Posted in wellness, wellbeing, Setting goals and intentions, goal setting, personal development, personal growth, intentional living, Habit formation

Steps to Enhance Your Wellness with Easy Habits and Lasting Focus (A guest post from Linda Chase)

Photo from a selection on Unsplash

Today, I bring you an interesting and informative blog post written by regular guest poster, Linda Chase. In her article, she shares tips, tricks and easy to implement habits for enhancing your wellbeing and developing consistency in doing so. I hope you enjoy reading and find the piece as beneficial and thought provoking as I have.

For adults seeking wellness improvement while balancing work, family, and a busy mind, the hardest part is rarely knowing what’s “healthy”; it’s staying consistent when life gets messy. Common wellness challenges like stress eating, skipped workouts, low energy, and a stalled creative spark can make wellness self-improvement strategies feel like one more project to manage. Beginner health habits work because they lower the pressure and build trust in small wins. With simple stress reduction techniques, wellness starts to feel calmer, clearer, and more doable.


Quick Wellness Takeaways

  • Start with small daily habits and build lasting motivation through simple, repeatable routines.
  • Choose practical wellness strategies that fit real life, so healthy changes feel achievable today.
  • Focus on actionable self-improvement tips that support both wellbeing and creativity in everyday living.
  • Use quick wellness insights to pick one clear step, then expand as your confidence grows.

Choose Your Starting Point: 10 Beginner-Friendly Upgrades

When wellness feels big, it helps to pick one “upgrade” that matches your energy today. Use this menu like your 60-second action map: chose one small move, make it easy, and repeat it often.

  1. Do a 2-minute “nervous system reset”: Try one stress management method you can do anywhere: inhale for 4, exhale for 6, for 10 breaths. Longer exhales nudge your body toward calm, which can make decisions and cravings easier to handle. Keep it “tiny on purpose”, this is about consistency, not intensity.
  2. Upgrade your sleep with 1–2 changes, not a whole routine: Pick one or two new sleep hygiene practices to test for a week, like a fixed “screens off” time or dimming lights 30 minutes before bed. Small shifts are easier to keep, and better sleep supports mood, appetite, and motivation. If you wake at night, avoid problem-solving, write a one-line note and return to rest.
  3. Build a “balanced plate” you can repeat: Aim for a simple formula most days: a protein + a colorful plant + a fiber-rich carb + a healthy fat. Example: eggs + spinach + whole-grain toast + olive oil, or beans + salsa + brown rice + avocado. Balanced nutrition habits reduce energy crashes, which makes other beginner wellness tips easier to follow.
  4. Add hydration with a visual cue: Put a full glass or bottle where you’ll see it during your first daily anchor (coffee/tea, morning meds, or sitting at your desk). Drink half before you do anything else, then refill once. This removes willpower from the equation and can reduce “mystery fatigue” that’s really just under-hydration.
  5. Try a 10-minute “minimum movement” session: Choose something gentle: a brisk walk, an easy mobility flow, or dancing to two songs. The goal is to create a repeatable win, not to “make up” for anything you ate. When motivation dips, the minimum keeps your identity intact: you’re someone who shows up.
  6. Start a creative hobby with a low-stakes prompt: Set a timer for 5 minutes and do one prompt: “Today I notice…,” “If my stress had a color…,” or a quick collage of words/images that match your mood. Starting creative hobbies gives your brain a safe place to process emotions without needing the “right” words. Keep supplies visible so it’s frictionless.
  7. Practice one mental health basic: name it, then choose one need: When you feel off, try: “I’m noticing , and I might need .” Needs can be simple, water, food, movement, rest, connection, or quiet. This turns overwhelm into a doable choice and supports healthier boundaries in daily life.

Micro-Habits That Keep Wellness Moving

These habits work because they rely on rhythms, not hype: they lower friction, protect your energy, and give you quick feedback. Use them to make simple wellness and creativity feel doable even when motivation dips.

Morning Anchor Check

  • What it is: Pair water with one fixed cue, like coffee, meds, or opening your laptop.
  • How often: Daily.
  • Why it helps: A stable cue turns wellness into autopilot instead of a decision.

