Today’s blog isn’t about tips for small business owners. It’s not going to go into any fun facts about writing or the English language. It’s not even going to be that long. The aim is to share a simple message: Look after yourself.
Last week was a rough one for me. I won’t go into too many details but work and life and everything that’s going on in the world all seemed to pile up all at once and my poor little brain was left feeling immensely overwhelmed.
It’s not a nice feeling.
It’s not a good feeling.
After years of knowing that anxiety was an issue for me but continually blowing it off as ‘that’s just how I am’, I had a bit of a wake up call. I experienced three days worth of extreme panic and worry, leaving me both physically and mentally tense and exhausted for days afterwards.
I won’t sugar coat it. I honestly felt like I was going insane.
This is not a case of ‘that’s just how I am’ anymore.
This is something that can (and will, if left untreated) severely impact my quality of life and the lives of those around me.
I’m now speaking with a nutritionist and my doctor to try and improve my physical health, my mental health and my lifestyle in general.
It’s a step in the right direction and it’s about time I recognised that some things can’t just be fixed with scented candles and ASMR videos (and whatever other shitty coping mechanisms I’d told myself would make me feel better if I just had enough of them or found the right one).
Anyway, this is a post to remind you all to look after yourself.
If you don’t feel so good, don’t leave it until you’re in the midst of a three day long anxiety episode to finally realise that you need a little help understanding what your triggers are, finding out where they come from and introducing healthy and sustainable coping mechanisms that will help in the long term.
If you’ve been feeling a bit off recently, or if you’d like to chat to someone about the things I’ve mentioned in this post, please feel free to reach out.
I ended up speaking to my GP about what had happened and he was so, so helpful. I honestly can’t thank him enough for his patience, his understanding and his genuine interest in helping me figure this all out.
I’ve left a few links at the bottom of this post to some great resources.
It definitely helps to talk to someone who understands, even just a little, about what you’re going through, but the act of deciding that you need to make changes to improve comes entirely from you.
Make the changes sooner rather than later.
Remember, it’s ok to not be ok…but it’s silly to let yourself drown when there are so many resources to help you swim.
Look after yourself 🖤
✨
Katelyn
THINK | WRITE | CREATE
🖤 Lifeline Australia: www.lifeline.org.au
🖤 Beyond Blue: www.beyondblue.org.au
Header Image 📸 Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash
