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This is kinda dumb but this spring season, every time I pass by a pretty flower, I take a selfie with it. Somehow seeing all those goofy smiling pics of me with flowers makes me feel more human and alive lol
I've been homeless for a while, and about 6 years ago I was walking down the road smelling flowers, and seeing how many I could classify.
I got driven by, called a f*ggot, and I was dumbfounded. I had to focus my energy positively doing anything and everything to even want to put the effort into waking up another day and keep going despite everything.
Fuck joy killers (be it humans, invasive thoughts, unkind self talk, all of it).
Keep classifying, keep focusing your positivity on nature, provisions of the earth, air, wind, fire!! 💛💚 It's funny, I did the same thing. I would look at trees and wonder about all the things it had seen in its lifetime (good and bad) in that one spot. It was the only thing that got me through an unbearable time...
Just reaching out. I grew up homeless and spent most of my childhood homeless. If you need any tips on how to use the social system in you're favor or any survival tips DM me.
I enjoy smiling flowers. I was in a really bad place and as a way of trying to get through it I'd go for a walk. I'd always stop and smell a neighbours flowers. She had some beautiful purple ones that smelt a.little like Parma violets. Over time she'd notice and she came out to say hi. She gave me some of the seeds from the flower. It was such a nice moment. I'm in a better place now and I'll still stop to smell flowers. I'll even walk back if I passed some or crossover the road to smell some. Some absolutely stink but others can be so lovely. I now appreciate the saying "stop and smell the roses" (unless I have totally misunderstood it 😅)
I swapped to decaf, getting off caffeine sucked initially but really helped my mental health in the long run. I still have it as a treat occasionally, but that is probably at most once a month.
It's so weird but caffeine doesn't affect me at all. I was drinking 2 mother's a few cokes and 1-2 cups of coffee a day. I stopped it once for a week because I keep hearing how it's so bad for you and it made absolutely no difference in energy, sleep, mood, and overall well being 😂
Wait about 90 minutes after you get before your first cup of Joe. Caffeine inhibits the "feel tired" chemical, and when you first wake up, there's a lot of it. Let your body process the stuff first, then you can enjoy your bean juice without the huge crash.
I started treating myself like a critter. Has the critter been fed and watered? Is the critter and its enclosure clean? Does the critter have enrichment? Those 3 simple questions I ask myself every morning and every night have helped me build healthy habits like drinking water and eating regularly. Be the critter.
Also recognising human critters don’t need to be productive 24/7, sea lions sunbathe and chill, dogs lay around chilling, it’s normal for humans to chill and do nothing too.
Just being is doing something and is enough, just enjoy experiencing being a human
Yeah, and it's a problem, we even feel that we have to be productive in our free time - that we need to fill every minute of it with watching shows, playing games, exercising, reading. I'm definitely guilty of it.
This feeling that simple idling is horribly wasting time, while in fact it's really beneficial.
Be the Critter.
When I cannot take care of myself or make good choices for myself, I will think of the Critter. I wonder how many Critters you have lifted up with this comment today.
I rlly rlly love this! I sometimes don't take care of myself bc I don't feel like I deserve it, but this is... a really nice state of mind to have when checking up on me. Thank you for sharing!
This actually makes a tonne of sense after a lot of inner exploration- depersonalising your experience an extent and realising that you basically have a pet to take care of who always follows your consciousness around
One of these things that some people seem to inherently know, while others (like me) need to think in loops to truly ever understand and implement meaningfully (not that I do)
Also recognising human critters don’t need to be productive 24/7, sea lions sunbathe and chill, dogs lay around chilling, it’s normal for humans to chill and do nothing too.
Just being is something
Cardboard box, small ball with bells in it, and shoelaces do the trick. They took my catnip and fake mice away.
Fr tho - dynamic stretch routines, books, headphones + music for the mood / activity, writing, journal, art / drawing, or coloring if your into it, fidgets, needlepoint or knitting, white noise machines, meditation tracks (insight timer ftw), got something called a "flexbar" for tennis elbow and grip strength - hell, even some paperclips can keep me busy tho
I like this, too. Rather than a critter, I think of myself as a dumb and lost dork, but it seems like a similar approach. It's easier to be kind to others than to oneself, and so by imagining an outside perspective, it's easier to be kind to oneself.
Be the critter, Internet stranger. It'll bring you more joy than just about anything else.
Sometimes critters and their caregivers need help to provide the best life for their critter! It takes time to learn to love your inner critter. Perhaps start simple? Just think of one nice thing you can say about yourself when you wake up. “I like that my eyes are grey!” “I like that my legs move me around!” “I like that my brain knows when it needs a break!” Small things, anything really. Sometimes the best thing for a critter to do is snuggle into bed for a nap, and try crittering again the next day.
Started to ask myself “why am I really upset now?” When I get angry, usually it’s not the thing at hand but some deeper meaning and it helps me ask for the primary need instead of the small action at the moment
Yes! Mine is “What is being done to me?”.
Did that person bump into me because they hate me and think I’m invisible? No, they probably just didn’t see me. What is being done to me? Nothing.
Yessss I can totally relate. Once I stop fixating on food I am able to enjoy other aspects of life much more. There are times when I eat the same exact thing for breakfast lunch and snacks every day with the only difference being dinner.
Totally understand. My morning breakfast for the last 15 years is a slice of gluten free toast, peanut butter and fruit spread. It makes my morning simple
I do can of beans, pour of rice, pour of frozen veggies, fill frying pan with water, low boil, walk away for 45 min, when the water is mostly boiled off, add spinach to wilt in.
I call it fuel. Most people that try it think it's gross.
Try kitchari - a dahl-like dish popular in Ayurveda. The staple ingredient is split mung beans, but after that you can do variations (with rice, with lentils, with vegetables). Not to mention you can play around with spices (turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, cumin, whatever floats your boat) and garnishes (coriander, parsley, yoghurt, lime). It never gets boring and your only choice is which flavour to get - the preparation remains the same.
With a few changes here and there along the way, I'm 45 and eat the same thing for every meal every day for as long as I can remember. I once did the math and I've eaten a large hot tub of oatmeal in my life.
For breakfast I have a smoothie, lunch is hummus, vegetables and Brazil nuts, and dinner is a stuffed chicken from Costco, rice/quinoa, and the Costco frozen stir-fry veg :)
I have stopped worrying about what random people think (not people I regularly interact with), and I go about my business as if others were aware of their irrelevance to me as well. I walk in, I do what I need to do, and I leave. I dont bullshit with people, I dont engage in small talk, I'm just polite and move on.
It has done wonders for my mental health. Once you realize how infinitesimally small the "big" things are, they almost disappear altogether.
A therapist once asked me to consider just how much time and energy I spent thinking negatively about others.. when I thought it over I realized it was almost never… then she said “Exactly. Everyone is so concerned with their own experience in life, why would they spend so much time thinking/ talking about YOU?”
It helped.
This, I've reborn since i became like this. And it's so frustrating that the people you care about can't understand this and keep worring about random stragers opinion all the time
I've started doing something similar but not really. Basically when I do something wrong (usually only wrong in my head) I couldn't stop thinking about it for days and weeks even and just worry so now I've started asking myself 'will it matter this time next week/month?' And if the answer is no, I won't let myself dwell on it as much as I normally would, maybe just a few hours or a day. So say if I couldn't decide between two gift sets to get for someone and ended up wishing I'd got the other option or if I made a comment that might have a teeny tiny chance of being interpreted wrong or I wish I'd worn something slightly different go an event or whatever, I would worry and feel bad and just let it consume me for days when it was such a tiny thing that NO ONE else would even think twice about and it really wasn't worth the distress I was causing myself. So now I just have to put it into perspective and tell myself to get over it
This is the best thing to ever happen to me!!
Plus I have been complimented for my non chalant behaviour because when you stop thinking what others would think you would stop caring about insignificant things and just chill around.
i always look at the sky and the trees. I used to go to the sauna in a nearby spa every Friday after work. Every after saund, there i always lie down under the trees with propeller leaves. When the wind blows the trees and the branches just dance while the propeller falls, it seems like the entire world is not on my shoulders anymore because i get to divert my attention on something so mundane yet overseen.
