Mind Over Apocalypse: Navigating Mental Health in the End Times

Hey there, resilient survivors and mental health advocates! Join me in this confident and casual exploration as we delve into the often overlooked aspect of mental health and how it intertwines with the challenges of the apocalypse. From Coping Mechanisms to Community Support, let’s unravel the complexities of maintaining a healthy mind in the face of unprecedented adversity.

1. Coping Mechanisms – Sanity in the Midst of Chaos: Picture the apocalypse as a whirlwind of chaos, and now imagine yourself casually adopting Coping Mechanisms to maintain sanity. It’s the ability to find solace in mindfulness, creative expression, or routines that turns mental health into a cornerstone of resilience in the face of the unknown.

2. The Social Fabric – Weaving Community Support: Envision the Social Fabric – a network of survivors offering mutual support and understanding. Picture yourself casually leaning on others and providing a listening ear in return, creating a supportive community that becomes a crucial component of mental health in the post-apocalyptic world.

3. Mindful Moments – Finding Serenity Amidst Turmoil: Delve into Mindful Moments – brief pauses to center oneself amidst the turmoil of survival. Picture yourself casually embracing mindfulness, whether through meditation, deep breaths, or connecting with nature, as a means to find serenity in the midst of the apocalypse’s challenges.

4. Emotional Resilience – Weathering the Apocalypse’s Emotional Storm: Embrace Emotional Resilience – the ability to weather the emotional storms that the apocalypse brings. Picture yourself casually acknowledging and navigating a spectrum of emotions, understanding that resilience lies in the capacity to adapt and endure through the highs and lows of the post-apocalyptic journey.

online pharmacy buy lariam with best prices today in the USA

5. The Power of Connection – Fostering Meaningful Relationships: Recognize The Power of Connection – forging meaningful relationships as a cornerstone of mental well-being. Picture yourself casually building connections with fellow survivors, recognizing that shared experiences and support networks play a pivotal role in sustaining mental health in challenging times.

online pharmacy buy keflex with best prices today in the USA

6. Psychological Adaptation – Thriving in the New Normal: Consider Psychological Adaptation – the process of adjusting and thriving in the new normal that the apocalypse ushers in. Picture yourself casually adapting to the changed circumstances, recognizing that mental health is not just about survival but also about thriving in the face of adversity.

7. Laughter as Medicine – A Resilient Sense of Humor: Acknowledge Laughter as Medicine – maintaining a resilient sense of humor even in the direst situations. Picture yourself casually finding moments of levity, understanding that humor can be a powerful tool to cope with stress and provide much-needed relief in the face of apocalyptic challenges.

8. Routine and Stability – Anchors in Uncertain Seas: Embrace Routine and Stability – establishing anchors in the uncertain seas of the apocalypse. Picture yourself casually creating daily routines that provide a sense of structure and stability, recognizing the impact of predictability on mental well-being in times of upheaval.

9. Personal Reflection – Navigating the Inner Landscape: Engage in Personal Reflection – navigating the inner landscape of thoughts and emotions. Picture yourself casually taking moments for introspection, fostering self-awareness, and understanding the nuances of your mental state amidst the apocalyptic landscape.

10. Collective Mental Health – A Shared Responsibility: Acknowledge Collective Mental Health – understanding that the mental well-being of the group is a shared responsibility. Picture yourself casually contributing to a supportive environment where open communication and empathy become pillars of maintaining collective mental health in the post-apocalyptic community.

Whether through coping mechanisms, community support, or a resilient sense of humor, the journey towards a healthy mind becomes an integral part of surviving and thriving in the face of unprecedented challenges.

online pharmacy buy champix with best prices today in the USA

So, fellow mental health navigators, may your strategies be diverse, your connections meaningful, and your resilience unwavering as you embark on the path of maintaining a healthy mind in the aftermath of the apocalypse. Happy navigating!

The Apocalypse of the Mind

Surviving the Apocalypse will probably be the most stressful thing you ever do. Considering that many of us (your fair writer included) already have mental health issues when we live in a developed country with clean water, regular food access, and life-saving medicine, what on earth are we to do when everything is on fire and the zombies are at the gate?

Well, the standard advice for managing mental health issues is even more important when everyone you love has died in front of you.

Talk about it:

Reach out to whatever community you have around you, whether that be your fellow mutants, your pet radioactive cats, or actual people (lucky!). Talk about your feelings, good and bad, and work out ways to manage them – together. A therapist or counsellor would be excellent, but since they’re all dead consider drawing a face on a sack of live rats and talking to that instead.

Eat healthy:

Alright, so you’re probably pretty limited on your diet right now, but do your best. Don’t just eat the canned beans – add some freeze-dried fruit and some mysterious green stuff from the cave walls to your diet, too. Your brain needs a balanced diet!

Try journalling:

There’s nothing like twenty pages of ‘Kill them all’ to express your feelings of furious, broken rage. If you don’t have paper, write it on walls in the blood of your enemies. Bonus: It scares off FUTURE enemies!

