Erin is the writer of Daisies and Bruises, a blog about "finding her way one step and one word at a time. After losing most of her youth to severe depression, she decided that since death was no longer an option, she had to find a way to live. This is it."

I am writing this post tonight to help myself as much as you because this has been one hell of a week. It really convinced me that these mental health superhero underpants are just not going to cut it 24/7 because writing confidently about mental illness isn’t going to change the fact that I still suffer from mental illness. And yes, I mean “suffer”, not “live with” mental illness because I am suffering and to lie to you about that would undermine everything this blog stands for.

So this shitty week is reminding me of the things I have learned to do to prevent shitty weeks from getting shittier, aka things that I messed up on this week. These are things I learned to do after eight years of refusing to believe that they make any difference to one’s mood whatsoever. They are a pain in the ass most of the time but I do notice a difference in my well being when I stop doing them. And I always seem to throw all these tips away right when I need to be sticking to them the most. BAD IDEA!!

Anyway, even if you don’t think this list applies to you, file it away in the back of your mind somewhere. The best way I have found to keep my mood tolerable is to monitor my depression and make sure I do the following.

1. Get up and dressed daily

This first one I can actually stick to fairly easily but only because my mom drilled this into me from a very young age. Even when I had the flu she would make me change out of my pajamas and into sweatpants for the day. I always feel more capable to take on the day when I’m dressed as if I can take on the day.

2. Go to bed at the same time every night

This is a really good habit to get into if you have a hard time sleeping to begin with because our bodies really respond well to routine. I find if I go to bed around 10:30 and get up around 9 life stays a bit easier to manage. I do stay up later once a week or so but I feel more off-kilter for a few days afterward as a result. My bedtime medication also seems to work better when I take it at the same time every night.

3. Eat well

I have a ton of excuses for not eating three square meals a day, but when I do try to eat something close to a balanced meal at regular intervals, I feel better.  So even if you can’t be bothered or can’t afford to cook elaborate meals, doing the best you can do to get a variety of nutrients into your body makes a difference.

4. Don’t Isolate Yourself

As I’ve talked about before, my favourite activities are solitary ones so I really need to watch my tendency to isolate myself. If I’m feeling bad and want to hide from the world, that’s okay once in a while, but I can’t let myself do it every day all the time. Like with all these other tips, I need to follow this one especially when I’ve been feeling crappy. When it’s too much to be around people, hanging with my pets is one way I don’t isolate myself completely.

5. Self-Nurture by doing what you love

It seems to be second nature to do what you love but when you’re depressed you can forget what you love. I get into these slumps where I don’t do art even though it always makes me feel better. I need to learn to make myself do the things I love even when I don’t want to do them. Then I go, “Oh yeah, this rules!” Doing what I love also makes me feel more confident in myself.

So those are five main tips to stick to when life is kicking your ass. I need to make a colossal list of all the things I do to feel better but right now I can just focus on these five to keep me going.

- by Erin