Healthy, unhealthy

I’ve just done this stress training thing. Sounds great! EAT THESE BEES

Okay maybe it’s more like how to spot stress and help yourself and other people sort it out, cos it can be related to a bunch of … you know. So the first bit we had to do was note down all the things that give you energy – that recharge you. Easy. Walking with deer, looking at sea lions, cooking intricate pastries while listening to Belgian jazz, you know the sort of stuff.

Then it’s like here’s a picture of a funnel, write all the things in the funnel that are weighing on you right now. And because I’m in that sweet-spot of life where I have dependents young and old and in various situations – I started noting down all the things weighing on me and DAMN. I needed a bigger funnel. Like I literally had to alter the diagram so it included more space I could note things (in tiny writing).

Anyway, it helped me go … ah-hah. Maybe I need to give myself a break ~ I’m reminded of this obvious advice regularly, and I also forget it regularly, so … you know. Perhaps I can be even kinder to people who fall apart, because the reality is, our lives are … they’re a lot, sometimes, right?

So that’s it, an exercise to recommend. If you’re feeling pants, maybe note down 20 things that give you energy, and then embark upon writing the big brain stuff that’s weighing on you, calling for attention, give it a real think. And then look back at the list of things that give you energy and do some planning, I guess. That’s what I’m going to do more of.

One of the interesting things that came out of it, was we have coping strategies to get through all this stuff – and sometimes they’re healthy (go on a walk, listen to a Lynyrd Skynyrd album while eating a tiramisu etc), but sometimes they’re unhealthy (masturbate fifteen times in a row, drink eighteen litres of alcopops etc).

The issue with the unhealthy coping mechanisms is not the shame – that’s just the cherry that we tend to add on the top ourselves; the issue is it doesn’t actually let the pressure off our poor little minds, and just adds to the stress, and gets into a bit of a spiral where we feel like shit but don’t look after ourselves to get on the mend.

Anyway I thought it was interesting.

MHFA England have done this these graphics on this page, I thought they were good.

And I’ve been doing a little work on Lithium, and a little random concept creation and writing, and render tests. Which has also got me thinking. About bottoms.

Ahhhhhh, bottoms. And that’s just a quick render test! Hooray!