Two-Song Movement Break

  • What it is: Move for two songs: walk, mobility, light strength, or kitchen dancing.
  • How often: Daily or 5 days weekly.
  • Why it helps: Small reps build daily fitness routines without needing a perfect workout.

Five-Breath Pause

  • What it is: Take five slow breaths before snacks, scrolling, or replying to a tense
  • message.
  • How often: Per trigger
  • Why it helps: A quick mindfulness exercise creates space for better choices.

One-Line Boundary Script

    • What it is: Write and use one sentence based on establishing your limits.
    • How often: Weekly practice, then as needed.
    • Why it helps: Clear boundaries protect time, sleep, and emotional bandwidth.

    Weekly Reset List

    • What it is: Make a short Sunday list: rest, meals, movement, connection, and one
    • creative hour.
    • How often: Weekly.
    • Why it helps: Planning reduces decision fatigue and supports practice consistency.


    Wellness Habit Questions, Answered Simply


    Q: What are some effective daily habits to reduce stress and improve overall wellness?
    A: Start with tiny, repeatable actions: a glass of water on a cue, a 2-minute stretch, and a five-breath reset before reacting. Keep one “minimum version” for hard days, like a 3-minute walk or one calming song. Consistency matters more than intensity, so make the habit easy enough to keep.
    Q: How can I start and maintain a fitness routine when I have a busy schedule?
    A: Choose a time you already have, like right after lunch or before your first meeting, and make it a non-negotiable 10 minutes. Research shows time management moderately related to wellbeing, so scheduling even a short slot can pay off. Track “days moved,” not perfect workouts.
    Q: What strategies help improve sleep quality naturally without medication?
    A: Pick one anchor: a consistent wake time, dimmer lights after dinner, or a 10-minute wind- down routine. Keep screens out of bed, and use a simple brain-dump note to stop mental looping. If you wake at night, focus on slow breathing instead of checking the clock.
    Q: How do I create a supportive environment by surrounding myself with positive influences?
    A: Curate what you see and hear daily: tidy one small surface, reduce doom-scrolling cues, and follow people who model realistic habits. Ask one friend to be your “check-in buddy” for weekly wins and gentle accountability. Positive influences should make your goals feel normal, not extreme.
    Q: What steps can I take to incorporate healthy lifestyle changes when using a wellness app or self-improvement program?
    A: Set one clear goal and one “minimum” action, then log it right after you do it. Evidence from a meta-analysis of over 19,000 participants suggests monitoring progress can improve goal attainment. If apps feel noisy, make a printable habit grid and check off just the basics; you can even print posters online to help you keep reminders visible.


    Build a Healthier Rhythm with One Simple Daily Habit

    When life is full and energy is uneven, wellness can feel like one more thing to manage, and missing a day can drain personal growth motivation fast. A supportive wellness mindset keeps the focus on small, repeatable choices and kind course-corrections, so the habits fit real schedules instead of fighting them. With that approach, emotional wellness encouragement becomes practical: you notice progress, recover quicker from setbacks, and strengthen your healthy lifestyle commitment through consistency. Small steps, repeated kindly, create lasting change. For the next seven days, you can choose one consistent self-improvement step, your minimum version of movement, hydration, or a short creative reset, and do it once daily. That steady follow-through builds resilience and trust in yourself, week after week.

    Final words…

    Thank you so much to Linda for her wonderful article. There are so many great ideas here for small, actionable steps which you can build in to your daily routine. I’ll certainly be giving some of them a go over the next few weeks with a view to creating helpful micro habits that last. As suggested, I’ll be starting small, with a view to implementing tiny changes which together, are sure to make a huge difference to my future health and wellbeing.

    Posted in Bipolar disorder, depression, health, intentional living, lifestyle, mental illness, wellbeing, wellness

    Currently… Life update February 2026

    Hi everyone, I hope you are all well. Those of you who regularly read my blog posts may have noticed that I’ve been AWOL for a long time and haven’t written anything since April 2025. The truth is that for over six months, I really struggled with my mental health, coping with (or not) a lengthy spell of depression and chronic anxiety. And, unfortunately, one of my symptoms of really low mood is that I’m barely able to string a sentence together let alone write a blog post.

