A List of 100 things to keep depression, anxiety and loneliness away during self isolation

During such a period of global uncertainty and increasingly strict measures by world governments being put in place during this global coronavirus pandemic, I thought it was relevant to post about mental health during this time. As more and more people are advised or being enforced to quarantine or self-isolate, it is very easy to see how loneliness can creep into the lives of every day people, sparking depression and anxiety. Below is a list of 100 things you can do during self isolation or quarantine to try and curb any mental health issues from overwhelming you.

1. Make a list (bucket list, goals, books you'd like to read, movies you'd like to see, distraction techniques!)
2. Start planning something for the future (a holiday, saving money, qualifications)
3. Play with your pets
4. Do some simple exercises at home (yoga, stretches, jogging on the spot, aerobics, zumba)
5. Research a topic you're interested in, with books or the internet
6. Cooking or baking
7. Listen to music
8. Pick up an instrument (either one you already play, or try learning how to play one)
9. Read a book
10. Watch your favourite movie or TV show
11. Play a video game
12. Pick up the phone and call a family member or friend
13. Have a nap
14. Watch some ASMR videos on youtube
15. Do some tidying, cleaning or washing up
16. Learn how to knit, sew or cross-stitch
17. Complete a jigsaw puzzle
18. Look at some calming art
19. Do some DIY around your home
20. Do some drawing, painting or colouring
21. Do some mind puzzles (sudoku, wordearch, cross-words, logic puzzles)
22. Have a relaxing bath or a hot shower
23. Make a hot drink
24. Make a mug cake (they're better than they sound, trust me!)
25. Treat yourself to your favourite dinner or order your favourite takeaway
26. Learn how to juggle
27. Learn a magic trick
28. Look at some jokes
29. Look at photos of nice memories
30. Sing
31. Dance
32. If you have one, spend some time in your garden and appreciate the flowers
33. Light some candles
34. Listen to the radio
35. Look out the window and watch the birds
36. Start a diary
37. Stargaze at night
38. Organise your bookshelf
39. Have an indoor picnic
40. Plant some indoor plants
41. Play with lego (its not just for kids!)
42. Make jewellery
43. Learn calligraphy
44. If the weather allows, have a barbecue
45. Use a face mask
46. Make a family scrapbook of good memories
47. Start an online education class
48. Learn a new language
49. Create your own puzzle
50. Build a fort!
51. Write a letter to someone
52. Listen to a new podcast
53. Meditate using a meditation video
54. Do some gardening
55. Start a blog!
56. Learn origami
57. Make a time capsule
58. Make some paper aeroplanes
59. Make some homemade cards (birthday, Christmas etc)
60. Plant a tree in your garden
61. Write a letter to your future children or grand-children
62. Make a collection of belongings you no longer need to donate to charity
63. Build a castle out of cereal boxes
64. Write and/or read some poetry
65. Look at some pictures of cute animals on the internet
66. Read an old magazine you have lying around
67. Write a short story
68. Try some new foods
69. Dye your hair a new colour
70. Attempt breaking a world record
71. One for the men, grow a beard! (you can always shave it off when you can go outside again!)
72. Practice writing and drawing with your weaker hand
73. Donate money to charity online
74. Try learning how to beatbox
75. Wake up early to watch the sunrise
76. Re-arrange your furniture
77. Plan a party for when its all over!
78. Make a short movie
79. Learn how to video edit
80. Learn how to code
81. Do some online shopping
82. Make a (non-alcoholic) cocktail
83. Teach yourself the phonetic alphabet
84. Organise your computer and phone's files and delete anything unnecessary
85. Create a playlist of your favourite songs
86. Go camping in your garden
87. Make a home for some wildlife in your garden (a birdbox for example)
88. Look for a new favourite quote
89. Look for your first (or next) tattoo design
90. Recruit some friends and play an online game together
91. Make a domino chain reaction
92. Improvise with items in your home and create your very own mini golf course
93. Watch highlights of your favourite sport
94. Grow some fruits, vegetables or herbs
95. Start a collection
96. Learn how to dip-dye a t-shirt
97. Learn how to play chess
98. Research family history and create a family tree
99. Research how to reduce your carbon footprint and put it into practice
100. Write a letter to your future self

This is obviously not an exhaustive list, there are a lot more than 100 things you can do to keep away the boredom, loneliness, depression and anxiety during this tough time. If there's anything you would like to add, please put it down in the comments below! Take care and look after yourself, Matt the mental health blogger :)

My Own Mental Health Story Part 2

If you haven't read part 1 of my mental health story which I posted last week, I would urge you to read that prior to reading this post, as this is part 2 of my own mental health story which I decided I would like to share with whoever is interested in reading it. Here is the link for part 1 - https://thefaceofmentalhealth.blogspot.com/2020/03/my-own-mental-health-story-part-1.html

To recap, in my first post I described the time period between August 2014, to September 2015. In September 2015, I returned to the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK to restart year 1 of my Biological Sciences course having postponed my studies due to my worsening mental health difficulties in the previous academic year. As I wrote in part 1 of my story, from the first Saturday I arrived in Norwich and my parents left me, I didn't stop drinking for 28 days. I was only leaving my shared student house to go to the local Tesco supermarket, or petrol station to buy a bottle of vodka and some convenience food.

