Put on your own oxygen mask before assisting others

Hello, my dear audience! As per usual I am writing this on Monday. Ladies and gentlemen, it is not because of I am a lazy irresponsible human. It is exactly the opposite. I prepared myself for Monday’s article since last Monday, full of enthusiasm and energy, next day an Idea sprang into my mind and I had my first draft almost finished. It was one full page of words, approximately 5 minutes of reading. Somewhere toward the end, I started to slack and the sentences didn't fall into a coherent text. So at this point, I stopped, not beating myself up that I didn't finish it. I will continue after a short break or tomorrow. It was the middle of the week. I had time. So that is what happened, I returned to it the following day and the day after that. To be honest, it wasn't much better. I wasn't more productive. I lost the track of ideas and my thoughts got mixed up. I couldn’t concentrate and it all just didn't make sense to me. I am expressively saying to me because apparently my words and sentences do make sense, it is only my mind that tricks me to think otherwise.

And there is the culprit, your mind creates a vast amount of data that we call reality. Unfortunately, no one person’s reality is the same as anyone others’. We just live in different worlds. Quite separate. My reality for the past few days was not very welcoming, I tried to work I tried to create. It was just not working. My thoughts were infused by the impending doom of depression and hopelessness. Never mind that. I am used to these kinds of states. So what I did was the exact opposite of what I used to do. I did a little bit of yoga. I did lots of meditation only to learn that my lungs have shrunk a size. Oh well, we are welcoming anxiety onto the stage. Please applaud! So here she comes and I feel super weird. I know that I can manage anxiety attacks, for example, with breathing techniques. I use this cool app for focusing on the breath. It is very banal really, however, if you know that your mind is likely to stroll away with some volatile thoughts it makes even breathing difficult. So that's why the app helps at times. By the way, it is really beautiful … all in colours of blue and purple, all that calms me down. Beautiful.

So I did that. I also did some mindfulness exercises, and Listen to an inspiring podcast, or tried to go for a run. But let me warn you, this is not some content curated specifically for Blue Monday. Easy solution how to snap out of spleen… I did all that and it didn’t help me the way I had expected. Of course. What do you think? That we have a button specifically installed to cancel the anxiety? No. It is a lifetime of work. For some, it comes once in a lifetime, for others, unfortunately, it is ever-present. We need to learn that, again, it is a scale with which we are working. Sometimes things are great, sometimes horrible. For me, these past few days I wasn't able to help myself with meditation, the anxiety struck hard this time. Even now as I am sitting down typing the words I am quite out of breath. Honestly, I have no freaking idea why. It is morning and no hungry predator is hunting me. So why can't I have one normal breath of fresh air?

It is not because it’s Monday not even because It's Blue Monday or January, it just is and comes around whenever it feels like it. The only responsible thing we can do for ourselves but mostly for our future generations is to learn about the human psyche and teach ourselves the ways about depression, anxiety, ADHD, and all that jazz. Whatever we need. Why does it happen and how does it affect us specifically? You are not going to help anyone unless you don't help yourself first. Why do you think on an airplane they teach you to put on an oxygen mask first?

So as I approach the last paragraph I leave you with this: read about depression, and educate yourself on anxiety. You did or will experience it at some time or another. It is not something that occurs only to that weird group of people. You may have it too, not even knowing about it, acting out to people viciously and suffering in silence, wondering why. Learning to work with your own mind is a must to understand others. Listen to your soul, learn if you need help, or just walk in nature. Ask your child if he’s feeling ok, and ask your friends. If it is terrifying to learn that someone from your closest is suffering in silence do it anyway and try to understand them and yourself.

It is the only way to make sure humanity survives.

Love, Sandra