    When I first started struggling, I was convinced it was due to something that had made me upset at work, but as time went on, I wondered why the event was still upsetting me. I’d been stable with my bipolar disorder for a fair few years, using both my medication and therapeutic strategies that I’d learnt in various therapy sessions to keep me well. However, the anxiety and depression continued and I became worried that I would never get better again (another symptom).

    After around 4 months of difficulties, I saw a mental health practitioner at my GP surgery and she suggested that it might be worth tweaking my medication by increasing my anti-depressant. She also suggested that I might get blood tests done to check my hormone levels in case I was perimenopausal and the community pharmacist she had contacted about me agreed. At 48 years old, I was convinced that I could have started the menopause but I was so wrong! My levels were incredibly low which, according to my online reading, suggested I was well into the menopause – this came as a huge shock. After what felt like a long and agonising wait, I was started on HRT (in the form of patches), which I was advised could take up to three months to work. I kept taking the higher dose of my antidepressant but knew that it would cause extreme agitation at first and would take weeks to kick in. I was given a short course of Diazepam for this but it persisted for weeks and I wasn’t allowed any more. I was then prescribed a beta blocker to deal with the physical anxiety symptoms but it was still a real struggle as the medication doesn’t help the psychological side of things at all.

    Whilst waiting for the antidepressant and HRT to kick in, I did lots of reading around bipolar disorder and menopause and discovered that fluctuating or low hormone levels can affect the efficacy of bipolar medication such as mood stabilisers and antidepressants (which I’m on both of), reducing the positive effects. I was upset that not one of the medical professionals I saw while unwell knew this and the various doctors I’d seen before the mental health practitioner had any idea about this.

    Christmas was hard as my mood was so low, but, just after new year, I noticed the depression and anxiety had gone and I finally had my old self back. As with all previous episodes, it was like a switch had been flipped and I felt so much better. Unfortunately, I had a few issues with my physical health as I slipped down the bottom half of the stairs at home in my socks and then slipped again on a very icy pavement, injuring my coccyx (which is still not totally better). However, despite being in a huge amount of pain when sitting, it didn’t get me down and I accepted it would take a while for me to get better.

    My writing mojo is totally back, as you can see from the above and this is the first of hopefully many posts and updates in 2026. I thought I’d ease myself back into blogging with a life update, including what I’m up to right now. I’m like a completely different person and so many friends have commented on how well I look. It’s such a relief for me and my family and, hopefully, I’ll be stable for a long while to come and as such, making the most of my life going forward. Here’s what I’m current finding joy doing:

    Currently reading…

    This month, I’ve been stepping out of my comfort zone and reading some books that are not the crime or psychological dramas I usually prefer. I’ve read and listened to on Audible, a historical fiction classic novel called I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith and despite it being completely different to what I usually read, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Also, it was a book club read for a new online challenge created by Kelseyleigh at My Abiding Journal over on YouTube and it was nice to listen to her thoughts about it too. When I’d finished this book, I again opted for a different style, this time a Romcom called The Switch by Beth O’Leary. This light-hearted read isn’t as fast paced as my usual choices, but again, I’m enjoying the story, reading a few chapters in bed each night.

    Currently watching…

    There are so many fantastic dramas on at the moment and we’ve had to record some of them to watch over the next few months. We’ve just finished the BBC’s Wild Cherry and ITV’s Betrayal which were both fantastic and gripping. Right now, we’re loving the 29th series of Silent Witness and have also just begun watching The Lady which is based on the true story of Jane Andrews who was royal dresser for Sarah Ferguson in the late 80s to late 90s. We’ve only watched one episode so far but it looks promising.

    Currently preparing for…

    …spring arriving next month. There are lots of shoots popping up in the garden and we have a few miniature narcissus already out. There’s lots of tidying up to do out the back and as well as writing a list of gardening jobs, I intend to write a room by room list of spring cleaning jobs.

