We've all had our own versions of a "bad day". Maybe you woke up with a cold or realized last minute that a paper was due last night. Some people start off a bad day with an empty coffee tin, others are so busy that the bad day doesn't hit them until midnight.
I want to tell you about what a bad day looks like in my world. My bad days have nothing to do with coffee or a flu or an assignment. It's just part of my depression. Even with me, bad days can really vary: I don't want to get out of bed, I just feel "off", I want to hide in a corner and not come out, I want to cut again. I'm getting good at battling the bad days, but a few years ago, these bad days would have destroyed me. The funny part of this is that the bad days I experience now are exactly the same as the ones I used to have. The desire to cut or to hide and never come out is always there somewhere, and they get stronger on bad days; the difference is now I can cope with it. Not on my own, of course, but that's okay. I don't mind needing some help now and then...more than now and then. Everyone has a different way of dealing with a bad day. Some people go back to sleep or skip work/school or go buy expensive coffee and push through it. I used to push through it (without coffee...coffee is gross), until I shoved everything so far away that when it came back, I was stuck under this massive pile of "bad" and couldn't get out. I still push things aside, but I'm better at chipping away at it and managing it instead of letting the pile get out of control. A lot of the therapy I took was focused around coping - during, before, and after a "bad" moment. Even after all the therapy, I don't use all the skills because they don't all work for me. I do, however, have some favourites:
Bad days suck. They're frustrating even when they haven't happened yet. Sometimes you get stuck with it (like getting a cold), but sometimes you can get yourself through it with a little help. I have all these skills, and I still need a reminder now and then to keep trying them, especially on a bad day. So maybe, the next time you have a bad day, give these a try. There are a lot more out there, and you can learn more about Dialectical Behavioural Therapy if you want to (I learned all these skills in a DBT group). I hope this helps with your next bad day. It helps with mine.
2 Comments
Sara
3/22/2016 08:53:55 pm
Really helpful to have all of this good info in one place.
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AuthorA volunteer. A dancer. A teacher. An observer. Archives
November 2016
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