Intrusive ideation is miserable

[chanter1944]

And it’s worse when work is slower than a snail. Tips for dealing with the above subject line very much appreciated, because this is going to be one long afternoon. I’m fine, for the record, just having a horrible mental health day. See my previous entry for why.

Comments

[redsixwing]

Ow ow ow indeed. :( That stinks, and I'm sorry you're having a rough day.

I don't know if it's the healthiest thing, but I find self-distraction very useful. Is there some task that's been put off, or some item you've been wanting to learn, that will give your mind something else to chase for a bit?

[chanter1944]

*hugs offered* Thanks. Seriously.

I was looking for distractions all afternoon, all day really, but as I was stuck in an office and available for calls (few though those were), my options were limited. I did try, but nobody else had anything to do either! Split half an hour early, so there was at least that.

[redsixwing]

*hugs!* You're welcome, and I wish I could help more.

I'm glad you got to go home early.

Sorry hon

[bairnsidhe]

It does suck and I'm sorry to hear you're having a bad mental health day. (This isn't advice, but it is what I wished I got told more on my own bad-brain-days.)

It's hard for me to give good, specific, advice without knowing what the ideation is, but vaguely speaking, I do like music to help counter, specifically music with words I know in a register I can sorta sing along to. Working to try to sing along to a recorded song helps refocus the brain and uses up the linguistic bandwidth so I can't receive as many bad tape messages. I've also used non-toxic felt markers to draw on my arms and legs during harm-ideation as a sublimation tool, dipped my feet in icy water for a minute and then toweled them off (weird, but worked after a few repetitions), and lay naked between clean sheets on the bed. I don't know if any of those will help you, but hopefully you'll find something that works.

Reach out if you need to talk. Seriously.

Re: Sorry hon

[chanter1944]

It definitely helps just to hear that people are around and empathetic, that's for sure.

Yours are good options all, some suited to me and some not, but I was very much stuck in an office and available for calls at the time I posted this. If I hadn't been, turning on some music might well have happened! I wound up getting out of there a half hour early, which helped.

Brains are better, if not great, as of now.