to read these and I appreciate any comments or support you can provide on each post.

Please remember that if you are struggling with your health, both physical or mental, there may be some triggers in these letters-please seek support if you find these letters trigger any distress. Look after yourself!!

Letter 31 – The Final Note

I finally beat the writer’s block and finished the task I set myself for this month, this post is being updated late but during this month of letter writing I have had several likes, comments and new followers and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

I planned to write a really long and well-written post for my last post but I am keeping it short and sweet.

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Please remember to check out the Get help and support page for links to services that can help ( please let me know if there are services I can add to the page as it is under construction).

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Mental Health Awareness Letters – 30th May 2018

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As May is Mental Health Awareness Month, I had an idea to write a letter each day to a person, or group of people that have had an impact on my own personal health. The first portion of the month has been delayed, however I hope that I will catch up and there will be a daily post. Thank You for taking the time to read these and I appreciate any comments or support you can provide on each post.

Please remember that if you are struggling with your health, both physical or mental, there may be some triggers in these letters-please seek support if you find these letters trigger any distress. Look after yourself!!

Letter 30 – To MIND

Mind has really helped me over the last few months and I am so glad they are there. I have used their InfoLine, Legal Line and have some email addresses and telephone numbers for support.

There is also the chance to get involved, volunteer and fundraise.

Visit https://www.mind.org.uk/ for help and support if you are struggling with your mental health or supporting someone else.

You will also see my face in the Stories section;

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There is also the online support community Elefriends (seriously, give them a visit)

Mind really do not give up until they are able to help you, unlike several other services that say they do not give up or judge, but actually do.

Thank You Mind, for being there, helping me and allowing me the chance to speak up.

 

Mental Health Awareness Letters – 29th May 2018

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As May is Mental Health Awareness Month, I had an idea to write a letter each day to a person, or group of people that have had an impact on my own personal health. The first portion of the month has been delayed, however I hope that I will catch up and there will be a daily post. Thank You for taking the time to read these and I appreciate any comments or support you can provide on each post.

Please remember that if you are struggling with your health, both physical or mental, there may be some triggers in these letters-please seek support if you find these letters trigger any distress. Look after yourself!!

Letter 29 – To my next challenge.

I have decided that I need to sit down and make a new bucket list, I have always had lists here and there of my goals but I have decided to sit down and write it down properly – to visualise the goals.

What I have also decided to do is create a ‘Mental Health & Self Care’ bucket list along with my A-Z Book challenge.

The A-Z bucket list involves me reading a book that starts with each letter of the alphabet.

The bucket list and mental health & self-care bucket lists will be 100 goals each to help me reach goals in life.

What a good idea (if I do say so myself) Let me know if you are doing a similar thing, what is on your bucket lists?

Mental Health Awareness Letters – 28th May 2018

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As May is Mental Health Awareness Month, I had an idea to write a letter each day to a person, or group of people that have had an impact on my own personal health. The first portion of the month has been delayed, however I hope that I will catch up and there will be a daily post. Thank You for taking the time to read these and I appreciate any comments or support you can provide on each post.

Please remember that if you are struggling with your health, both physical or mental, there may be some triggers in these letters-please seek support if you find these letters trigger any distress. Look after yourself!!

Letter 28 – Tattoos

My tattoos have helped me in my life and recovery. I have 14 (I think) although a few of them are being merged into a half sleeve. Once it is completed I will share full images.

If you have a tattoo you know they are addictive and as soon as one tattoo is done, the itch to get the next starts. For me, my tattoos help me put my feelings into art and to me they are a way of self-harming that is creative, as opposed to being harmful.

People judge me for having tattoos, but at the end of the day they would judge me for something else – why not let it be judgement for something I love??

My tattoos represent life, death, memory, surviving terrorism, travel, experiences, scouting and my life.

If my tattoos could talk they could tell stories!!

 

Mental Health Awareness Letters – 27th May 2018

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As May is Mental Health Awareness Month, I had an idea to write a letter each day to a person, or group of people that have had an impact on my own personal health. The first portion of the month has been delayed, however I hope that I will catch up and there will be a daily post. Thank You for taking the time to read these and I appreciate any comments or support you can provide on each post.

