There was nothing in particular that made me realise I was struggling. It was more a cumulation of things and lots of sitting on the floor crying. But I realised I needed to get some help.
I started my journey with Time to Change when I signed up as a Champion in 2018. As someone who's experienced mental health problems in my family and first-hand, I wanted to do my bit to raise awareness.
As someone with a chronic anxiety disorder, and intermittent agoraphobia, it is essential for my mental health to keep to a routine, be busy, go out regularly, and maintain social contact.
Yet today, amidst a global pandemic that has seen many countries on lockdown as the death toll continues to rise, these things are increasingly hard to do.
All of us can appreciate some degree of negative impact on our own wellbeing with the current advice on self-isolation and social distancing. As somebody with mental health problems the current situation is both increasing my anxiety levels and reinforcing my negative thoughts and subsequent low mood. Indeed all the ‘usual’ things I would do to help manage my mental health are out of bounds; Park Run, meeting friends or going to the cinema.