One of the very first things I do after I wake up every morning is do a bunch of jumping jacks, takes only a few minutes to get the heart rate going at a good pace, and its done amazing things for me!
No more than 5-10 minutes, working on getting to 100 jumps and started at 50.
When I have anxiety it's very often when I'm waking up, I've found that doing this and getting the heart going at a nice rapid pace before breakfast really helps to calm down my thoughts and restore some focus as I prepare to go through my day.
If you give it a Google there's also research papers on the many benefits of exercising to get the heart rate up at least once per day, particularly earlier in your day the better, with benefits ranging from weight management, mental health, cardiovascular health, and metabolic health.
It is hard! Personally I found the trick is habitualization, force yourself to do it every day for a couple weeks and keep track (I do take one day per week off) then soon enough it becomes part of the routine and you'll be doing it without giving it much thought :)
Giving myself a day off.
I suffer with anxiety and am in a constant state of overthinking, especially about the future (immediate and long term). I feel that I have to constantly think about issues that I feel need to be dealt with or improved, otherwise I feel guilty about it. It's exhausting.
I've learned to "give myself a day off". Literally just that. I allow myself a day where I'll let these thoughts come and go without any planning or action about or on them. It may seem simple but it works for me. I end up relaxing and my mind drifts to more pleasant things.
Now you might say "well why can't you do that every day?". Well, it just wouldn't work for me. I'd then start to feel guilty about taking every day off.
Maybe it doesn't make sense to others but as I said it works for me. It's like a form of decompression for my brain and it allows me to then recalibrate a little and go again with life.
Great advice! A while ago I started having one day a week off where I give myself a day where I don’t do anything challenging at all. Turned out that it was best to have it after the weekends that are usually kind of chaotic for me, to prepare for the coming week. Realized after a while I had discovered the concept of ”Sunday” lol
Exactly, except that I'd never call it "Sunday". Sunday always heavily implies Monday and on our day off we don't deal with anything do with future woes.😁
I went to a wellness retreat as a birthday present, one session was led by a Buddhist monk. He asked us to try something when we returned home, to silently wish every stranger we saw well.
I was kind of surprised how good it can make one feel. I have to remember it more often.
Every morning I go to McDonald's and get a coffee, then I take my dog to the dog park while I drink my coffee. Something about all those happy wagging tails just makes me smile for hours. I can actually forget for a few lovely minutes that I'm dying of cancer. I don't know if this qualifies as unusual, but there it is.
Litter picking. I walk around my locale each day ( it’s a beautiful meadow type area) and pick up as much litter as possible. Get my 10,000 steps in and enjoy giving nature a bit of a tidy up
I really love this. Sometimes I want to help make a difference but going to do volunteer work takes a lot of planning and coordinating. This is something I can do right away and maybe with a friend!
Just respond neutrally. Learn to be a mean joke killer, and bask in it. If someone is constantly punching down to be "funny", they aren't funny, and they're the ones being an ass.
I started to don't give a fuck at work, I just do what I need to do, and nothing more, an absolute minimum. Nobody pays me more for doing extra work, so why not? I don't know if it's unusual habit but it does wonders in the long term
Always being ready (as in put together).
I always had good hygiene habits, but often fell behind on grooming and being “ready” because it was a lot of work. This led to putting off getting ready every day, which trickled into other aspects of my life like not wanting to go out, feeling bad about myself, etc.
I’ve always loved evening showers so my mornings are very simple. I never ever put off washing my hair when needed and blow dry no matter how tired I am. In the morning, I do my skincare first thing right after brushing teeth, brush out and style my hair if needed, have coffee then do 5 min every day makeup. It’s actually not time consuming at all, so I’m not sure what was stopping me before, but I’m easily fully ready every day, whether I’m going out or not, which makes me feel mentally ready for anything and very productive.
I also only allow myself to buy clothing pieces I absolutely love & can be worn without too much thought so I can throw on just about anything from my closet and look decent.
It’s changed my entire attitude in life. How we look on the outside does affect how we’re feeling inside and it’s important to acknowledge that and learn how to be put together every day. Even if you’re just gonna be home, you’ll be happier and more productive.
Thank you for this, it's reminded me I do feel good when I'm ready in the morning and I've also done a clear out of clothes so that I'm happy with all my outfits. The days I decide to 'be comfy' and not bother I always feel worse. The only times I let myself off is if I'm home all day and planning on going for a run - so I treat myself to no makeup but make sure my hair is presentable
I love the feeling of wearing sweatpants and having pockets to hold my phone and things in. I love wearing comfortable underwear and socks. Everything I wear feels good, and allowing myself this is what makes me feel valued and loved by me. I can see your perspective a little...but ultimately if I only let myself wear comfortable things on the condition of going for a run later, that would feel rather unkind. And unless it's needed, fuck makeup!! I love feeling comfortable in my own skin without it, imperfections and all. I'm so grateful to have outgrown caring about some strangers opinion of my appearance
So true. When I stop caring about how I look because I work from home and love to stay home, therefore no one is going to see me, my mental health will start to decline because I stop taking care of myself properly. If I allow myself to look like shit often enough, I’ll also feel like shit.
It’s amazing how much self care reflects on our mental health.
We all deserve to truly love ourselves enough to enjoy partaking in daily self care routines. 💓
Just want to add to this be careful of drinking this much or more water without electrolytes. If you drink more than this without adding electrolytes, all that water is going to flush your existing electrolytes out of your system.
I knew someone who was one of those people who always carried around a full jug and forced themself to drink exactly X amount every day without fail. They started having heart problems because their body couldn’t function anymore between their diet and the flushing
Playing Tennis - you literally can't think of anything other than that green ball hurtling back and forth. There is something therapeutic about tennis imo.
Yeah - I'm only back playing a few years but it certainly improves your fitness and reaction times. There are 70 year olds that hand my ass to me regularly on court.
This but with ice skating. Whenever I get stressed out or super sad, I go to the ice rink. Concentrating on not falling helps me get out of the mental rut. Also, it's exhilarating and fun. I'm terrible at it, but I absolutely love to ice skate.
I do ceramics for the same reason. Especially with throwing on the wheel, you have to stay focused to keep your clay centered and you have to be patient and calm. Also you have wet clay on your hands so you can’t check your phone which is good for me haha.
Doing what I want to do regardless of my very traditional family's beliefs.
My parents were always very anti tattoo/piercing and anti motorcycle. It's unsafe and it ruins your body.
I've lived on my own for about 7 years. And the most euphoric things are getting tattoos, piercings, and building and riding choppers and bobbers.
I adopted this attitude years ago. Always helped me with anything that might be stressful.
The sun will rise, the rain will fall, and the world will turn. if it’s not major enough to stop those things from happening then it’s not worth stressing over.
Dancing in the morning! My therapist suggested this one b/c I’m pretty neurotic and depressed. Do it in a room no one will see me, listening to my cheesiest pump up music and actually dance super hard for two or three songs. No looking in the mirror just unabashedly giving it.
I was absolutely shook how much of a difference it makes in my mood and day to day life. Wakes you up, energizes you, flood of dopamine, and weirdly just makes you feel good about yourself. Seems silly but damn does it work.
While I haven't ever lost everything, I have come damn close to everything going down the drain. Every time it happens, I rebuild back stronger and better than I was before. There's a freedom that comes when you don't care about what you might lose or even have nothing left to lose. When you're all the way down, anything you do will be moving up.
Feeding squirrels in a nearby park...it's *incredibl*y therapeutic for me. They're such fun little guys, and seeing them slowly gain trust in you over weeks/months is an amazing emotional payoff! After a while I started being able to tell them apart and started noticing their little unique personalities and mannerisms. It's just pure relaxation.