Please remember that if you are struggling with your health, both physical or mental, there may be some triggers in these letters-please seek support if you find these letters trigger any distress. Look after yourself!!

Letter 27 – To those stupid numbers!! (I have no idea if the % in the featured image is right but I needed a fact so there you go – this is a huge step for me as it is an odd number!!)

I hate odd numbers!! You may know this about me or you may not!!

I started counting things when I was in my teens and had anorexia, at one point I counted rice grains!! It was that extreme and really hard to live with – especially when it was hidden from others, my best friend noticed I was thinner and some of the girls in school said I looked good when getting changed for P.E at school (I had gone from about 10 stone to 8 stone at this point in a couple of weeks). I almost got caught out once at school when I spent the lunch in a teacher’s office and she asked what I had for lunch and I said nothing, she left me some of her fruit and said I had to eat something, I think I ate an apple but I left the rest for her as I felt so bad.

I like things to be even and it really gets to me if things aren’t even, my car volume and TV volumes are the easiest things to control and I feel a fire burn inside when I do not have things in even numbers- I mean if there are odd numbers I have learnt to adjust,  I can cut them equally so 3 items would turn into 6 halves – but I do freak out if they aren’t all the same size.

Talk about frustration!

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Mental Health Awareness Letters – 20th May 2018

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As May is Mental Health Awareness Month, I had an idea to write a letter each day to a person, or group of people that have had an impact on my own personal health. The first portion of the month has been delayed, however I hope that I will catch up and there will be a daily post. Thank You for taking the time to read these and I appreciate any comments or support you can provide on each post.

Please remember that if you are struggling with your health, both physical or mental, there may be some triggers in these letters-please seek support if you find these letters trigger any distress. Look after yourself!!

Letter 20 – I am Sorry,

Today I really am feeling sorry for myself.

I should have been in Manchester today. I should be running and remembering those lost last year in Manchester.

But I am not!! And I feel so bad.

I was unwell and sent to hospital, then got sent home in the early hours of the morning to come back for emergency scans and tests, there was no way my body would have held up on the run, but I am determined to run the race – SimplyHealth will not let me defer even with the hospital note so I have to wait until I can put some money aside and wait for 2019 entry and re-enter.

I will get there.

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Mental Health Awareness Letters – 23rd May 2018

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As May is Mental Health Awareness Month, I had an idea to write a letter each day to a person, or group of people that have had an impact on my own personal health. The first portion of the month has been delayed, however I hope that I will catch up and there will be a daily post. Thank You for taking the time to read these and I appreciate any comments or support you can provide on each post.

Please remember that if you are struggling with your health, both physical or mental, there may be some triggers in these letters-please seek support if you find these letters trigger any distress. Look after yourself!!

Letter 23 – To my Family,

Family means a lot to me, I think it is down to losing so many people and having control taken away from me for so many years of my life.

But everybody moves on, I use to be the one who would drive for miles to visit people, but I have got to the point where I don’t want to be the one that always drives, always goes out of my way and fills the tank up to visit people that wouldn’t do the same for me. Since buying our house in January I have had 3 visits from people, 2 of those visits where from my brother. I appreciate people are busy but when you pass the house or go to an event by my home and then say it is too far it really does upset me. What also hurts is the ignoring and not publicising the fact that your near, but guess what?? I always find out!!

I am sorry if this upsets you, but I do not see anyone anymore, some days I look at how much fun my family are having without me I wish I was not here, this is the truth. In all honesty I often find myself (especially lately) thinking it would not matter to a single one of you if I was not here.

But of course you don’t care, after all it is only me!! But I bet if something did happen to me you would all be crying at my funeral – and for what??

Mental Health Awareness Letters – 22nd May 2018

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As May is Mental Health Awareness Month, I had an idea to write a letter each day to a person, or group of people that have had an impact on my own personal health. The first portion of the month has been delayed, however I hope that I will catch up and there will be a daily post. Thank You for taking the time to read these and I appreciate any comments or support you can provide on each post.

