borderpolar - Tumblr blog

[borderpolar]

hey fun fact did you know that if you're on the schizophrenia spectrum, have psychosis, have psychotic symptoms or traits, etc, that you're loved and your symptoms and traits should not be vilainized or seen as evil or ugly?

[borderpolar]

This post is for everyone with trauma that is that is difficult to explain to people who haven't lived it.

It's for everyone who has ever talked about their trauma and had to explain why their experience was traumatizing.

It's for everyone who has ever talked about their trauma and had it compared to something normal, because people don't get that what happened to you was not normal.

This post is for everyone traumatized by:

growing up in dysfunctional families

sibling abuse

hoarding or growing up in an unsafe/unsanitary environment

parents struggling with mental illness or addiction who were abusive or neglectful despite their good intentions or best efforts

not getting support to deal with things like grief or disasters

parentification or emotional enmeshment with a parent

anything else not included on this short list of examples

Your trauma is real. You deserve to be heard and understood. You deserve compassion and kindness as you recover.

[borderpolar]

a freshly cooked meal is best but fast food or a plain cracker is better than nothing. a full skincare routine is great but a splash of water and moisturiser is better than nothing. 8 hours sleep is ideal but 4 or 2 is better than nothing. cleaning the entire room is fantastic but just wiping the mirror or throwing clothes in a basket is better than nothing. a shower is great but a face and arm wash or a wipe is better than nothing. changing your bedding once a week is best but swapping just the pillows or washing only once a month is better than nothing. a 5k run is fabulous but a walk around the block or touching your toes in bed is better than nothing. being your "best self" and thriving is amazing but if you are trying and conserving the energy you have and taking baby steps every day and surviving then that is wonderful too.

[borderpolar]

When you experience a good day, a proper good day, you'll be glad you stuck around. Keep going, you can do it 💪❤️

[borderpolar]

Sometimes, one of the side effects of mental health meds can be a lowered libido, and for some people that's fine, and for others that might be really frustrating. If it's really bothering you, it's okay to talk to your doctor, a good doctor will help you weigh up the pros and cons and will take your sex drive into account. Recently I stopped a med because being unable to masturbate was actually causing me mental distress and I talked to my doctor and we agreed it wasn't worth staying on it if this side effect was causing me more upset than it was helping me. It's an okay reason to want to stop or change over a med, don't be embarrassed to talk to a professional about it! You deserve to have a sex drive if that's what you want!

[borderpolar]

[borderpolar]

The Conversation about mental health posts goes in waves - from "it's ok to just do nothing for a while" and "self care is lying in bed with a cup of tea" to a hard backlash against that ("those posts were so damaging to me") and posts like "acually self care is cleaning your apartment," and there's lots of reasons for that --

those posts are for different people. the person who believes that there's nothing wrong with them, they just need to keep going, or the person who believes that not washing dishes means there's something unfixably wrong with them needs to hear that that's unsustainable & a break will help, but the person who feels that everything's already ruined so there's no point in doing anything needs to hear that small steps are still steps.

those posts are for the same person at different times, because people need to hear different things at different times in their lives.

when you post on the internet you can't limit a post to only the people it will benefit - like when broad spectrum antibiotics take out beneficial bacteria. and people don't always know which one will help them, so the audience doesn't even self-select. "it's ok if you do nothing" will help some people and hurt others!

honestly the thing is that it's "you can't push yourself all the time, but keeping your space in a state that doesn't cause anxiety or discomfort is probably better for you," but hitting the right balance requires a lot of self-knowledge, which you can't get from a text post on tumblr.

i don't have a good conclusion here - just "nothing in excess," I suppose.

[borderpolar]

Supercalifragilisticbipolarpsychosis

[borderpolar]

One thing about depression that I wish more people understood is that you don’t have to really trust that it will get better initially. You just have to start walking in the right direction and make proactive choices towards your own growth. When you deal with a lot of pain and loss, it can be very difficult to believe that you won’t keep losing, but if you’re doing the right things you will get there eventually.

[borderpolar]

"you don't look autistic" "you don't look ADHD" "you don't look depressed" "you don't look bipolar" "you don't look BPD" "you don't look-"

[borderpolar]

Friendly reminder that the reason you feel so much better is because of your meds, don’t stop taking them unless you talk to your doctor first, you really do need them, I promise. 

[borderpolar]

I wish people would also mention cluster b traits most commonly result from trauma and the behavior identified as manipulative was originally developed as a protective measure in an abusive situation‼️‼️‼️

[borderpolar]

Okay this may be a bit controversial but I think this is important: please learn and practice taking a step back from mental illness communities when you need to.

When I was about 17, I was heavily in the BPD community, in the tags everyday, in several group chats and 2 of my closest friends had BPD. I spent so much time discussing my disorders and symptoms that I forgot that they weren’t healthy. I’d talk about my impulsive thoughts so often that I got a lot closer to acting on them; the more I told people about me consistent urge to stab myself in the leg every time i held a knife, the stronger that impulse got. I noticed my symptoms get worse, specifically my manipulative behaviours.

So, I took a step back. I left the group chats for a while, took a break from the tags. Took the time to basically reset and remind myself that a lot of things I was doing weren’t healthy. It’s still something I do to this day; I take breaks from certain spaces when I need them, and it helps, it really does. 

Communities can help so much; they can help you understand your symptoms, give you coping mechanisms, connect with others, feel less alone. But they’re not perfect, and can become overwhelming. Any space that joins people by a mental illness is never gonna be very healthy, and we need to recognise that.

So please, learn to take breaks when you need to, learn to step back and observe yourself, don’t get lost in these communities and loose yourself.

[borderpolar]

if you're having a bad day:

you're still loved

you tried your best

you have what it takes to get past this

you have support available should you need it

it is okay to feel overwhelmed

please cry if you have to

if it affects you, it is important

[borderpolar]

I made business cards

[borderpolar]

Tip for executive dysfunction: we've all heard "break it down into easier steps," right? But what is "easier"?

Make it tiny. Make the steps tiny little kindergartner steps, make them so small it's hilarious. Make "eat food" into "take one step. Take another. Reach out your arm. Hold the handle of the cabinet. Open the cabinet. Hold the bread. Pull down the bread. Etc."

Congratulate yourself between each. Pretend you are a tiny baby preschooler that needs explanation for how to do small things. Make it dumb, make it silly, make it manageable. Make yourself laugh, and let yourself laugh.

Great job.

[borderpolar]

from “ask polly: why should i keep going?”