My mental health has been at something of a low ebb recently, and I suspect I’m not the only one. Lockdown is taking its toll on so many people in the UK, and those of us who find ourselves feeling low during the winter months also have that to contend with.
The things I used to rely on to give me a little lift, like meeting a friend at a coffee shop or a date night at the cinema and/ or a restaurant with my husband, can’t happen right now. So, when I need to raise my spirits, I need to think a little bit differently. Today, I have done an intense workout. I have put on a full face of makeup, perfume, and a nice outfit, even though I’m going nowhere. Why? Because I was feeling low about my appearance, among other things, and I needed a boost. Now, every time I catch a glimpse of my reflection I smile, because going to that effort has just made me feel that bit special for the day. That’s just what I needed to pull my mood back out of the ditch it’s been wallowing in.
And this is what I mean by “little lifts.” For many of us, nothing exciting is going to be happening for a while, and we need to take our joy and positivity wherever we can. Sometimes we all need to have a moan and a cry but, let’s face it, it’s no fun. We need to make ‘exciting’ happen in our own homes when we’re done having our mental breakdown.
As a writer, I have had some recent lifts in the form of having short pieces of work accepted by an anthology called ‘Lost Lore and Legends’ by Breaking Rules Publishing Europe. This, in addition to the release of Poetica 2, which features one of my poems, has been important to me while I crack on with editing my novel, because it gives me a sense of achievement in the meantime and I have the release of the book to look forward to. (That should be at the end of March and I’ll be promoting that on my blog and social media pages.) I need to keep submitting these small pieces to various publications in the hope of the occasional acceptance to keep boosting my morale.
Every bit of progress with my writing is going to help me focus on the positives, whether it’s knocking out a quick blog post, my weekly piece of flash fiction (see the right hand side of the page for links to those), having a piece accepted into an anthology or magazine, or getting another chapter of editing done. There’s something really exciting about putting some work out into the world, and I intend to do as much of that as I can this year, in case most of it is as monumentally shit as 2020 was for everyone.
My message to all of you this week is that times are hard, but please try your best to find the things that will keep you going, that will give you the occasional smile or make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. It might be an artistic project, personal care in whatever form that takes for you, or just some perfume and sparkly eyeshadow. (Don’t care what your gender is, don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it.) Take care of yourselves and each other. Vaccines are coming. Hang in there and do whatever helps you get through until then.
Lots of love.
V.
