What to do when you feel despondent

When you feel despondent, life can seem very bleak. I have been there. It is usually triggered for me when my health deteriorates and I have to place ‘life on hold’ and get myself well again.

As I have been in this hopeless place many times before, I have sat with the despair and asked myself, with all my mental health experience, what I could possibly do to feel hopeful and happier again?

Here are a few tips that I thought might help you if you ever feel hopeless. We can’t avoid the negative feelings but there are things we can do to speed up the recovery process:

PSYCHOLOGICAL FLEXIBILITY

Psychological flexibility is one the best kept secrets in mental health. Research has proven that the more flexible you are in your approach to the world, the happier you will be and the less stressed you will be. It’s as simple as that.

When I get ill and need intravenous medication, some of my authomatic thoughts are often along the lines of, “Here we go again. Life is so hard. Why me? etc”. I am quick to recognise this type of defeatist thinking nowadays though, and immediately look for alternative ways to look at the situation. I can’t change the fact that my health is fragile, so beating myself up or criticising myself is a waste of good energy and is unhelpful. Instead, I give myself a pep talk…