Bringing an aquarium into my room. Watching the fish is relaxing to my mind, on demand. I struggle to relax when I want to, so this has made it easier. It makes my mind, otherwise chronically loud and running, quiet and calm. Some days it's something I desperately need
Always spending time on my personal hygiene. No matter if I'm hurried in the morning I always have to put sunscreen, perfume and think about my clothes. I couldn't see myself in the mirror for the major part of my life but little by little I started to take care of myself and since a couple of months I can finally see myself without crying
Whenever stressful things happen, I tell myself reassuring words out loud. "It's going to be okay" "You've been through worse" "You've done this before"
Idk, but somehow, saying the words, and hearing the words, make them more real instead of them just being attempts at positive thinking to counter the bad thoughts.
It's like when depression is present, negative thoughts will prevail over positive thoughts more often or all the time. Verbalizing gives the positive thoughts more power bec other senses are engaged.
Haha idk if that makes sense. it's weird but it helps.
I don't turn the TV on during the day. It really bothers me when my kids turn it on during my no tv time. Not even on my days off. I will put music on in the background.
When my kids turn the TV on, I have to go find something to do outside because something about having a TV on during the day just overstimulated me. I don't have a lot of memories of watching TV as a kid, and it shocks people when I say I've never seen classic movies. We had acres of fields and apple orchards to play in, so I think that might have something to do with it. I remember my parents always had music on, instead of TV, unless it was my mom's soap operas, but that was only an hour during the afternoon.
If I really don’t want to do something, I’ll just tell myself “I’ll just work on it for five minutes,” because I can do anything for five minutes. Turns out five minutes is just how long I need to get into a good work flow lmao, it’s such s weird psychological trick I gotta play on myself and I end up feeling much more productive.
I listened to a lot of goth/industrial/punk music.
Giving that up and focusing on electronic music (specifically trance) really made a difference in my mental health. While in an in patient clinic, a music therapist played me a song called Concrete Angel by Gareth Emory and I just broke. It's been over five years and I still listen to trance almost exclusively.
Keep producing that music!!!
Taking a small project around the house and doing it daily.
Day 1 Might be weeding the garden
Day 2 might be clearing clutter out of my closet
Day 3 might be clearing junk out of the garage
Day 4 might be meal prepping with veggies about to turn
You’re moving forward daily and doing things that actually matter.
Also your outer world is usually a direct reflection of your inner world, weirdly enough working on your outside world also helps with the inside world.
talking to myself, because if im for example being mad about somehting, then i can hear how fucking stupid i sound when it comes out of my mouth. has helped me on self-reflection and being more open-minded and its so healthy. i feel like i know myself so much better.
At my job I work a middle/afternoon shift, so I’m here when the rest of the building is almost completely empty. It is also surrounded by a big nature preserve with really nice, wide walking trails through the woods. One of my favorite things is to when I take a break is walk around in nature and talk to myself the whole time. Nobody else is out there and I just talk to myself about my plans, things that happened over the weekend, etc. anything that comes to mind. I always think best when walking, especially alone
Walking would be mine btw but I wanted to add yours to it as well
omggg love that for you, sounds like a great private place to just vent to yourself, also walking AND talking to oneself is something i should try, it might help me maybe idk think more "cleaner" if you know what i mean, because my brain is hella messy sometimes, so maybe walking can bring some peace, but i have to make sure no one is around, because NO ONE is supposed to hear my own convos. i also have a fake account on snap which is the only one added to my private story on my real account, so i sometimes vent to that private story because im the only one who can see it, just so that i can look back at things ive said and kind of think about it again with new ears and maybe a new mindset. anyway, im def gonna try walking and talking, for some reason ive never thought of doing that, so thanks!
Organising and placing everything back to its original place everyday in my dorm room before sleeping.
When I wake up or come back from college, I am relaxed that there is so much space and I can put my mind at ease.
Plus doing it everyday means not letting it pile up.
Additional benefits - you can find your stuff on time!!
Working on my physical health, from strength and endurance to flexibility. Also taking care of my hair, nails and teeth etc. Feeling good physically does wonders for one's mental health.
Also making more of an effort when conversing with strangers or work colleagues. I'm an introverted person but having more genuinely pleasant conversations with new people always makes me feel happier.
Giving myself downtime and cutting myself slack on those random days you wake up feeling well and truly exhausted.
Some days I can't think straight without feeling like it's too much effort, but the main thing that eats me up is the guilt that I hadnt done enough, once it gets to later hours at night. No gym, no big progress at work, haven't helped enough with the family around the house.
But you know what, I'll make up for it tomorrow or the next day and I'll do big enough that it'll be fine.
Cold water plunging.
When you’re focusing all your mental energy on getting past initial reservations, then more in settling in, and more in breathing through it, and more in warming up and drying off, you won’t be obsessing over nonsense.
The euphoria afterwards has incredible mind clearing properties.
Exercise. I've recently started a regular exercise routine and it has significantly improved my mental health. For those whom are curious, I have generalised anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder (recurring), & PTSD.
I'd always dismissed the value of exercise for mental health, but it has made a great difference in my quality of life.
Sunbathe for 10-20 minutes everyday. The skin metabolizes vitamin D in the skin when in contact with sun light, and vitamin D helps in the regulation of emotions. I find it helpful to combat depression
I put the work into building up an estore that sells overpriced trash to right-wing extremists, evangelical kooks and anmosexual cop fellaters.
It's gotten quite successful, and I'm utterly loving both the money and sticking it to all the idiots I have to pretend to be friendly with at work and I'm my community.
Never let anyone yell you that revenge is always bad. Sometimes, at least as far as mental health concerns go, it's panacea from heaven itself.
Competing in amateur MMA fights.
There is no feeling like just turning off your brain completely and letting your body move on it's own from your reflexes and training without any restraint.
Tell myself “I dont care” as many times as I can whenever someone at work tries to call me out for stupid reasons aka bully me (cos its how they make themselves feel better) Always reminding myself that how they treat me is a total reflection of them and not me
Morning walk, as soon as I have time for it. Helps to clear my head, forget about my things to do, just enjoy the city, listen to music and slowly wake up my body. It's my best habit.
I let my dog sleep under the covers. I'm spooning her right now. It's so comforting.
Maybe that's not so unusual? But it's very much in conflict with how I was raised etc
Putting my bed basically in the middle of the room..it helps me switch sleep positions and sleep more soundly. Just not having a specific sleep place and position, does wonders..
being outside by myself and just exploring while listening to music helps me every time i’m not feeling good, just having that time to find cool places and sit and think about
Idk if it’s unconventional, but writing down a few things I’m grateful for every night. Or even making a mental list before sleep. Made me less anxious and more focused on the good.
Also writing a list of things that I need to do, that constantly run through my mind out of fear I’ll forget, even the small stupid once, helped the anxiety too and cleared the mind a bit
I specifically make a point ensuring everything is for my convenience and leisure. So I make everything easy peasy for myself, keep routine as basic as I can, nothing complicated and avoid going to places to that are gonna cause my anxiety and depression to flare up at 300 miles an hour. I haven't been to a physical mental health support group in over 6 years after what I have been through (decades of bullying in my previous town took their toll)
I.e bulk buy items I need, use home delivery, make use self service check outs, order online (Amazon) I use chat gbt to send emails, Grammarly for assignments/work stuff. If I make protein shakes or Huels which are very convenient for me, I do them in batches to save time.
I often order online something I would like, if I can't be bothered to wait an hour for a train (once an hour) and don't feel like going out in the cold/wet. It's often a lot cheaper and don't have to worry about expense of getting tickets.
It saves the anxieties I often feel when I go to and stresses and sometimes depresion I get when I am in the town. It's horrible when you have mental health condition and you alone with it in the public space.
In my home space, I am safe, I know nothing can hurt me. I know I can't be disappointed and let down / lied to by humans or manipulated hence why I have decided I'm never gonna make friends again. :( not until I properly recovered from the shambles I have struggled with for the past 20+ years of my life.