Get some exercise: 

Death fights in the cage will increase your adrenaline and help your poor tormented mind pump out serotonin. Plus, the rush that comes with surviving another day might block out all those terrible memories for an hour or two.

Don’t be ashamed to try medication:

Ok, so you might not have access to a psychiatrist or even a GP any more, but that glowing stuff that grows by the wasted river has to have some kind of effect, right? Right?

Meditation works wonders:

Block out the noise of screaming and gunfire and take deep breaths, imagining yourself in a peaceful natural scene that no longer exists anywhere.

Learn to self-soothe:

Lying under a bed with your fingers in your ears chanting ‘everything’s fine, everything’s fine’ might not be the healthiest activity but whatever keeps you going.

Practice self-care:

Self care means taking the time to look after your body, mind, and spirit. Whether it’s organising all your weapons by most kills, going to regular machine-god sacrifices,  or decorating your trophy skulls, be sure to set aside some time and avoid burnout.

 

We hope this helps you with your deteriorating mental state and keeps you alive and with it enough to grimly and stubbornly claw your way through another day.

(please note, this is not actual advice for mental health conditions. Please see your doctor if you feel like you may be depressed, anxious or otherwise mentally unwell. If you are considering suicide, reach out to someone on this list of crisis aids. This article is a work of humor)

I'm 100% here for Debris (the video game)

Today I stumbled across a new game coming out in October called Debris by Moonray Studios.  This is an indie game that feels big but doesn’t feel like it’s trying too hard or doing too much.

Indie games come out every ten minutes.

online pharmacy buy buspar with best prices today in the USA

However, quality indie games are diamonds in the rough. This game is looking pretty shiny. There are a vast amount of research and unique perspectives built in.

online pharmacy buy xenical with best prices today in the USA

From the trailer alone the artwork, voice work, and quality are all top notch.

It’s a breath of fresh air[1. Pun completely intended] to come across a game like Debris. The developer, instead of creating something based on what they think people want, made a game based on what they know they’re good at.

Check out the trailer and press release below:

Continue reading “I'm 100% here for Debris (the video game)”

Mental Illness in the Post-Apocalypse

Panic-attack
Panic-attack (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Hi there. I am a crazy person. My mental illness impacts every part of my life. Specifically, I am a person with severe depression and a panic disorder. It’s possible (undiagnosed, but confirmed as very likely by a psychiatrist) that I have Borderline Personality Disorder. I am medicated in order to control this, taking a regular dose of Citalopram, and I am in therapy.

Obviously, none of these things will be available to me post-apocalypse. This could be a problem.

Continue reading “Mental Illness in the Post-Apocalypse”

So, I don't know what day it is.

Apparently today is Thursday. Has been all day. Unfortunately it took me until about 5:00pm to fully come to terms with this. I don’t know how or why, but I seem to have skipped a day and lost track of time.

I was there, at work actually, for all of these days.

online pharmacy buy renova with best prices today in the USA

I think.

I even looked at my calendar last night and thought I’d placed things in the wrong days because I was convinced yesterday was Tuesday. I was convinced that my calendar was wrong and I didn’t have any appointments today so I could use this spare time to prep for my Thursday meetings.

Oh, today is Thursday?! Well… Now, I have a 10am meeting, a post or two to write, and a looming deadline tomorrow.

While I can’t give any insight as to how or why this happens I think either I had a stroke and didn’t realize it or Char isn’t the only one suffering from being disorganized. And Ann isn’t the only one suffering from sleep deprivation.

Taking care of self and making the time to make sure you’re in a healthy, sane space will make present and post-apocalyptic life safe and bearable.

Normally everything is a joke to me. But today I was concerned. How had I be going so hard that I didn’t know what day it was?

online pharmacy buy paxil with best prices today in the USA

Why couldn’t I remember where I disconnected from the functional basics of daily life?

online pharmacy buy oseltamivir with best prices today in the USA

We’ve talked about mental health and morale here before. And while I’m not a medical professional or a patient, as a person, I can — sometimes not soon enough– recognize my own signs of damage.

For instance: I should know what day it is. I shouldn’t feel sad about waking up. I shouldn’t feel overwhelmed at the thought of adding buying toilet paper to my to-do list.

Mental health and emotional well-being are about more than being depressed or not being depressed, being sick or not being sick.

Sometimes it’s just about being in balance and taking care of yourself– more than physically.

online pharmacy buy cenforce with best prices today in the USA

Check out this checklist from Lisa Kift Therapy of some questions you should ask yourself every once in a while.

There is no right or wrong with this checklist but can hopefully guide you either celebrate the great place you’re in or to consider further work around sensitive areas.

So now I know today is Thursday and tomorrow is Friday and I have to take the time to sit down and honestly ask myself how I’m doing sometimes.

Then, if I don’t like those answers I owe it to myself and my family to course correct.