The only reason I stopped drinking after the 28 days, was because my parents were coming to visit me 4 weeks into my return to Norwich. Little did they know, I had barely attended any classes, and the ones that I had attended I was drunk for. They also didn't know that I had begun having suicidal thoughts. During any brief periods of relative sobriety in this 4 week period, my depression and anxiety was crippling me, which just made me drink more. So it was a Friday night, the 28th day of my drinking, and my parents were visiting the next day. I couldn't be intoxicated during their visit.

For any of you who know the dangers of continuous daily binge drinking for a reasonable period of time, you will know that it is very unwise to suddenly stop drinking, and you should cut down gradually over a period of days or even weeks to prevent unwanted withdrawal symptoms. I had no idea about alcohol withdrawal however. I didn't sleep that night, tossing and turning in bed with increasingly growing anxiety. I was incredibly irritable and the depressant effect of the 4 weeks worth of alcohol was seriously suppressing my mood.

The next day my parents arrived and noticed I was shaking, due to the alcohol withdrawal. I passed it off as a fever I was recovering from. No follow up questions from my parents with that excuse. As the afternoon grew into the early evening, we went into a pub to watch some sport that was on the TV. During the football (soccer) match, my shaking and trembling had got worse. Suddenly, and I mean very suddenly, while watching the TV, my entire body went into shock. I was convulsing, and my body was shaking uncontrollably in every direction. Concurrently, I was hearing strange music and seeing 3 strange, clown dressed figures dancing in the forefront of my head. I tried thinking of something else, and distracting my mind, but I wasn't in control. What I now know happened, was I had experienced an alcohol induced seizure and had begun experiencing delirium tremens, the most severe form of alcohol withdrawal, potentially lethal.

Without delay, we ordered a taxi from the pub to the hospital. In the emergency room at the hospital, my hallucinations were increasing in severity and twisting my mind to believe they were reality. I was hallucinating a tall man, dressed as a clown, holding a bloodied knife, running around with superhuman speed attempting to slit people's throats. I was also still shaking uncontrollably. I thought I was going insane and that I was imminently going to die. My heart was racing at a million miles per hour.

I won't bore you with any further details of this horrific experience, but it was confirmed by the assessing doctors that I had experienced a seizure as well as delirium tremens, severe acute alcohol withdrawal. I spent the next week in hospital, and vowed never to drink again. I went back to the student house after being discharged from hospital. I felt down, depressed, anxious, helpless, useless, hopeless, and suicidal. I walked 45 minutes that evening to a local Samaritans branch in Norwich and poured my heart out to one of the volunteers. He talked me round a bit, and I felt slightly more positive.

I had decided that evening I would return to University the next day and crack on with my studies. No more alcohol, proper diet, proper sleep and not isolating myself in my room. I could do this, I was determined. The next day I drank. A week and a half later I was back in the hospital, for a 6 day stay this time. On the day of discharge my Mum came to the hospital to pick me up. I knew my brief University adventure was over. I needed to get myself help before I could even think about returning to University. I began seeing my key worker from the mental health services at home again, having to continue with the bizarre lie from part 1 of my blog, where I told my Dad the reason for my drinking was that I was having alien abduction experiences. A complete and utter falsification of the truth.

Over the next few months I was controlling my drinking. My parents at this stage knew I had a problem, so I was only drinking when I could "get away with it" and having to hide the evidence. During this period I also felt useless, guilty, like a failure at life. While my friends were mostly all in their second year at University, progressing well and enjoying an independent life. I was on my own, struggling and losing an intense war with my own mind. I was convinced for a while that I was going insane.

I had a job at a petrol station in my town. I always loved travel so I had booked a trip around South America for Summer 2016. Also, when my mental health had improved slightly by the stability of living at home with my parents and not isolating myself or drinking nearly as often, I had made the decision to attempt University again, this time studying Environmental Science at the University of Sheffield, UK. From the months between December 2015 and June 2016, my mental health improved slightly. I wasn't drinking as often and I had far more techniques to distract myself with while living in the comfort of my parent's home. I also enjoyed my full time job at the local petrol station which significantly improved my well-being and gave me more of a sense of self worth. Before I knew it, it was July 2016 and I was leaving my house to travel around South America for a month.

I think that's enough for this week's post. If you have enjoyed my posts so far, please give me a follow as I will aim to post at least once a week. Also, if you haven't already, feel free to check out my twitter and follow me. https://twitter.com/mentalhblog

I appreciate all the support I get. You can also comment on either of my post; all feedback is also much appreciated. Look out for part 3 of my story coming soon. Look after yourself, and take care, Matt the mental health blogger.

My Own Mental Health Story Part 1

My name is Matt and I want to begin my blogging about my own personal experiences of mental health problems. My blog will mainly be based around general mental health, and I will create a new post every week about a specific topic relating to mental health. However, for anyone that will be reading my blog, I would like to give a brief background of my own story.

