I am sitting in front of my desktop wanting to write my next blog post. Unfortunately my body and mind are feeling a little lost at the moment. My mind is trying to make sense of what has happened recently, how I am currently feeling and what the future may hold.

I thought this may be a situation you have experienced and maybe we can have a chat about it.

One of the mental health features I am experiencing is a feeling that I exist in two different worlds. Most of the time I feel quite ‘normal’. In those periods I:

- Converse jovially with others.

- Enjoy consuming favourite food and drink.

- Get outside appreciating nature.

- Want to help others

- Am more accepting of my mental health condition.

In my other world (abnormal?) I:

- Become more introverted.

- Feel anxious and/or depressed.

- Experience more anger and frustration. 

- Find it more difficult to accept my mental heath condition.

- Realise my motivation levels have decreased.

What I have found as time goes by is that my level of mood awareness has increased. However, the changing between the two ‘worlds’ is often confusing. A simple personal example happened a few days ago. For quite a while my moods had dipped with spells of anxiety and depression making me feel angry and irritable. Then it was a family members birthday and we decided to go out for a pub lunch. Nothing was booked but we decided to visit one of the local pubs for the first time. What a dump! We arrived just after 1pm to be greeted by the only person in the bar (the landlady) who announced “We don’t serve food at lunchtime”. 

So quick change of plan; drove to another pub a few miles away. What a difference! We took the last table and were offered drinks and the menu. My seabass was a real treat, cooked to perfection in a herbal juice. And smiles and laughs with the waitresses.    

Can you relate to significant mood changes particularly where small alterations of circumstances are involved?

And now for something completely different:

We all know that physical exercise is good for mental health. Recent research has shown that laughing is even more beneficial than exercise.Therefore when the better weather arrives I will be sitting on a park bench laughing at all the joggers running past!

Teg

A Moodscope member