Stress Incoming!!

[Butterfly]

Hey guys,

I am doing really well. My moods are stable and I am pretty much psychosis free!!! Yippeeeee!!

However, I am about to encounter a lot of stressful situations that I am worried will tip my mood over. I am starting a new job. I've just secured a house and I am going abroad. I am so pleased that these things are happening. I am just worried that it may induce hypomania and issues with mood. What can I do to keep grounded?

 

[may71]

Can you delay any of these things so that they're not happening all at once?

 

[may71]

A meditation practice, or one of the self-treatment methods in the link below might help:

https://www.suicideforum.com/community/threads/self-treatment-and-miscellaneous.166817/

Personally, I find that reducing the number of stressful things is more helpful than adding something that is supposed to be relaxing.

 

[SamB]

This might sound strange but can you write yourself a note or message.
Whilst you are calm and in control you can write to your future self with the things to be wary of and some advice on staying stable and dealing with things. Maybe a checklist of things to look out for that would indicate things are not right and the action to take to get help.
You could write one to yourself to open and read on the first day of your new job, maybe even one for the start of the day and one for the end of the day.

The other thing you might try is to flatten out the peaks of those events by doing things in advance. Trying to minimise the amount of new things that happen on a particular day.
Depending on what the job is maybe you can familiarise yourself with some things beforehand. So for example you could practice doing the commute so you know exactly what that would be like or scope out the area so you know if there is somewhere you could buy lunch from or go for a calming walk. Learn about the company you are working for etc.
For the house maybe you can prepare by becoming more familiar with the area if you do not already know it well. You can create a checklist of all the things you need to do in advance and try get as many ticked off on your calm days.

Do you have anyone you can talk to things about? You could tell someone what is going on and ask them to check in on you during the time or even try and help out with things. You have here to post and message to as well.

 

[Gard]

I recently watched John Kehoe on YouTube. He said that affirmations help you cope. That is, if there is anxiety or stress or fear, you have to repeat an affirmation against that feeling. I've done it before, but now I've heard an outsider's opinion.