Saying ‘No, sorry’ to some things I don’t want to do, but reminding myself how certain people make me feel. I might not really want to go out, but I know that I’ll come home feeling positive and having spent a couple of hours just cackling with my friends, lifting each other up.
I go to the sea. I find it calms me like nowhere else and I feel completely energised just by listening to the waves come in. If it’s chucking it down then I’ll sit in the car or in a shelter with a flask of hot chocolate. If it’s dry then I’ll be on the sand or shingle. I could be there for hours.
I have a quick shower so I’m not sitting in my own dirt, then a bubble bath that’s as hot as I can bear it. A good book (not something too light, but something you need to concentrate on), a bacon sandwich ( a bacon sandwich in the bath tastes vastly superior to a bacon sandwich at any other time. You’ve just got to have a plate big enough to catch the crumbs) and regular top ups with hot, hot water and more bubbles. Then out to put on clean pyjamas and get into a freshly changed bed.
My hobbies. I’m a crafter, I sew, I paint, I knit etc, so I choose something that requires all of my concentration, so there is no room in my brain to be thinking about anything else. And the feeling of creating something you’re proud of gets me through a few more days of a soul destroying job.
Spending time with children I love. Same as hobbies; it’s impossible to think about your own issues when a three year old wants you to play pirates with him.
Physically… I do my nails.