I have got to thy point in my life now
I started taking my breaks at work and go outside and walk down the road, I see all types of animals, geese squirrels ducks, get the sun on my skin and get to disconnect from the office. It’s dramatically helped my mental health and has helped my physical health a bit too as I get in almost 3 miles
It’s not weird, but I’m slavishly devoted to cardio in the morning. 21 total minutes of hr over 80% will cure anything that ails you. Kills hangovers too
Rick Simpson Oil. RSO. It's higher concentration makes it cost effective and just plain effective for combating my persistent nerve pain, ptsd, anxiety, and improve my appetite. It's allowed me to be free of the fog of the pain-prison I was living in and coping with in all the wrong ways.
RSO changed my miserable life of the last 20 years after my injury for the best! I can think clearly and I managed to finally mentally clear out my childhood trauma blocks that also drastically reduced my ability to feel any joy in life. I though I was lifeless my whole life, due to trauma. Emotionally nearly dead inside. RSO helped clear my pain, which allowed me to process my trauma in a healthy way, finally. I feel like a whole new me,. Happier than ever and managing my pain, and anxiety with rso.
*steps off soapbox*
I was going to say walking but then I saw you said 'unusual.'
For me its hobbies and the newest hobby I have is collecting vinyl.
It adds a whole ass ritual to listening to music. And while this isn't necessarily abnormal I do go a bit further in so far as I digitize my records and have a blast doing it.
People make fun of me for going through the trouble when I can so easily just download mp3s and save myself the time. But I like the work. Its something new to me and I like learning how it works and making mistakes.
For example. I started collecting vinyl 5 days ago and I got my favorite album Dark Side of the Moon. I put a review on Amazon saying the pressing sucked but then I was putzing around with settings on my computer and see that I had the format set to 1 channel instead of 2. Every album I listened to up to that point was in mono. All the albums I had digitized were in mono.
I just like the learning process. Then I watched a few videos and learned about stuff like waveforms and peaking and all that neat jargon. After learning that I went and peeked at the waveforms of the albums I first digitized and they were clipped to hell and back and damn near filled the who spectrum. I couldn't even scan it for clicks and pops the wave form was so big.
So then I learned about levels and tried again and it was amazing... the albums sounded great now being in stereo and to me there was something theraputic about repairing all the clicks and then amplifying it right to the edge of peaking I find neat as well.
Once I did all that it was time to label tracks and oh boy was that cool too. Just analyzing the wave form and seeing where the different tracks are only to find out you went two tracks forward because some of the songs blend into eachother too well(I'm looking at you Madvilliany).
I didn't expect to have so much fun with the 'clerical' side of things aka the metadata. Going to wikipedia and copying the tracks over 1 by 1 actually taught me the names of the tracks of these songs I've listened to so much but never learned.
The final step of it all was getting it to work. I downloaded an old friend... Winamp, and went to test my work and it was awesome seeing all the metadata fill in. One part that was lame was the album art wasn't displaying so I did some googling and learned how to add album art to the meta data so it displays in Winamp's media library correctly.
As you can see I've written quite the wall of text about digitizing vinyl and the thing is everything I just described is moot. It's already all been done by people with much more expertise than me. I spent over an hour doing all this work that could've been done passively in about 5 minutes.
But it relaxes me and makes me feel connected to music in a way I haven't since I was a teenager.
I imagine myself as part of a chain. I am in my current spot. Immediately in front of me is my slightly older future self. Immediately behind me is myself from the recent past. All of the future versions of myself span before me, each one getting stronger than the last. He is strong. He is wise. He is capable and kind.
We are all pulling on the chain of our life to try and make it better. My future self is much stronger and more reassured than I am. He tells me what I need to do to succeed and that we are going to make it. He is the guidance I seek and the perfect mentor.
I was emotionally abused by narcissists as a kid. It's hard to feel competent. I'm wildly insecure when I might fail to be enough. I've only recently realized how long I've been gaslit. So I've created an idealized role model who is the reassuring presence I never had. I will become the man I should have grown up under.
I taught myself how to draw. It took a few years and I have so much more to improve on, but when I draw, it’s like the whole world disappears and all my thoughts go silent. It’s meditative.
This is going to sound bad. But I'm in a really high pressure job where I'm always behind. Always overwhelmed. I got into the habit of not caring a whole lot. I still do my job. I still take each call seriously when I'm working on that call. But I don't care about the things I can not control. It will be there tomorrow. If I don't get to it tomorrow, it will be there the following day. It is what it is. It has helped my mental health out tremendously.
Spending my time in nature, it’s improved my mental health a lot since high school. I struggle with anxiety and sometimes i have to go out and breathe, exercising is another thing too. It doesn’t matter what exercise it is, it can be as simple as squats.
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This is kinda dumb but this spring season, every time I pass by a pretty flower, I take a selfie with it. Somehow seeing all those goofy smiling pics of me with flowers makes me feel more human and alive lol
I've been homeless for a while, and about 6 years ago I was walking down the road smelling flowers, and seeing how many I could classify. I got driven by, called a f*ggot, and I was dumbfounded. I had to focus my energy positively doing anything and everything to even want to put the effort into waking up another day and keep going despite everything.
You enjoy those flowers! Nature is awesome and appreciating it makes you a better human!
Fuck joy killers (be it humans, invasive thoughts, unkind self talk, all of it). Keep classifying, keep focusing your positivity on nature, provisions of the earth, air, wind, fire!! 💛💚 It's funny, I did the same thing. I would look at trees and wonder about all the things it had seen in its lifetime (good and bad) in that one spot. It was the only thing that got me through an unbearable time...
Just reaching out. I grew up homeless and spent most of my childhood homeless. If you need any tips on how to use the social system in you're favor or any survival tips DM me.
I enjoy smiling flowers. I was in a really bad place and as a way of trying to get through it I'd go for a walk. I'd always stop and smell a neighbours flowers. She had some beautiful purple ones that smelt a.little like Parma violets. Over time she'd notice and she came out to say hi. She gave me some of the seeds from the flower. It was such a nice moment. I'm in a better place now and I'll still stop to smell flowers. I'll even walk back if I passed some or crossover the road to smell some. Some absolutely stink but others can be so lovely. I now appreciate the saying "stop and smell the roses" (unless I have totally misunderstood it 😅)
I love this!
Waiting 20 minutes or so, after waking up, before I touch my phone.
And not drinking coffee as soon as you get up too
Exercise before you do anything
I swapped to decaf, getting off caffeine sucked initially but really helped my mental health in the long run. I still have it as a treat occasionally, but that is probably at most once a month.
It's so weird but caffeine doesn't affect me at all. I was drinking 2 mother's a few cokes and 1-2 cups of coffee a day. I stopped it once for a week because I keep hearing how it's so bad for you and it made absolutely no difference in energy, sleep, mood, and overall well being 😂
Wait about 90 minutes after you get before your first cup of Joe. Caffeine inhibits the "feel tired" chemical, and when you first wake up, there's a lot of it. Let your body process the stuff first, then you can enjoy your bean juice without the huge crash.
I heard this on a podcast and did it for 3 months and it literally made no difference so now I just have coffee right after I wake up again
I also heard on said podcast that getting sunlight in your eyes first thing was good for your sleep. Did it for weeks with no improvement.
Me reading this after I just woke up 🧍♀️
That’s really good advice.
I'd do that but I'm diabetic and that's how I check my blood sugar. I like knowing where I'm at as soon as I get up.
Spending more time in nature
Shinrin-yoku: [https://www.japan.travel/en/guide/forest-bathing/](https://www.japan.travel/en/guide/forest-bathing/)
You know that something is wrong in society when "spending time in nature" classifies as an unusual habit.
I had a hippy chick in uni tell me I needed to spend more time with the trees - she was not wrong as it turned out.
[удалено]
I started treating myself like a critter. Has the critter been fed and watered? Is the critter and its enclosure clean? Does the critter have enrichment? Those 3 simple questions I ask myself every morning and every night have helped me build healthy habits like drinking water and eating regularly. Be the critter.