    I’m also looking forward to changing up our home decor for the new season. I have lots of items I’ve purchased over the years (many decorative bunnies) but I’ve also purchased some mini honeycomb eggs and some tiny ceramic bunnies for my twig tree. In addition, I’ve ordered a lovely handmade felt banner from Etsy featuring daffodils and felt balls in shades of yellow and orange which I can’t wait to display in my craft room.

    Currently working on…

    …my new memory keeping and creative journal which I started last month. In it, I’m recording the highlights from each month as well as a bingo challenge from My Abiding Journal that I’ve signed up for which encourages you to create new seasonal memories following a fun game format. So far, I’ve completed my January pages and have printed lots of photos and collected ephemera for my February entries. I like to combine small amounts of journalling with the images and I’m also trying to draw a small piece of art each month to represent something I want to remember. Last month, I drew and coloured in some snowdrops and this month, I plan to sketch a sanderling which is a small wading bird that we’ve enjoyed watching feeding in the shallows of the sea as the tide comes in.

    Currently enjoying…

    …doing much more work at my local university. Whilst I was unwell, I struggled to get out of bed as I was always tired. This meant I only made myself available for sessions on an afternoon. Now I’m well, I’m available mornings and afternoons and have had much more work. It’s lovely to be back on top form and I feel such a sense of accomplishment after each working day.

    Currently trying out…

    …a number of new recipes from a vegan cookbook that I bought my husband as a gift. It’s wonderful to be spending time together preparing home cooked meals again and we’ve even learned how to make our own stir fry sauces which are so tasty and flavoursome. We’re looking forward to trying out many more over the coming months.

    Final words…

    I’m currently doing so much that I would be able to carry on writing this for hours yet but I don’t want it to end up being a TLDR affair! So, for now, that’s the end of my update and I invite you to comment and let me know what’s going on for you at the moment. I’d also love to know what everyone has planned for the spring months and I hope you’ll join me in a little seasonal cleaning in the March to May period. I’m planning on writing a blog post about how I’m going to prepare my spring cleaning lists so that I can be sure that all of those once or twice yearly tasks get ticked off.

    Thanks for reading and have a wonderful springtime,

    Posted in mental health, relationships, wellbeing, wellness

    Monday Matters: 5 Great Ways To Expand Your Social Circle

    Social connection is a key part of good mental health and wellbeing, but, making new friends and acquaintances can often feel much more difficult as we get older. So, today, I’m sharing 5 ways in which you can widen your social circle so as to easily enjoy a diverse range of relationships and hopefully find some good friends along the way.

    Volunteer

    Volunteering for a cause that you are passionate about can be a great way to meet people with similar interests and core values. I used to volunteer for the RSPB and, although I worked alone in my particular role, our team used to meet up for regular social events where birds and wildlife were one of our many topics of conversation.

    There are tonnes of different ways to volunteer but here are some ideas to get you started:

    • work for a local food bank
    • help out at a local animal shelter
    • become a gardener at a nearby National Trust place
    • if you live by the coast, get involved in a beach clean up
    • support your local hospital trust
    • become a youth mentor
    • assist at a local charity shop
    • join The British Red Cross

    Get a pet dog

    Now, I haven’t tried this one myself as my husband is allergic to dogs, but I do know that taking your pet for a walk in your local park or just around the block is a guaranteed way of meeting others and potentially building friendships. Whilst your mutt says hello to other dogs he or she meets along the way, you’ll likely find yourself chit chatting with their owner, firstly about your dogs, but then, often widening the conversation to a topic of your choosing. And, in all likelihood, you’ll bump into each other again another time, and if you enjoyed chatting before, you’ll probably find yourself talking to one another again.

    Become part of an online community

    One of my favourite ways to connect with like-minded individuals is on a virtual basis through joining groups on Facebook. Wherever your interests lie, there’s likely to be a related group that you can try out. I’m a member of all kinds of groups including Ethical Hamster Care, Angry Birds 2 Gamers, Dolphin Spotting NE From your Facebook homepage, just click the fifth icon in the middle section of the upper bar and either peruse available groups using the discover button or search for topics of interest using key words.

