My relationship with my bed is very indicative of how I am feeling mentally and emotionally.

When I am mentally unwell, I visit my bed far too often. I might go and hide in there when things get too tough and I am overwhelmed. I stay in there too long, or I can't get out of it; there is safety in my bed when the rest of the world is far too frightening to allow me to get out and contend with it. However, sometimes my bed is not safe. Nights can be spent wanting to sleep and that respite never comes, or I can be too frightened to sleep because of the nightmares and night terrors which will visit me.

When I am becoming better, the naps and the visits to my bed become less frequent and shorter. I'm now managing at least a couple of days a week when I don't need an afternoon nap, and I don't dive for the duvet when things get too much for me.

When I am mentally well, my bed is somewhere I visit once a day to sleep and recharge, and where I sleep well. I know when I am becoming mentally unwell again, as the visits to my bed become more frequent. Things are dropped so I can go to bed. Whole days can be lost to being in bed, or constantly returning to bed. Tiredness becomes all pervading. Even if I have only just surfaced from sleep, I'll need to be asleep again.

My relationship with my bed is my barometer for how I am doing. What barometers do you have in your life for your mental/emotional wellness and wellbeing?

Rats

A Moodscope member