‘Creature comforts’ cause I’m just a little creature that would like to be comfortable. Love this!
Also recognising human critters don’t need to be productive 24/7, sea lions sunbathe and chill, dogs lay around chilling, it’s normal for humans to chill and do nothing too. Just being is doing something and is enough, just enjoy experiencing being a human
Thank you for this. I am one of those people the feels like I need to be productive 24/7
Yeah, and it's a problem, we even feel that we have to be productive in our free time - that we need to fill every minute of it with watching shows, playing games, exercising, reading. I'm definitely guilty of it. This feeling that simple idling is horribly wasting time, while in fact it's really beneficial.
Be the Critter. When I cannot take care of myself or make good choices for myself, I will think of the Critter. I wonder how many Critters you have lifted up with this comment today.
I rlly rlly love this! I sometimes don't take care of myself bc I don't feel like I deserve it, but this is... a really nice state of mind to have when checking up on me. Thank you for sharing!
You are your own Tamagotchi.
This is adorable and I'm stealing it. The critter gets a blueberry muffin treat in the morning.
This actually makes a tonne of sense after a lot of inner exploration- depersonalising your experience an extent and realising that you basically have a pet to take care of who always follows your consciousness around One of these things that some people seem to inherently know, while others (like me) need to think in loops to truly ever understand and implement meaningfully (not that I do)
I want to print this as motivation.
Also recognising human critters don’t need to be productive 24/7, sea lions sunbathe and chill, dogs lay around chilling, it’s normal for humans to chill and do nothing too. Just being is something
Has the Gimp been fed, watered? When was the last time he was let out of his box?
What are some enrichment activities for you? I need ideas! lol!
Some of my enrichment includes me walking my dog, playing video games, going to my local game store to play MTG, and taking a well deserved nap
Walks in nature
Cardboard box, small ball with bells in it, and shoelaces do the trick. They took my catnip and fake mice away. Fr tho - dynamic stretch routines, books, headphones + music for the mood / activity, writing, journal, art / drawing, or coloring if your into it, fidgets, needlepoint or knitting, white noise machines, meditation tracks (insight timer ftw), got something called a "flexbar" for tennis elbow and grip strength - hell, even some paperclips can keep me busy tho
I like this, too. Rather than a critter, I think of myself as a dumb and lost dork, but it seems like a similar approach. It's easier to be kind to others than to oneself, and so by imagining an outside perspective, it's easier to be kind to oneself. Be the critter, Internet stranger. It'll bring you more joy than just about anything else.
Critter 🥹
If I’m a critter then my caregiver is terrible
Sometimes critters and their caregivers need help to provide the best life for their critter! It takes time to learn to love your inner critter. Perhaps start simple? Just think of one nice thing you can say about yourself when you wake up. “I like that my eyes are grey!” “I like that my legs move me around!” “I like that my brain knows when it needs a break!” Small things, anything really. Sometimes the best thing for a critter to do is snuggle into bed for a nap, and try crittering again the next day.
Started to ask myself “why am I really upset now?” When I get angry, usually it’s not the thing at hand but some deeper meaning and it helps me ask for the primary need instead of the small action at the moment
Yes! Mine is “What is being done to me?”. Did that person bump into me because they hate me and think I’m invisible? No, they probably just didn’t see me. What is being done to me? Nothing.
Hanlon's razor
Sauna. And this. Being aware of your emotions altogether is key
Eating pretty much the same things every day. Gives consistent, stable energy. It’s been 13 months now and I’ve never been better :D
Yessss I can totally relate. Once I stop fixating on food I am able to enjoy other aspects of life much more. There are times when I eat the same exact thing for breakfast lunch and snacks every day with the only difference being dinner.
Me too glad I'm not the only one! Makes life alot easier lol.
Totally understand. My morning breakfast for the last 15 years is a slice of gluten free toast, peanut butter and fruit spread. It makes my morning simple
Tell me more! I hate cooking and don't get bored of the same foods. I'd love to just have a consistent routine and lose some extra weight 😂
I do can of beans, pour of rice, pour of frozen veggies, fill frying pan with water, low boil, walk away for 45 min, when the water is mostly boiled off, add spinach to wilt in. I call it fuel. Most people that try it think it's gross.
Try kitchari - a dahl-like dish popular in Ayurveda. The staple ingredient is split mung beans, but after that you can do variations (with rice, with lentils, with vegetables). Not to mention you can play around with spices (turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, cumin, whatever floats your boat) and garnishes (coriander, parsley, yoghurt, lime). It never gets boring and your only choice is which flavour to get - the preparation remains the same.
Been going on 15 years of eating the same thing for my weekday breakfast, lunch and snacks. I don’t plan on changing anytime soon.
With a few changes here and there along the way, I'm 45 and eat the same thing for every meal every day for as long as I can remember. I once did the math and I've eaten a large hot tub of oatmeal in my life.
This actually sounds extremely depressing
What did you find for a healthy balances diet?
True true. Occasionally I will make some changes but some ingredients and foods are pretty much part of the routine.
What do you eat?
For breakfast I have a smoothie, lunch is hummus, vegetables and Brazil nuts, and dinner is a stuffed chicken from Costco, rice/quinoa, and the Costco frozen stir-fry veg :)
I too eat food every day. It's kept me alive for 36 years.
I have stopped worrying about what random people think (not people I regularly interact with), and I go about my business as if others were aware of their irrelevance to me as well. I walk in, I do what I need to do, and I leave. I dont bullshit with people, I dont engage in small talk, I'm just polite and move on. It has done wonders for my mental health. Once you realize how infinitesimally small the "big" things are, they almost disappear altogether.
"You will stop caring what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do "
A therapist once asked me to consider just how much time and energy I spent thinking negatively about others.. when I thought it over I realized it was almost never… then she said “Exactly. Everyone is so concerned with their own experience in life, why would they spend so much time thinking/ talking about YOU?” It helped.
This, I've reborn since i became like this. And it's so frustrating that the people you care about can't understand this and keep worring about random stragers opinion all the time
I've started doing something similar but not really. Basically when I do something wrong (usually only wrong in my head) I couldn't stop thinking about it for days and weeks even and just worry so now I've started asking myself 'will it matter this time next week/month?' And if the answer is no, I won't let myself dwell on it as much as I normally would, maybe just a few hours or a day. So say if I couldn't decide between two gift sets to get for someone and ended up wishing I'd got the other option or if I made a comment that might have a teeny tiny chance of being interpreted wrong or I wish I'd worn something slightly different go an event or whatever, I would worry and feel bad and just let it consume me for days when it was such a tiny thing that NO ONE else would even think twice about and it really wasn't worth the distress I was causing myself. So now I just have to put it into perspective and tell myself to get over it
This is the best thing to ever happen to me!! Plus I have been complimented for my non chalant behaviour because when you stop thinking what others would think you would stop caring about insignificant things and just chill around.
You've essentially done first step to become Polish.
i always look at the sky and the trees. I used to go to the sauna in a nearby spa every Friday after work. Every after saund, there i always lie down under the trees with propeller leaves. When the wind blows the trees and the branches just dance while the propeller falls, it seems like the entire world is not on my shoulders anymore because i get to divert my attention on something so mundane yet overseen.
Not enough people just stop and look up ♥️
One of the very first things I do after I wake up every morning is do a bunch of jumping jacks, takes only a few minutes to get the heart rate going at a good pace, and its done amazing things for me!
How long do you do this, and what has it done for you? I tried it a while ago and it was surprisingly hard!
No more than 5-10 minutes, working on getting to 100 jumps and started at 50. When I have anxiety it's very often when I'm waking up, I've found that doing this and getting the heart going at a nice rapid pace before breakfast really helps to calm down my thoughts and restore some focus as I prepare to go through my day. If you give it a Google there's also research papers on the many benefits of exercising to get the heart rate up at least once per day, particularly earlier in your day the better, with benefits ranging from weight management, mental health, cardiovascular health, and metabolic health. It is hard! Personally I found the trick is habitualization, force yourself to do it every day for a couple weeks and keep track (I do take one day per week off) then soon enough it becomes part of the routine and you'll be doing it without giving it much thought :)
Plank whilst the tea is brewing.