    Attend a class or workshop

    Signing up for a class or workshop is a great way to meet new people with similar interests. I’ve done a number of different short courses over the years including two ceramics classes (beginners and intermediate), photography for beginners, Tai Chi, The Wheel of Wellness, Mindfulness and aromatherapy. I met people of all different ages and backgrounds and I’ve stayed in touch with some of them since finishing.

    Join the gym

    I’ve been a member of my local gym for a few years now and I’ve met so many people who share my interest in keeping fit and maintaining good wellbeing. I’ve found that in the gym itself, people don’t tend to make conversation but in the classes that I go to, there’s plenty of chatter before the activity starts and as we pack away our equipment. There’s also a cafe where I go and at least a handful of participants grab a coffee together afterwards.

    Final words…

    I hope you’ve found today’s post beneficial and it has given you some ideas about how you can grow your social circle. I would love to hear in the comments of any stories you would be happy to share about different ways in which you’ve made new friends and acquaintances as an adult.

    Posted in physical health, wellbeing, wellness

    Monday Matters: 6 activities to boost your cognitive function and increase your brain power

    Cognitive functioning refers to the mental processes that we use on an everyday basis to gain knowledge and develop comprehension. It includes our ability to think, learn, remember, pay attention, perceive, plan, communicate and problem solve. As we get older, our brain function can deteriorate, but the good news is, there are lots of activities that we can do to help prevent that decline. Today, I’m sharing six styles of activity that are great for boosting your brain power and are super easy to incorporate into your daily routines.

    Puzzles and games

    As well as being a calming and mindful activity that reduces stress, doing puzzles or playing games is great for giving both sides of your brain a really good workout – the left being associated with logical thinking, and the right being linked to creativity, intuition and imagination. Regularly doing a range of different types works to improve memory, spatial awareness plus analytical and logical thinking.

    There are so many different types of puzzles and games that it would be impossible for me to list them all, but here’s a few that come to mind:

    • crosswords
    • wordsearches
    • jigsaw puzzles
    • sudoku
    • Boggle
    • Scrabble
    • riddles
    • logic puzzles
    • anagrams
    • Wordle (one of my favourite games to play on my tablet right now!)
    • tangrams
    • Rummikub
    • Angry Birds 2 (I’ve been playing this daily for about 6 years so had to include this one!)
    • Snakes and Ladders
    • Monopoly
    • Arrow-words

    Whichever you choose, it’s important to make sure that they provide the right amount of challenge but aren’t so difficult that you lose interest in them or they become a chore rather than something fun to do.

    Learning new skills

    Just because you’ve left formal education behind, doesn’t mean that you should no longer consider yourself a learner. Last year, I wrote a couple of blog posts encouraging life long learning – this one discussing the key benefits and the second part offering ways to learn something new each day. Skills you might like to develop could include cookery, flower arranging, drawing, hand-lettering and calligraphy, painting, photography, gardening, self defence, playing an instrument, speaking a foreign language, papercrafting, Tai Chi, yoga, Pilates, upcycling, creative journalling, sewing, basic first aid, mindfulness, self-compassion, productivity, positive thinking, aromatherapy, money saving, goal setting and goal getting.

    There are lots of different ways to learn such as taking a face-to-face or online course, reading a book or watching You Tube videos to name a few. You could also learn from a friend, family member or colleague who has good knowledge of the subject. Assisting someone else also helps the person playing the teaching role too as it strengthens their understanding and develops their communication skills.

    Doing creative activities

    Once you’ve developed the basic skills involved in a creative past-time or hobby, you can put them to good use in a range of different ways. You might use your watercolour skills to paint your favourite animal and then frame it in your home. You could use your gardening knowledge to create a vegetable patch and then use your produce in your home cooking. Or you might make some bright and colourful new cushions for your living room using your sewing machine instead of buying some from the store. Whatever creative pursuit you engage in, you’ll be giving your brain a great workout in so many ways by using your imagination, planning out your project, expressing yourself in different ways, solving any problems that arise, making decisions, changing your mind or your approach, paying attention to the little details and so much more.

