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How Do You Deal With Spiralling?

This is a question I’m still finding the answers to. Having suffered with my mental health issues for a while now, I have dealt with quite a few situations where I landed up spiralling (for those who don’t know, spiralling is when I land up in a situation or where a series of events lead up to a breaking point where I start spiralling in my thoughts and if I don’t stop the spiral, it leads to suicidal thoughts). Recently I landed up in such a situation where I had gone through a few dark days and then had one day that had a series of events that occurred, which coupled with the nights filled with anxiety dreams (anxiety dreams keep you in fight or flight mode even during your sleep and I tend to wake up shaking and very on edge the next day), pretty much put me at a breaking point to where I never knew what I would do next.

Then I had one more event that occurred where I was trying to do something for myself to put myself in a better space and that didn’t go well either. This lead to the beginning of my spiral. Now over the years I have learnt a few things I can do to help stop the spiralling and get me to a better space, and I immediately started trying them. First up I tried calling my mom, as she is the one person I call whenever I have problems and she normally helps me through either by just being there or being someone I can talk/vent too, unfortunately this time she was unable to help me due to other issues on her end and this added to my spiral. Then I went to my next step which is talking out the problem to myself, although this could generally go either way. Either just talking though the situation to myself can help me work though it or it can literally fuel the fire of my spiral, which in this case it had fuelled the fire.

The next step I have is trying anything to distract my brain from the situation, to give it chance to calm down. I generally will find a song I like, or put on a movie or tv show that’s funny to distract my brain long enough for it to calm down  to the point where I can work through each problem one by one. This was the point that helped me that time as I was able to put on a movie and keep my brain busy enough to distract it.

So these points have helped me through my spirals and as I say I have found them over time. They are:

·       Talk to a loved one/ friends (someone who can help you work through it or just be there)

·       Talk through the problem with yourself (as I say its 50/50 so be cautious)

·       Distract your brain (e.g., watch tv, listen to music, read a book. Anything to keep your brain occupied)

·       If none of this helps, contact a therapist, contact an anxiety or suicide helpline (depending on the severity)

As I say these are my tips that have helped me through a spiral, I hope they can help you through yours too and if you have experienced a spiral, how do you get through one.

If you are not in a great space mentally, please know you are not alone, you are loved and I hope you get in a better space soon.

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Location: XCX9+34 Keurboomstrand, South Africa

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