Last week, travelling across London on the underground, somewhere along the way I managed to lose my photo ID and wallet. Not my actual train ticket but nevertheless a real pain to replace. As quick as a flash I reverted to (my) type and started ruminating and criticising myself for being so disorganised, how I wish I was different and how this doesn't seem to happen to anyone else but me.

This is always followed by focusing on other anecdotes and instances where I have let myself (and others down). We all know this is text book 'black and white thinking' that happens when we are feeling particularly low and it can be very difficult to brush aside and move on.

But in this particular instance, I wanted to put it into some sort of perspective so thought I would do a bit of digging.

There are some 35,000 bags, 12,000 umbrellas, 27,000 phones and 11,000 keys left on buses, tubes and trains in the UK every year as well as more unusual items like a marionette puppet and a relative's ashes!?

The moral of this story is that the everyday occurrences that can send the more vulnerable types into a tail spin happen to an awful lot of people who don't suffer from a mental health condition.

Black and white thinking is very destructive and needs to be kept in check and put in perspective as much as humanly possible. My token bit of research instantly normalised the incident and I was able to stay on a steady kilter. Stuff happens to everyone, very often and we should always keep that firmly in mind. It's all about giving ourselves a break and believing that we like everyone else deserve it...

Damian

A Moodscope member.