    Dancing

    I hadn’t given this much consideration before, but during my research for this post, I found several scientific studies which had explored dance as a way of improving cognition (as well as being fun exercise to get you or keep you fit!). I do several Zumba classes and Dance Fit each week when I can and love them both. It can be a real challenge learning the steps, keeping in time with the music, paying attention to and following the instructor (especially when you get tired towards the end) and making sure you don’t don’t crash into anyone else in the class!

    At my gym (Everyone Active), there are also special classes for older adults such as Forever Fit and Zumba Gold and both of them are very well subscribed! Of course you don’t have to have a gym membership to enjoy dancing – just put on the radio or other source of your favourite music and bop around the room!

    Meditation

    Incorporating a daily meditation practice into your morning and/or evening routine can enhance cognitive function in a number of ways. This non-judgmental and intentional awareness of the present moment helps improve attention and concentration as you spend time focusing on your breath, bodily sensations, sights or sounds. It has also been shown to increase the thickness of the prefrontal cortex in the brain, leading to better executive functioning by improving memory, problem solving skills, decision making and the ability to easily switch from one task to another as you go about your day.

    Visualisation

    This is a simple visualisation exercise you can do first thing in the morning after breakfast. Basically, you pick an activity that is on your to-do list or part of your plan for the day which you’ve done at least a few times before. Then, you close your eyes, and you visualise yourself doing your chosen activity. So, for example, if you’re heading to the supermarket that afternoon for a few bits and pieces, you could go through the actions involved in your mind and picture yourself doing all of the steps that are involved. Try to remember every part of the process in detail, right from locating and putting your shoes on, donning your coat and picking up your keys, all the way to carrying your bags back and unloading the items to your fridge, freezer and cupboards.

    Final words…

    I hope you’ve found this week’s Monday Matters useful and it has helped you to think about quick and easy ways in which you can give your brain a good workout each day. Let me know in the comments which of these you already incorporate into your routines and which you’d like to give a go in the future. Remember that if you enjoy doing an activity and find it beneficial, you’re most likely to keep it up and make it a habit.

    Posted in Bipolar disorder, mental health, mental illness, physical health, relationships, wellbeing, wellness

    The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Hypomania in Bipolar Disorder, including my personal experience

    Right now, I’m going through a period of hypomania as part of my bipolar disorder. It seems to have been brought on by Covid-19 because, despite feeling awful physically, my mind was racing and I was getting less than 4 hours sleep in total. Desperately craving some calm to help myself recover from my temporary illness, I turned to a packet containing medication I was given when I was getting used to my bipolar meds namely Diazepam. I thought as I recovered from the virus, things would settle down but so far, as I write this post, they haven’t. I’m trying desperately to do mindful activities to help myself get back to a stable state (what I would usually describe as my ‘normal’) but it’s proving difficult and I’m worrying that I’m going to get worse.

    As part of my hypomanic episode, I’ve got literally hundreds of ideas for blog posts, creative pursuits, ways to improve my life and things I absolutely need to start doing. In some ways this is good as, before Christmas, I was struggling with tiredness and didn’t want to do as much with my day and worries that I was becoming depressed filled my mind. However, being ‘high’ means I’m constantly adding to my to do list (or my ‘must do’ list as it feels) and I find myself working on ‘projects’ until late evening and not wanting to stop. And then, surprise surprise, my mind is full of stuff and I’m struggling to switch off when my husband and I settle down to watch TV and I’m finding sleep just will not come.

    My husband is still feeling tired from Covid and by the end of the working day, he’s exhausted and finding it difficult to listen and pay attention to my constant witterings. You see, when my mind is full of thoughts and ideas, I get verbal diarrhoea which is not good news for me or my husband – I can’t stop talking and I talk so fast that he can’t keep up. Even my text messages become long and waffly! And if my husband asks a question that has already been answered or he’s failed to compute something I’ve said, I’ll become irritated and short with him.