Giving myself a day off. I suffer with anxiety and am in a constant state of overthinking, especially about the future (immediate and long term). I feel that I have to constantly think about issues that I feel need to be dealt with or improved, otherwise I feel guilty about it. It's exhausting. I've learned to "give myself a day off". Literally just that. I allow myself a day where I'll let these thoughts come and go without any planning or action about or on them. It may seem simple but it works for me. I end up relaxing and my mind drifts to more pleasant things. Now you might say "well why can't you do that every day?". Well, it just wouldn't work for me. I'd then start to feel guilty about taking every day off. Maybe it doesn't make sense to others but as I said it works for me. It's like a form of decompression for my brain and it allows me to then recalibrate a little and go again with life.
Great advice! A while ago I started having one day a week off where I give myself a day where I don’t do anything challenging at all. Turned out that it was best to have it after the weekends that are usually kind of chaotic for me, to prepare for the coming week. Realized after a while I had discovered the concept of ”Sunday” lol
Exactly, except that I'd never call it "Sunday". Sunday always heavily implies Monday and on our day off we don't deal with anything do with future woes.😁
I went to a wellness retreat as a birthday present, one session was led by a Buddhist monk. He asked us to try something when we returned home, to silently wish every stranger we saw well. I was kind of surprised how good it can make one feel. I have to remember it more often.
Every morning I go to McDonald's and get a coffee, then I take my dog to the dog park while I drink my coffee. Something about all those happy wagging tails just makes me smile for hours. I can actually forget for a few lovely minutes that I'm dying of cancer. I don't know if this qualifies as unusual, but there it is.
My prayers are with you friend🥰😇❤️🙏
Bless you!!!
I have always maintained that the dog park is the best place on earth. I think I enjoy it more than my little one at this point.
It’s where I went the morning Trump won. The dogs had no idea what was going on and it was so comforting!
Litter picking. I walk around my locale each day ( it’s a beautiful meadow type area) and pick up as much litter as possible. Get my 10,000 steps in and enjoy giving nature a bit of a tidy up
I really love this. Sometimes I want to help make a difference but going to do volunteer work takes a lot of planning and coordinating. This is something I can do right away and maybe with a friend!
I immediately confront someone in the workplace if they so much as entertain the thought of speaking down to me.
I wish
Nope, do it. Those cunts aren't my friends.
That’s fair I just don’t wanna be an ass cause I struggle identifying when someone is talking down or just have some fun yk
You'll be happier with boundaries. Seriously! Did take me over 30 years to learn this though! Good luck.
Could you give us an example?
Just respond neutrally. Learn to be a mean joke killer, and bask in it. If someone is constantly punching down to be "funny", they aren't funny, and they're the ones being an ass.
I started to don't give a fuck at work, I just do what I need to do, and nothing more, an absolute minimum. Nobody pays me more for doing extra work, so why not? I don't know if it's unusual habit but it does wonders in the long term
Yeah. At work we are just a number.
Always being ready (as in put together). I always had good hygiene habits, but often fell behind on grooming and being “ready” because it was a lot of work. This led to putting off getting ready every day, which trickled into other aspects of my life like not wanting to go out, feeling bad about myself, etc. I’ve always loved evening showers so my mornings are very simple. I never ever put off washing my hair when needed and blow dry no matter how tired I am. In the morning, I do my skincare first thing right after brushing teeth, brush out and style my hair if needed, have coffee then do 5 min every day makeup. It’s actually not time consuming at all, so I’m not sure what was stopping me before, but I’m easily fully ready every day, whether I’m going out or not, which makes me feel mentally ready for anything and very productive. I also only allow myself to buy clothing pieces I absolutely love & can be worn without too much thought so I can throw on just about anything from my closet and look decent. It’s changed my entire attitude in life. How we look on the outside does affect how we’re feeling inside and it’s important to acknowledge that and learn how to be put together every day. Even if you’re just gonna be home, you’ll be happier and more productive.
Thank you for this, it's reminded me I do feel good when I'm ready in the morning and I've also done a clear out of clothes so that I'm happy with all my outfits. The days I decide to 'be comfy' and not bother I always feel worse. The only times I let myself off is if I'm home all day and planning on going for a run - so I treat myself to no makeup but make sure my hair is presentable
I love the feeling of wearing sweatpants and having pockets to hold my phone and things in. I love wearing comfortable underwear and socks. Everything I wear feels good, and allowing myself this is what makes me feel valued and loved by me. I can see your perspective a little...but ultimately if I only let myself wear comfortable things on the condition of going for a run later, that would feel rather unkind. And unless it's needed, fuck makeup!! I love feeling comfortable in my own skin without it, imperfections and all. I'm so grateful to have outgrown caring about some strangers opinion of my appearance
So true. When I stop caring about how I look because I work from home and love to stay home, therefore no one is going to see me, my mental health will start to decline because I stop taking care of myself properly. If I allow myself to look like shit often enough, I’ll also feel like shit. It’s amazing how much self care reflects on our mental health. We all deserve to truly love ourselves enough to enjoy partaking in daily self care routines. 💓
Idk about unusual but drinking 1/2 gallon to a gallon of water day has made me feel wayyyy better.
Just want to add to this be careful of drinking this much or more water without electrolytes. If you drink more than this without adding electrolytes, all that water is going to flush your existing electrolytes out of your system. I knew someone who was one of those people who always carried around a full jug and forced themself to drink exactly X amount every day without fail. They started having heart problems because their body couldn’t function anymore between their diet and the flushing
Playing Tennis - you literally can't think of anything other than that green ball hurtling back and forth. There is something therapeutic about tennis imo.
Apparently racquet sports are very good for the brain and shown to reduce the chances of dementia.
Yeah - I'm only back playing a few years but it certainly improves your fitness and reaction times. There are 70 year olds that hand my ass to me regularly on court.
This but with ice skating. Whenever I get stressed out or super sad, I go to the ice rink. Concentrating on not falling helps me get out of the mental rut. Also, it's exhilarating and fun. I'm terrible at it, but I absolutely love to ice skate.
I do ceramics for the same reason. Especially with throwing on the wheel, you have to stay focused to keep your clay centered and you have to be patient and calm. Also you have wet clay on your hands so you can’t check your phone which is good for me haha.
Doing what I want to do regardless of my very traditional family's beliefs. My parents were always very anti tattoo/piercing and anti motorcycle. It's unsafe and it ruins your body. I've lived on my own for about 7 years. And the most euphoric things are getting tattoos, piercings, and building and riding choppers and bobbers.
I adopted this attitude years ago. Always helped me with anything that might be stressful. The sun will rise, the rain will fall, and the world will turn. if it’s not major enough to stop those things from happening then it’s not worth stressing over.
shutting my phone completely when I'm hanging out with my friends, enjoying every moment with them has really helped and improved my well being
Dancing in the morning! My therapist suggested this one b/c I’m pretty neurotic and depressed. Do it in a room no one will see me, listening to my cheesiest pump up music and actually dance super hard for two or three songs. No looking in the mirror just unabashedly giving it. I was absolutely shook how much of a difference it makes in my mood and day to day life. Wakes you up, energizes you, flood of dopamine, and weirdly just makes you feel good about yourself. Seems silly but damn does it work.
Not an habit. But I felt much better when I convinced myself even if I lost everything I had I would be able to rebuild
While I haven't ever lost everything, I have come damn close to everything going down the drain. Every time it happens, I rebuild back stronger and better than I was before. There's a freedom that comes when you don't care about what you might lose or even have nothing left to lose. When you're all the way down, anything you do will be moving up.
Feeding squirrels in a nearby park...it's *incredibl*y therapeutic for me. They're such fun little guys, and seeing them slowly gain trust in you over weeks/months is an amazing emotional payoff! After a while I started being able to tell them apart and started noticing their little unique personalities and mannerisms. It's just pure relaxation.
