Saturday, May 6, 2017

"Breathe." Now with Instructions!


I found this ^ on The Bloggess (Jenny Lawson) who I don't usually read because while she writes honestly about living with chronic mental illness, which I super appreciate, she also is relentlessly twee, recently recording, for instance, "We ate Easter dinner at the Dairy Queen drive thru."  
Isn't that just too, too adorable
It goes on like that. But sometimes I seek out that Chipper Voice of Depression
such as when depression descends on a friend, like it does*, and I want some reminders and cheering up and even practical tips, like the above instructional GIF, which I unironically love.
I felt better within 3 seconds.

Full Disclosure: I was also listening to "The Very Best of ELO" and thinking about Starsky at the time I saw this.
"Don't Bring Me Down"


"Mara Wilson on Anxiety, OCD, and Depression"
Says something really helpful:
"I wish I had fought my depression, and not fought my anxiety as much."
Around 2:00 she gives a Breathing exercise:


From Project UR OK, videos for mental health, kind of like the ongoing It Gets Better project to collect and share stories for LBGTQ+ youth (and older).

*"There’s a decent chance mental illness plays some role in your life, whether it’s you personally or someone you know and love."

"Wil Wheaton on Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Chronic Depression, and Recovery":

2 comments:

Michael Leddy said...

I am prepared to drop that GIF into a browser as needed. Thank you. I just discovered that there are breathing apps, some even free, for computers and phones. (Found by searching for breathing.) Very useful.

Fresca said...

Neat. I keep coming back to this GIF.