Night Shift

Hi @Faith-and-Hope!

I didn't sleep much last night, too many bad memories that popped up into my concious and refused to budge.

How about you?

@Tyler77

I think I had four or five hours solid sleep, which is not bad. I usually sleep pretty well, but there has been too much going on lately, particularly high-stress emotional stuff. I wake from sleep sometimes when that's been happening, sort of semi-conscious to the fact that my brain has been working on processing it all while I am asleep.

Amazing things, these bodies of ours ...

yea.. @Faith-and-Hope I totally know what you mean. Lately my dreams have been like taking major life issues and situations and putting them into a blender to mix. They're all jumbled up and mixed into on and eachother.

I think I'm going into a depressive phase...Alot of dwelling on the past, unable to put it out of my mind. gonna meet with doc next week hopefully....

I'm glad you can recognise where you're at @Tyler77, and are being pro-active in seeing the dr about it.

When I find myself night-waking from "emotional storm" days, I tend to just coast for a while, only doing the have-to stuff and leaving everything else that can wait.

@Mazarita Talks about how to "postpone your worries" ... I tend to "postpone the energy expenditure" a bit too. We can't do everything at once, or be everything at once. It's restful to slow the pace a bit.

Do you have any hobbies ?

@Faith-and-Hope

I do have hobbies that I am into almost daily when I am feeling better.

For me, part of the reason I know Im headed for a depressive phase, is because things i used to do and take joy in, I no longer feel drawn to. I used to workout daily. Now that has been lagging. But I'm still going through mild withdrawl from ADHD meds and will be for another couple weeks, so it could be that.

But when I am well, I workout in the morning for about a hour or two. Then come home, eat lunch, then get on the computer or playstation and play some games, talk online, maybe read (though i dont read as nearly as much as I should and could). Sometimes, I do creative writing, but that has lessened alot since quitting the meds I was addicted to. Usually my day soars on by, and its smooth sailing from one morning to the next.

What about you, got any hobbies?

@Tyler77

Well ... now one of my hobbies is chatting here ... 😏

Mostly arty stuff is what I turn to, but I only pick up a paint brush when I feel like it. Sometimes I will toy with the idea of painting until I feel ready to actually start. I find when there's too much going on, I can't engage with it, but that's okay. It needs to be a joy, and motivated by joy, so I need to feel authentic about it.

I like walking, listening to music. With a large family tho, it's really finding space within the other currents that are ruling my life, and just saying okay, time to do something for me.

Well those are all cool things to do @Faith-and-Hope!

The only artsy stuff I get into is poetry writting, but most of that is cathartic depressive writing. Some of it is really good though. I kinda can get high off my depressive episodes, if that makes sense. I get so so low that its almost that I've gone so low that it now is high again...I don't know how else to explain it lol. Maybe I am just a long suffering hopeless romantic who finds romance in depressing lows...lol, kinda wierd i guess.

@Tyler77

If you enjoy creative writing, there's a Writing as a Form of Therapy thread going, started by @Silenus

@Tyler77

Romantic is good 🙂

Part expresses a lot of different themes, and I am guessing a lot if very creative people fall into mi categories because they experience things so vividly, and it can create roller-coasters. 'Normal' is a spectrum.

Art to me is an aesthetic. I am drawn to things that are uplifting, and like to create things that are uplifting. I really don't entertain trying to use my art any other way, quite simply because I don't want to ...

Have you thought of writing poetry when you are on a happier level too ? Is it something you tend to reserve for when you are feeling low ? If so, it's probably one of your pick-me-up strategies, which is cool 😊

@Faith-and-Hope

I think it might be a coping mechanism, because I usually go to it during depressive lows, and I like making something that rhymes and gives a deep message, it makes me feel better when I see the final product. Some of it is dark and gloomy, and I can look back and say "Woah that is so heavy and dark" with a smile on my face....

Rarely will i write when I am happy. But i have done it before.