Please remember that if you are struggling with your health, both physical or mental, there may be some triggers in these letters-please seek support if you find these letters trigger any distress. Look after yourself!!

Letter 22 

This letter isn’t really written to anyone, to be honest I am having a bit of writer’s block. Only 9 More #MentalHealthAwarnessMonth posts to go!! (That went quick)

What have you been doing this month for Mental Health Awareness?

If you haven’t done anything then don’t worry, you don’t have to!!

Take Care of Yourself xxxx

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Mental Health Awareness Letters – 21st May 2018

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As May is Mental Health Awareness Month, I had an idea to write a letter each day to a person, or group of people that have had an impact on my own personal health. The first portion of the month has been delayed, however I hope that I will catch up and there will be a daily post. Thank You for taking the time to read these and I appreciate any comments or support you can provide on each post.

Please remember that if you are struggling with your health, both physical or mental, there may be some triggers in these letters-please seek support if you find these letters trigger any distress. Look after yourself!!

Letter 21 –  Not everyone that has been abused has experienced physical abuse.

There are several forms of abuse, all of which are damaging.

I have never classed myself as an ‘abuse survivor’ because I always thought that what I went through is nowhere near as bad as many others and their stories. However, on the other hand my experiences have been damaging to me in their own right.

Those that have been abused, especially during childhood are far more likely to experience mental illness in their adulthood and often throughout childhood. The abuse may have been physical, sexual, emotional, neglect, verbal or psychological – each type can be identified in different ways, however people can experience more than one ‘category’ of abuse and symptoms can overlap. But abuse is not always obvious and I bet you have seen, walked past or sat by someone this week that is being abused/has been abused and you had no idea!! It can be easy to hide.

Support is crucial , sometimes you do not know what to say to someone when you find out they have been abused, but it is important not to treat a person differently, perhaps be more understanding and allow more time to process information (and of course be careful what you say). But you just need to be there.

Be Considerate

 

 

 

Mental Health Awareness Letters – 18th May 2018

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As May is Mental Health Awareness Month, I had an idea to write a letter each day to a person, or group of people that have had an impact on my own personal health. The first portion of the month has been delayed, however I hope that I will catch up and there will be a daily post. Thank You for taking the time to read these and I appreciate any comments or support you can provide on each post.

Please remember that if you are struggling with your health, both physical or mental, there may be some triggers in these letters-please seek support if you find these letters trigger any distress. Look after yourself!!

Letter 18 – Dear Insomnia,

Sometimes insomnia can be useful, for example when rushing a final assignment for Uni because you realise you have not finished it – so choose to stay up for 2 days and nights straight to get it finished, because you cannot sleep anyway!!

But overall I Hate you insomnia!!

I use Netflix to fall asleep too, or that is the plan, often enough I keep watching until I realise it is 6am and my wife will be up for work soon-many times I have stayed up until she has gone to work and then my body is so tired I eventually fall asleep (until the postman/woman knocks like they are trying to break in or I get non-stop calls from work, sales calls or random stuff.)

You can tell when I really cannot get to sleep as I will update this site or start writing, for example, I am proofreading, tagging and adding images to my Mental Health Awareness Letter that should all be uploaded by now but aren’t.

I was given “advice” from one of the GP’s at my surgery a few weeks ago, which made me feel like a child because I was told about how my “sleep hygiene” needs work.

  • No Tea/Coffee (I don’t drink them anyway)
  • Get up in the mornings, even if I have had no sleep what so ever (easier said than done if I am having a pain flare-up).
  • No napping.
  • Tire myself out in the day, exercise, walks housework (I do what I can, quite often some activity that would usually make me tired like everyone else will knock me for days with sore joints and extreme tiredness, I do what I can)
  • Relaxing bedtime routine.

Well did I feel like a child!! I do the best that I can and have suffered from insomnia since I was in my early teens, if not before. I get very tired lately but have always been able to cope with limited sleep. Maybe it is creeping up on me.

If you have any (sensible) advice I would be grateful, but I will not be buying any miracle cures, tablets or vitamins mainly because I cannot afford these and also most of the time they don’t work.