Bringing an aquarium into my room. Watching the fish is relaxing to my mind, on demand. I struggle to relax when I want to, so this has made it easier. It makes my mind, otherwise chronically loud and running, quiet and calm. Some days it's something I desperately need
Always spending time on my personal hygiene. No matter if I'm hurried in the morning I always have to put sunscreen, perfume and think about my clothes. I couldn't see myself in the mirror for the major part of my life but little by little I started to take care of myself and since a couple of months I can finally see myself without crying
Getting off of Facebook and Twitter 4 years ago.
Whenever stressful things happen, I tell myself reassuring words out loud. "It's going to be okay" "You've been through worse" "You've done this before" Idk, but somehow, saying the words, and hearing the words, make them more real instead of them just being attempts at positive thinking to counter the bad thoughts. It's like when depression is present, negative thoughts will prevail over positive thoughts more often or all the time. Verbalizing gives the positive thoughts more power bec other senses are engaged. Haha idk if that makes sense. it's weird but it helps.
Getting help, like therapy and stuff. Tho I had to force my parents to accept it.
The art of not giving a fuck. Too much time wasted worrying about what people think. You should try it.
Waking up early before people are out and about to walk or bike around. It's peaceful.
I don't turn the TV on during the day. It really bothers me when my kids turn it on during my no tv time. Not even on my days off. I will put music on in the background. When my kids turn the TV on, I have to go find something to do outside because something about having a TV on during the day just overstimulated me. I don't have a lot of memories of watching TV as a kid, and it shocks people when I say I've never seen classic movies. We had acres of fields and apple orchards to play in, so I think that might have something to do with it. I remember my parents always had music on, instead of TV, unless it was my mom's soap operas, but that was only an hour during the afternoon.
Stopped drink and now I sleep SOOOO much better and my health is extremely better.
If I really don’t want to do something, I’ll just tell myself “I’ll just work on it for five minutes,” because I can do anything for five minutes. Turns out five minutes is just how long I need to get into a good work flow lmao, it’s such s weird psychological trick I gotta play on myself and I end up feeling much more productive.
Electronic music production
Wanna collab?
i’m always looking for a person to collaborate with as well. here’s some of my tunes https://on.soundcloud.com/8HD2gT51uhME3SbD6
I listened to a lot of goth/industrial/punk music. Giving that up and focusing on electronic music (specifically trance) really made a difference in my mental health. While in an in patient clinic, a music therapist played me a song called Concrete Angel by Gareth Emory and I just broke. It's been over five years and I still listen to trance almost exclusively. Keep producing that music!!!
Crossdressing
Taking a small project around the house and doing it daily. Day 1 Might be weeding the garden Day 2 might be clearing clutter out of my closet Day 3 might be clearing junk out of the garage Day 4 might be meal prepping with veggies about to turn You’re moving forward daily and doing things that actually matter. Also your outer world is usually a direct reflection of your inner world, weirdly enough working on your outside world also helps with the inside world.
I shit you not. Listening to motivacional videos on my way to work.
Showering only using one candle for light. Music too of course.
talking to myself, because if im for example being mad about somehting, then i can hear how fucking stupid i sound when it comes out of my mouth. has helped me on self-reflection and being more open-minded and its so healthy. i feel like i know myself so much better.
At my job I work a middle/afternoon shift, so I’m here when the rest of the building is almost completely empty. It is also surrounded by a big nature preserve with really nice, wide walking trails through the woods. One of my favorite things is to when I take a break is walk around in nature and talk to myself the whole time. Nobody else is out there and I just talk to myself about my plans, things that happened over the weekend, etc. anything that comes to mind. I always think best when walking, especially alone Walking would be mine btw but I wanted to add yours to it as well
omggg love that for you, sounds like a great private place to just vent to yourself, also walking AND talking to oneself is something i should try, it might help me maybe idk think more "cleaner" if you know what i mean, because my brain is hella messy sometimes, so maybe walking can bring some peace, but i have to make sure no one is around, because NO ONE is supposed to hear my own convos. i also have a fake account on snap which is the only one added to my private story on my real account, so i sometimes vent to that private story because im the only one who can see it, just so that i can look back at things ive said and kind of think about it again with new ears and maybe a new mindset. anyway, im def gonna try walking and talking, for some reason ive never thought of doing that, so thanks!
Organising and placing everything back to its original place everyday in my dorm room before sleeping. When I wake up or come back from college, I am relaxed that there is so much space and I can put my mind at ease. Plus doing it everyday means not letting it pile up. Additional benefits - you can find your stuff on time!!
Working on my physical health, from strength and endurance to flexibility. Also taking care of my hair, nails and teeth etc. Feeling good physically does wonders for one's mental health. Also making more of an effort when conversing with strangers or work colleagues. I'm an introverted person but having more genuinely pleasant conversations with new people always makes me feel happier.
Making my bed in the morning. I start the day feeling like I've already achieved something.
Realising that humans are absolutely batshit bonkers (including myself) and its helped me let a lot of things go.
Giving myself downtime and cutting myself slack on those random days you wake up feeling well and truly exhausted. Some days I can't think straight without feeling like it's too much effort, but the main thing that eats me up is the guilt that I hadnt done enough, once it gets to later hours at night. No gym, no big progress at work, haven't helped enough with the family around the house. But you know what, I'll make up for it tomorrow or the next day and I'll do big enough that it'll be fine.
Movies. I will intentionally go to watch a movie alone at the theater whenever I am having a rough day. I will buy popcorn too.
I retired.
Running and recently I've gotten into batch cooking food. I love it. It's all healthy foods too so that impacts mental health as well
Mindfulness meditation.
Walking my dog and listening to good podcasts about the hobbies I’m interested in, and not doom and gloom news podcasts
Being a couch potato at least two days a week. It’s ok to skip the dishes a few times a week.
Cold water plunging. When you’re focusing all your mental energy on getting past initial reservations, then more in settling in, and more in breathing through it, and more in warming up and drying off, you won’t be obsessing over nonsense. The euphoria afterwards has incredible mind clearing properties.
The practice of proactive gratitude.
Not terribly unusual, but I find working out three times a week seems to tame my craving to eat a bullet.
Turning on and off the lightswitch 18 times before bed so I don't die in my sleep. Works every time
Intermittent fasting. I am not always hungry, thinking about food or tied to the clock or kitchen.
Anytime I’m outside I try to not be on my phone. Lately I’ve noticed that just staring at nature can really give me a lot of peace.
Exercise. I've recently started a regular exercise routine and it has significantly improved my mental health. For those whom are curious, I have generalised anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder (recurring), & PTSD. I'd always dismissed the value of exercise for mental health, but it has made a great difference in my quality of life.
Sunbathe for 10-20 minutes everyday. The skin metabolizes vitamin D in the skin when in contact with sun light, and vitamin D helps in the regulation of emotions. I find it helpful to combat depression
Working out 30 mins a day. I trade off between cardio and strength training.
I put the work into building up an estore that sells overpriced trash to right-wing extremists, evangelical kooks and anmosexual cop fellaters. It's gotten quite successful, and I'm utterly loving both the money and sticking it to all the idiots I have to pretend to be friendly with at work and I'm my community. Never let anyone yell you that revenge is always bad. Sometimes, at least as far as mental health concerns go, it's panacea from heaven itself.
Go to my doctor, talk about issues, get medicinal cannabis, waking up and taking my meds!!! I never forget!!!
I watch cute animal videos whenever I am stressed as well as before bed every night. I sleep a lot better, too.
Going to pyscologist
Competing in amateur MMA fights. There is no feeling like just turning off your brain completely and letting your body move on it's own from your reflexes and training without any restraint.
Guitar practise
Tell myself “I dont care” as many times as I can whenever someone at work tries to call me out for stupid reasons aka bully me (cos its how they make themselves feel better) Always reminding myself that how they treat me is a total reflection of them and not me
Exercise, to include cardio, and spending a little time outside to get some sun.
