The Things I Love

When you suffer from severe episodes of depression, I think it becomes rather important to make sure you fill your life with things you love. These things can help to keep your spirits up, & to distract you when the depression starts to really hit hard. As with just about everything on this blog, it won't work on its own, but along with all the other bits of advice, it helps ...

Here's the stuff I love:

LARP. Live Action Role Play, for those of you not 'in the know'. Don't know what it is? Watch the movie 'Role Models'. Here in the UK, we are lucky in that most of the LARPs that run over here are much better in terms of the quality of plot, costume & weaponry, but basically, it's the thing they do in 'Role Models'. LARP incorporates my love of theatre with my love of costumes & my love of the outdoors. Dress up in a cool costume, run around in the forest & pretend to be a faery? You couldn't stop me! My local LARP event is Skullduggery LARP & it is awesomeness incarnate. Check the links!

ACTING. Yeah, I'm an actress. Amateur, admittedly, but I've been told I'm pretty good at it. More importantly, I love it. I jump in on any bit of local theatre I can (except pantos & most musicals - I hate those).

WRITING. My writing is sporadic at best, but when I'm in the zone I am IN THE ZONE. One day I'll get something published ... perhaps. That would be so cool ...

MAKING STUFF. My love of costume has morphed into a love of making costume, & since I've even been making stuff for other people, at their request, I've ventured far enough to make myself an online shop & be something of an entrepeneur. Look for Pixie-Led Creations on Facebook or Folksy, or just follow the link on the right ...

MUSIC. Music is one of my life's essentials. Anyone who knows me will know  that I can't walk a distance, drive a journey or work a day at work without my Ipod to keep me company.

BOOKS & MOVIES. I put these together because they both involve the same thing for me: good stories. I love a good story, especially a good scary story, & my living room is practically a library of books & dvds. I am also partial to a good pc game ...

I look back at this list & think a) 'fitting the creative bipolar stereotype much??' & b) 'wow, nearly all of these things in some way involve an escape from reality, isn't that a bit worrying?' No. I have enough to worry about, thank you. The link between creativity & bipolar interests me, & I may be a big kid (undeniably), but I think this stuff helps, despite this common theme. Now, if I start thinking I really AM a faery & refuse to come out of the woods, then you have my full permission to worry.

Making It Work For Me!

I'm coming to the end of a very good week, & upon reflection I'm thinking that I've been running a little manic for most of it. I've been feeling very active, very alert, & have constantly been doing something - making stuff, mostly. After some encouragement I've set up an online shop to sell the hairpieces & costume bits that I like to make (but more about that later), & this week I've been working on a few bits to put in the shop. The alarm bells started ringing when I ran out of thread on the the thing I was working on & found myself without a project for the time being, but felt completely unable to STOP. I spent an hour dithering around looking for a new project, & ended up bouncing on & off of computer games, very grumpy & unable to settle. It's the inability to settle that makes this kind of mood infuriating, so if I can stick to a project I will - like glue! Now I'm coming to another no-projects-left period (which I'm hoping to end tomorrow when I hit the boot fairs with a vengeance, looking for new stuff), & so I'm here, knowing what the problem probably is & seeking distraction.

I've got to say though ... I've gotten LOADS done this week! When it works for me, it really works ... now if I could just find a way of MAKING it work for me ...

Status Update: June 2011

So looking back over my 'incident diary', I've had 2 bouts of depression in the last month. Both early in the month, about a week apart, both lasting for 3 or 4 days. Neither were particularly severe.

I've tried cutting back on caffeine & discovered how it helps to have a little extra caffeine when I'm down. I've been eating as much salmon as my lovely boyfriend cooks for me (don't look at me like that, his dad's a trained chef - of course he's going to be the better cook!). I'll confess the reiki has been a bit of a fail - I've tried to do it regularly but there's just so much other stuff that needs to be done ...

Well, it's a rather unexciting start .... but a start nonetheless. The lack of evil, devastating depressions or crazy loon fits could point to stuff working ... or it could just be a quiet month. Only time will tell ...

This month I pledge to try harder with the reiki, monitor my caffeine intake, & eat LOTS of salmon. Especially that last one.