Self Help

 “You matter more than you’ll ever know” — unknown

The over whelming advice from the crisis services, suicide prevention organisations and mental health practitioners, is that you should seek urgent, professional help if you have attempted suicide.

While this may well be good advice, your road to recovery should not stop with the Professionals. Instead, there is plenty you can do for yourself. While you will no doubt struggle with questions and conflicting emotions following your suicide attempt, you may want to try some of the many proven self-help ideas.

The self-help idea that works for me is long distance walking. Last year I walked over 1,000kms walking the River Thames and Caminos. My next long distance walk starts in May this year, the 800km Francis Camino across Spain. What is your go to self-help idea?

At the very least, the self-help ideas should distract you from your dark thoughts. Hopefully, they will also be fun and give you a new sense of purpose.

Three of the most beneficial self-help ideas are:

  • eat healthily

  • stay moving - exercise

  • be active - do things

You may well have self-doubts about your ability to try these self-help ideas. “I have tried eating healthily but it doesn’t work”, “exercise just isn’t for me”, and so on.

It may be very tough for you to ditch your self-doubts and to give these ideas a go. Please try. It doesn’t matter if you don’t stick to your plans or you give up. The important thing is to start and see how it goes. This time around you may be pleasantly surprised

Eat Healthily

A balanced and healthy diet plays a vital role in maintaining our physical and mental health. It is also important for our overall sense of wellbeing.

Given the tough times you are going through, following this advice may be difficult and even daunting. As a tip, start small. Don’t start off with a 100% healthy eating plan. You may find this to be extremely challenging. If you fall down in your goal, you will likely feel disappointed with yourself which is not good for your mental health.

Rather start with a very modest goal. Once you achieve this goal and gain confidence, you can then set more challenging targets.

 

Read more about healthy eating   >>

Exercise

Exercise is a dreaded word for many. Please don’t turn to the next page. Instead, read on as there are tips for people who have never exercised or who need to get back into exercise, as well as the more seasoned exerciser.

Exercise is not just about aerobic capacity and muscle size. While exercise can improve your physical health and trim your waistline, it can also improve your self-esteem and give you an enormous sense of well-being. Exercise can help you feel more energetic, sleep better at night and feel more relaxed and positive about yourself.

Exercise also builds resilience which helps people with mental health issues to better cope in a healthy way, instead of resorting to alcohol or other negative behaviours that ultimately only make symptoms worse.

Read more about exercise   >>

Activities

Engaging in activities is a good way to distract you from negative thoughts. Activities can also be tremendous fun and give you a sense of achievement.

Depending on how you are feeling, you may find the thought of activities daunting. One way to make a start is to try a short, easy to do activity. If this works you can then try another activity. As your motivation picks up and you gain more confidence, you can keep adding activities or increase the length of time you spend on your activities.

You may want to keep a list of the ideas that work for you, so you can refer to them when you need to. You should also include these ideas in your Safety Plan.

Examples of easy to do activities include:

  • Listen to music that improves your mood

  • Have a bath

  • Sit outside or go for a short walk

  • Spend time with your loved ones

  • Watch a favourite movie or television show

  • Read a book

  • Draw, sketch or paint

  • Write, such as keeping a diary

  • Reconnect with areas of your life that are meaningful to you such as spirituality, church and social services

Another area to consider that has proven self-help benefits, is to learn relaxation techniques. This can be a breathing exercise, progressive muscle relaxation, meditation or gentle physical activities like yoga and Tai Chi. These relaxation ideas can help to calm you, as well as distract you from unhealthy thoughts. You can do many of these activities yourself or with friends and family, at no cost.

Beyond Blue has put together a series of narrated relaxation exercises in the areas of breathing, muscle relaxation, and guided visualisation.

100 Activities

If you are struggling to think of activities you can do to help you with your recovery, Suicide Prevention Lifeline in the USA has put together an extensive list of activities – 100 infact. Some of the more unusual activities on their list includes:

  • Recycle old batteries

  • Give someone 50 kisses

  • Create a new dance move

Check out the list One Hundred Ways to Get Through the Next 5 Minutes. There should be some ideas that will appeal to you.