Your new mantra for getting through depressed days could be right here!
Before we get into your new favorite mantra, let’s check in with ourselves!
Photo via @BlessingManifesting; Check your battery: how are you feeling? Feeling great? Keep meeting your needs and practicing self-care. Feeling good? How can you maintain the levels you’re currently at? Feeling okay? How can you make your day a tiny bit better? Struggling? Practice triage. What area of your life is suffering the most right now? Focus on that one area today. Meh? How can you love on yourself today? Be extra kind to yourself. Feeling empty? Pinpoint what’s draining you and try to create a boundary & then do one thing that fills you up.
With depression and other mental disorders, observing your energy levels is a GREAT way to not only monitor your mental health, but also regain some sense of control over it.
Think of yourself as a battery. At 100%, a battery is at maximum efficiency levels, but a battery can still operate even when it’s not at 100%.
The problem that I at least experience is that I too often overextend myself, and when I don’t manage my energy well, I feel about as useful as a run down battery.
Now, I can still work, be social, and take care of errands even when I feel like I’m on 1%, BUT when I do this, it takes even longer for me to recharge. I’ll be so exhausted, that by the end of the day I somehow feel negative on energy.
Instead of constantly running my battery down to zero, which I still occasionally do (I’m working on it), I try to remember to recharge frequently, even when I feel, say, at 50%.
This also means that I give myself A LOT of pep talks and repeat my mantras throughout the day to remind myself how important my mental health is, and that’s a positive!
Remember, it’s good to cheer yourself on! AND having a mantra can make a motivational phrase even easier to remember in a moment of crisis. This is a great mental health and depression life hack.
So, please enjoy my 15 favorite mantras, and here’s to finding your new favorite mantra! You can do this!
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1. When going through hell, keep going.
Tweet via @JenAshleyWright , People talk about caterpillars becoming butterflies as though they just go into a cocoon, slap on wings, and are good to go. Caterpillars have to dissolve into a disgusting pile of goo to become butterflies. So if you’re a mess wrapped up in blankets right now, keep going.
When you’re going through hell, you need to keep going. You’ve made it so far, and while you may feel like you can’t take even one more step, for all you know, good times could be right around the corner.
So keep going. Crawl or roll if you must. But keep going. You have a whole future of loved ones waiting to meet you, and you will be so thankful you stayed. I believe in you, keep going.
2. Don’t be a viking.
Graphic by ATSO made with Canva
My mom reminds me of this mantra anytime I’m completely running myself into the ground with how much I am trying to do at once. Or on days when I’m really sick or mentally depleted, but am refusing to let myself rest because I want to complete other tasks.
If you don’t need to be a viking, don’t be a viking. Rest, and take care of yourself. You deserve it.
3. Once I get through today, I never have to go through today again.
The best thing about a bad day is that it only lasts for 24 hours graphic by ATSO
On really, REALLY miserable days when it seems like everything that could go wrong does, I take a deep breath in through my nose, breathe it out through my mouth, and tell myself, ‘Once I get through today, I never have to go through today again’.
Life has its up and downs, and sometimes it completely and utterly sucks. But even on the worst days, please keep going. You can do this.
4. I am more loved than I will ever know.
You are more loved than you will ever know graphic by ATSO
This is one of those things that, throughout my life, I have consistently seen to be proven true.
Every single person I know, and I am not exaggerating this, is more loved than they will ever know. That means you too, are more loved than you will ever know.
Your mental disorder is being mean to you, tell it I said to knock it off.
5. I deserve to be nice to myself.
Make someone smile everyday, but never forget you’re someone too.
Yes, you do deserve to be nice to yourself!! You matter, you are important, the world is a better place with you here, and you deserve to smile every single day.
Be nice to yourself. You deserve it.
6. I deserve happiness.
You deserve happiness graphic by ATSO
Even though you may be feeling super lost, apathetic, and/or depressed, you deserve happiness. Unfortunately, life is not always happy.
My Grandmother Angie used to always say, “Enjoy the highs, they will get you through the lows”. So when you feel down and the dark thoughts intrude, please remind yourself that you deserve happiness, you are loved, you are beautifully human, you are allowed to set boundaries, and you are allowed to feel bad. Good days will come again.
7. Even little steps add up to big steps — keep going.
Congratulate yourself on the small steps too, because it’s all progress graphic by ATSO
Every step you take towards understanding yourself better, loving yourself more, having more self-confidence, or any goal you have, is a step forward. No matter how small, it all matters, and it all counts. So celebrate the little victories too.
8. I am stronger than I think I am.
You are stronger than you realize graphic by ATSO
Part of the reason mental health disorders can be so strong is because they thrive off of you, and YOU yourself are so strong! SO strong!
You are brave. You are strong. And even when you feel like you are completely falling apart, I am still so proud of you for holding on. You are stronger than your personal demons, and I completely believe in you.
9. Even if I fall on my face, I am still moving forward.
Be patient with yourself. Nothing in nature blooms all year.
Not everything can be a win, not every decision will be the right one, and sometimes we can even regress.
But even when you mess up, as long as you try to learn something from it, you are still moving forward.
10. Making mistakes is part of learning.
Graphic by ATSO using Canva
Making mistakes actually helps us understand the problem even more! When you know what doesn’t work, you are that much closer to knowing what does.
If you make mistakes it means you’re learning, you’re growing, and you’re human. Making mistakes is fine, but don’t give up.
11. It’s okay to not be okay.
It’s okay to not be okay graphic by ATSO
Like I said earlier, life has its ups and downs, so you are ABSOLUTELY allowed to have your ups and downs too!
Feeling your feelings is healthy, and accepting the fact that you are not okay is the first step towards becoming okay.
12. The most beautiful souls tend to be seared with the deepest scars.
She turns her scars into diamonds and wears them like a crown by ATSO
Your feelings are valid. Your trauma is valid. And you have the right to feel however you need to feel.
But sometimes the toughest journeys result in the strongest souls. It’s not fair, but you can do this, and I think you’re amazing.
13. Lean into the curve.
When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower. -Alexander Den Heijer
When driving and approaching a curve, you need to lean into it, turn the wheel in, and ride the curve. When in a riptide, you can’t try and swim against the current, but swim with the current to the side until you escape the riptide.
Embrace your full potential, and don’t apologize for being you. The very thing you could be beating yourself up for could be one of your strengths in disguise.
14. I’ve survived 100% of my bad days, I can do this.
“Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.” -Les Miserables, pub 1862 Victor Hugo
Are you breathing? Then congrats! You have a 100% success rate of making it through all of your bad days!
You may think I’m being sarcastic, but I’m not. You have an A+ in making it through your worst days, and I know you can do this. Good days are coming, but you need to hold on through the bad.
15. My mental health matters, and even if all I do today is survive, that is enough.
Mental illness is not a personal failure.
You are enough. You matter. You are important.
Combating mental health disorders can take a Herculean amount of energy and effort. So even if the ‘only’ thing you did today was survive, I am still SO proud of you. Definitely mark that as a win.
Your favorite mantra is here to help you.
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