I grew up in a good home, with loving parents and no history of mental health issues in my direct family. I went to school and I was fine, I finished my A-Levels at 18 and had experienced no mental health difficulties to speak of. I received my exam results in August 2014 and I was going to study Biological Sciences at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. I was ecstatic as this was my first choice university. In September 2014, I made my move 2 hours down the road to Norwich.

I began my time at university as most students do. It was fresher's week, and every day revolved around getting to know your new flatmates by drinking and going out every night. In this sense, I felt comfortable. The anxieties of living in an alien place without my parents, but with people I'd never met, were eased as we got to know each other over the week with the help of intoxication. I had 12 flatmates, so it was a huge adjustment for all of us, and we had to get to know each other very quickly. Luckily they were all lovely people.

I will be honest, as soon as I arrived in Norwich I was experiencing strange emotions, feelings and sensations that I had never felt before and didn't understand. I suppose at the time, I put it down to the huge changes I was making in my life; what I know now is that it was the unforgiving arms of anxiety slowly dragging me into it's unrelenting prison. As fresher's week drew to a close, everyone was mentally preparing themselves for the beginning of classes and lectures. Unfortunately, my mindset was still focused on the seemingly positive effects all the alcohol I was drinking was having on relieving my anxiety, which I still didn't recognise as anxiety.

To cut the story short, as the weeks progressed, I was self medicating with alcohol as I still did not have any idea I was experiencing mental health difficulties. This this led to a misjudged, self-inflicted downward spiral of anxiety, depression and drinking. I was staying in my room, locked inside for days on end as I couldn't sleep, couldn't sit still and couldn't see any light at the end of the tunnel. I was not attending university classes and struggling to keep up with any work. Having never been educated about mental health at school, my confusion about what I was experiencing was just. I presumed I was going insane and that there was nobody in the world I could talk to who would understand what I was feeling. I was completely alone, and devastatingly being defeated in the war against my own mind.

Eventually, after a worrying email from the university about my lack of attendance and possible disciplinary action, I pessimistically went to speak to my personal tutor. I had the mindset that I would try and explain how I was feeling, but that there was no way he would understand. My own head was telling me I was the only person who had ever felt like this. After speaking to my personal tutor, he reassured me what I was feeling was totally normal, and after I saw my GP it was agreed that I could begin the first year of university again in September 2015. So, in April 2015, I made the difficult phone call to my parents, who at this point assumed from what I had told them that I loved university, and everything was going swimmingly. Of course, they were incredibly supportive; more so than I could have ever predicted.

So now, I'd had it explained to me that I was experiencing anxiety. Through personal research I realised it was a very real thing, and in no way was I on my own. In fact, more people experience anxiety at some point in their life, than don't. It was a real eye-opener, but it didn't stop or curb any of my anxieties. As a result of my continued anxiety and my unwillingness to open up about it; I kept self medicating with alcohol while I was home. I got a part time job at a local supermarket in my town, and in the end I was going into most of my shifts drunk. I fully believed I had some sort of supernatural power to hide when I was drunk.

One morning, I awoke at 5.30am having been drinking secretly the night before. I felt a "need" to drink more. I had run out of the vodka from the night before, so I sneaked downstairs and raided my parent's alcohol cupboard, taking a small amount from each bottle and pouring it into a glass until the glass was full of a disgustingly coloured, alcoholic concoction. As I was putting the bottles back in the cupboard, trying to be as quiet as possible, my Dad suddenly came down the stairs. I quickly closed the cupboard having stashed away the last of the bottles and hid the glass behind a chair. It was clearly evident to my Dad that I was up to something. He found the glass and asked why I kept drinking on my own.

I was desperate, I couldn't explain I was drinking due to anxiety and depression, it was too shameful, embarrassing and guilt provoking. On the spot, I invented a bogus story in an attempt to justify my ever worsening alcohol dependency. I told my Dad I was being abducted by aliens and that I was terrified; I told him the drink made it more bearable. It was a ridiculous story that was far more embarrassing than explaining I was experiencing incredibly common mental health problems, that he was already aware I was experiencing from university. As a result of this story, my parents contacted the local mental health services in a panic.

In the next few months leading up to September, I had a key worker from the mental health services who would come to my house once a week or once a fortnight and I had to keep up this absurd, bizarre lie. I was still drinking and hiding it from my parents; which made the anxiety and depression worse, but I kept quiet about this. In September 2015, I returned to Norwich, this time I was in a student house with people I had met the year before. From the first day I arrived until 4 Saturday's later when my parents came to visit, I was drinking alone in my room and doing nothing else.

I appreciate this is a long post, and therefore I will be splitting my own story into a few different posts to make it more manageable for readers. Please keep a look out for part 2 on my blog in the coming days. I will also be creating another post with a collection of useful links and hotlines for anyone experiencing mental health problems around the world. Take care, and look after yourself. Matt the mental health blogger :)