    Talking of being irritated. I’m getting annoyed with all kinds of people and things. A slow driver in front of me on the way to the supermarket. Someone who doesn’t say thanks when I let them pull out. Ink on my hand because of being a leftie. The queue at the post office meaning I have to wait to collect my Amazon order. Having a headache because I’ve failed to drink enough water during the day. The list goes on, and on, and on!

    I’ve also noticed that I’m buying more ‘stuff’ in a bid to improve my life. Luckily, I don’t struggle with mania (as I have bipolar 2) so I won’t make huge purchases like a brand new car or an expensive holiday, but things become much more attractive when I’m high. I was in TKMaxx a few days ago, and the more I looked around, the more I wanted things and so I made my purchases (a new pen pot, a cute bird mobile phone holder and 2 gorgeous sky blue matching chopping boards) and swiftly left the shop. My husband will never say no to something that I really want and it makes me feel guilty afterwards when I’m back to my ‘normal’ stable self and our expenses for the month are way more than usual.

    These are a few of the difficulties I face which could be described as ‘bad’, but what about the ugly? By ugly, I don’t of course, mean that I turn into a grotesque monster who people can’t stand to look at. I’m really referring to the effects that hypomania can have on character, traits or behaviour. For example, I can have a short temper and might raise my voice to my husband in frustration for being too slow to answer a question, forgetting something, not getting ready to go out fast enough or for asking me to repeat something I’ve said (when talking at speed and not stopping). I might also make comments about someone that I would consider to be nasty at any other time. Or my inflated ego might make me believe that I’m superior to others and that I could do a better job than them. Although I may or may not say things out loud, I don’t want to be someone who voices or thinks horrible things.

    In the past, when I was on a high dose of antidepressants and no mood stabiliser, I would sometimes believe I was better than every teacher in the school and that they weren’t as dedicated as me because they took a proper lunchbreak or left before the school closed at 6pm. I would also often speak in a way which to others, might sound like I was full of my own self-importance. Then, I would rush around trying to do everything at once in a bid to maintain the illusion that I was the best! Needless to say, after trying to keep going and going like a Duracell Bunny, I would inevitably crash and either become physically unwell, mentally exhausted or depressed.

    Before my diagnosis, I would go through lengthy periods of depression where I had no confidence in myself and got anxious and cried on a daily basis. I also sought reassurance from my husband constantly. However, when going through a period of hypomania, I genuinely believed that I didn’t need anyone’s help and support and that I no longer needed a husband / family / friends for encouragement, support or just to be there. Especially as everyone and everything seemed to irritate or anger me.

    Over the years, I’ve learn to apply strategies to calm myself down and the medication I take helps immensely. However, I will never be cured so I am learning to live with my relatively recently diagnosed illness (even though I believe I’ve had the condition since my late teens) and my husband is incredibly patient with me and supports me in any way he can. Whether I listen to his advice or not depends on my mood! However, I’m grateful to have found someone so wonderful to share my life with and put up with my changing moods.

    Final words…

    I’m hoping that today’s post has given you an insight into the effects that hypomania can have on an individual. I believe it’s important for everyone to know a little bit about it as it’s likely that most people will know someone who is bipolar, even if they’re not aware of an individual’s diagnosis. If any of the writing doesn’t make sense, it will be because most of the above was written at 4am on my phone whilst I sat downstairs frustrated that my mind wouldn’t rest!

    It’s taken me at least a week to finish and publish the above and I’m pleased to say that things are starting to settle down. I’m no longer taking diazepam for sleep and my mind has started to calm down a little. I still have lots of ideas and projects but I’m trying to make sure I only work on those which add value to my life. I’m also adopting the done is better than perfect way of doing things. Hopefully, I’ll continue to head in the right direction towards ‘stable’ a term I’m trying to use to describe my state rather than ‘normal’.

    If you would like to know more about bipolar disorder and how it affects individuals or you suspect a love one may have the condition, the NHS website has pages of really useful information, including more detail about its presentation . Although symptoms different from person to person, there are set list of signs which are likely to be visible.

    Thanks for reading!