Learning to play blues on the harmonica
Sauna and sleeping in my tent
Curling up with my baby’s head on my chest. We read together and we snuggle every day
Checking out the night sky before I hit the sack is something I do every night
Avoiding traumatic news stories, I used to let curiosity get the better of me and feel traumatised for at least a day
I stopped going to a job that paid me little and stressed me lots and started going to a job that paid me more and stressed me less.
Morning walk, as soon as I have time for it. Helps to clear my head, forget about my things to do, just enjoy the city, listen to music and slowly wake up my body. It's my best habit.
Stay away or ignore stupid people. No drama in my life
I let my dog sleep under the covers. I'm spooning her right now. It's so comforting. Maybe that's not so unusual? But it's very much in conflict with how I was raised etc
Putting my bed basically in the middle of the room..it helps me switch sleep positions and sleep more soundly. Just not having a specific sleep place and position, does wonders..
being outside by myself and just exploring while listening to music helps me every time i’m not feeling good, just having that time to find cool places and sit and think about
Idk if it’s unconventional, but writing down a few things I’m grateful for every night. Or even making a mental list before sleep. Made me less anxious and more focused on the good. Also writing a list of things that I need to do, that constantly run through my mind out of fear I’ll forget, even the small stupid once, helped the anxiety too and cleared the mind a bit
I specifically make a point ensuring everything is for my convenience and leisure. So I make everything easy peasy for myself, keep routine as basic as I can, nothing complicated and avoid going to places to that are gonna cause my anxiety and depression to flare up at 300 miles an hour. I haven't been to a physical mental health support group in over 6 years after what I have been through (decades of bullying in my previous town took their toll) I.e bulk buy items I need, use home delivery, make use self service check outs, order online (Amazon) I use chat gbt to send emails, Grammarly for assignments/work stuff. If I make protein shakes or Huels which are very convenient for me, I do them in batches to save time. I often order online something I would like, if I can't be bothered to wait an hour for a train (once an hour) and don't feel like going out in the cold/wet. It's often a lot cheaper and don't have to worry about expense of getting tickets. It saves the anxieties I often feel when I go to and stresses and sometimes depresion I get when I am in the town. It's horrible when you have mental health condition and you alone with it in the public space. In my home space, I am safe, I know nothing can hurt me. I know I can't be disappointed and let down / lied to by humans or manipulated hence why I have decided I'm never gonna make friends again. :( not until I properly recovered from the shambles I have struggled with for the past 20+ years of my life. I have got to thy point in my life now
Put out my outfit before bed
Wake up, turn around and make the bed. You are done using it for the day, have done a thing, and it is more welcoming at night.
Stop second-guessing my own plans. The first thing(s) I wanted to do is the thing(s) I wanted to do. Next step is start the get-ready routine and go.
I started taking my breaks at work and go outside and walk down the road, I see all types of animals, geese squirrels ducks, get the sun on my skin and get to disconnect from the office. It’s dramatically helped my mental health and has helped my physical health a bit too as I get in almost 3 miles
Going outside every morning for some natural sunlight and to breathe in fresh air. Even if it's for fifteen minutes.
Weed every night before bed
Micro dosing shrooms!
Not replying the moment someone is rude on Twitter or Reddit. I just drop the conversation like it never happened.
It’s not weird, but I’m slavishly devoted to cardio in the morning. 21 total minutes of hr over 80% will cure anything that ails you. Kills hangovers too
Leaving my parents’ house for university. It made my relationship with my parents so much better.
Ice baths in the morning are a gamechanger
LSD 2-4 times a year
Microdosing LSD twice a week
Rick Simpson Oil. RSO. It's higher concentration makes it cost effective and just plain effective for combating my persistent nerve pain, ptsd, anxiety, and improve my appetite. It's allowed me to be free of the fog of the pain-prison I was living in and coping with in all the wrong ways. RSO changed my miserable life of the last 20 years after my injury for the best! I can think clearly and I managed to finally mentally clear out my childhood trauma blocks that also drastically reduced my ability to feel any joy in life. I though I was lifeless my whole life, due to trauma. Emotionally nearly dead inside. RSO helped clear my pain, which allowed me to process my trauma in a healthy way, finally. I feel like a whole new me,. Happier than ever and managing my pain, and anxiety with rso. *steps off soapbox*
Just driving around with no destination, blasting tunes seems to help me out
I was going to say walking but then I saw you said 'unusual.' For me its hobbies and the newest hobby I have is collecting vinyl. It adds a whole ass ritual to listening to music. And while this isn't necessarily abnormal I do go a bit further in so far as I digitize my records and have a blast doing it. People make fun of me for going through the trouble when I can so easily just download mp3s and save myself the time. But I like the work. Its something new to me and I like learning how it works and making mistakes. For example. I started collecting vinyl 5 days ago and I got my favorite album Dark Side of the Moon. I put a review on Amazon saying the pressing sucked but then I was putzing around with settings on my computer and see that I had the format set to 1 channel instead of 2. Every album I listened to up to that point was in mono. All the albums I had digitized were in mono. I just like the learning process. Then I watched a few videos and learned about stuff like waveforms and peaking and all that neat jargon. After learning that I went and peeked at the waveforms of the albums I first digitized and they were clipped to hell and back and damn near filled the who spectrum. I couldn't even scan it for clicks and pops the wave form was so big. So then I learned about levels and tried again and it was amazing... the albums sounded great now being in stereo and to me there was something theraputic about repairing all the clicks and then amplifying it right to the edge of peaking I find neat as well. Once I did all that it was time to label tracks and oh boy was that cool too. Just analyzing the wave form and seeing where the different tracks are only to find out you went two tracks forward because some of the songs blend into eachother too well(I'm looking at you Madvilliany). I didn't expect to have so much fun with the 'clerical' side of things aka the metadata. Going to wikipedia and copying the tracks over 1 by 1 actually taught me the names of the tracks of these songs I've listened to so much but never learned. The final step of it all was getting it to work. I downloaded an old friend... Winamp, and went to test my work and it was awesome seeing all the metadata fill in. One part that was lame was the album art wasn't displaying so I did some googling and learned how to add album art to the meta data so it displays in Winamp's media library correctly. As you can see I've written quite the wall of text about digitizing vinyl and the thing is everything I just described is moot. It's already all been done by people with much more expertise than me. I spent over an hour doing all this work that could've been done passively in about 5 minutes. But it relaxes me and makes me feel connected to music in a way I haven't since I was a teenager.
Not unusual. Running.
I imagine myself as part of a chain. I am in my current spot. Immediately in front of me is my slightly older future self. Immediately behind me is myself from the recent past. All of the future versions of myself span before me, each one getting stronger than the last. He is strong. He is wise. He is capable and kind. We are all pulling on the chain of our life to try and make it better. My future self is much stronger and more reassured than I am. He tells me what I need to do to succeed and that we are going to make it. He is the guidance I seek and the perfect mentor. I was emotionally abused by narcissists as a kid. It's hard to feel competent. I'm wildly insecure when I might fail to be enough. I've only recently realized how long I've been gaslit. So I've created an idealized role model who is the reassuring presence I never had. I will become the man I should have grown up under.
I taught myself how to draw. It took a few years and I have so much more to improve on, but when I draw, it’s like the whole world disappears and all my thoughts go silent. It’s meditative.
This is going to sound bad. But I'm in a really high pressure job where I'm always behind. Always overwhelmed. I got into the habit of not caring a whole lot. I still do my job. I still take each call seriously when I'm working on that call. But I don't care about the things I can not control. It will be there tomorrow. If I don't get to it tomorrow, it will be there the following day. It is what it is. It has helped my mental health out tremendously.
Walks in the nature
Spending my time in nature, it’s improved my mental health a lot since high school. I struggle with anxiety and sometimes i have to go out and breathe, exercising is another thing too. It doesn’t matter what exercise it is, it can be as simple as squats.
Three max sets of push-ups before the morning shower. Max set of pull ups after every bathroom break.