I have both depression and anxiety and a series of other things that require both therapy and medication — but sometimes this is not enough, and I doubt I’m the only one that feels like this isn’t enough. But you know what really makes me feel better, mainly when I’m beating myself up because of something that I wrote (or didn’t)? Videogames. Really. The scarier, the better. Not so long ago, when my depression wasn’t even allowing me to go out of my room, I called a friend from my high school years and we found my old videogame along with a few “boy” games that my brother suggested. Games that have a really good plot, but are also pretty scary and annoying and capable of angering me a lot. And this is surprisingly good! I got worked up because of the game and I spend hours trying to figure something out — something that has nothing to do with the publishing industry or anything at all. It’s a very good therapy.

Besides that, I have five cats (don’t look at me like that! I’m a cat lady and I’m okay with that) that are always around. Four girls and a boy. The eldest, the only boy, likes to bite things playfully — he has a love affair with my hair and I’m okay with that, too. The three younger girls are always running around, destroying and stealing things. The older girl likes to sleep next to me the entire day — and sometimes she brings her toys and we play together (in fact, she just “gifted” me with her Patrick Star plushie). It’s a good therapy, too. Animal therapy is, im fact, the thing that makes me happy whenever I’m feeling crappy. Just going to walk around the zoo helps, too. I think that just being near any animal is good for our minds, helps us relax.

But when nothing of it works, I usually just go to one of my parents and pretend I’m a little girl again.

I’ll add yet another endorsement to walking. I’m lucky enough to live near an incredible nature preserve, so I can easily ramble for two hours or more. It’s also useful for me in that I write about Faerie and nature spirits. Taking two hours away from my writing might otherwise make me twitchy, but I can justify the time away to my brain by calling it research–location scouting, world-building, even character sketching.

Another thing I find helpful (though others may find it distracting) is keeping other things I love in my writing room. I’m an amateur herbalist, so keeping my herbal supplies in the room reminds me that there’s more to life than writing, even if sometimes it doesn’t feel like it. And if I’m having a terrible writing day, I can create an herbal something–tea, tincture, oil. Holding a physical creation in my hands, rather than ideas, can be very soothing. And the smell of the herbs doesn’t hurt, either!

And finally, reading is very soothing to me. I find the most escapist thing I can lay my hands on and lose myself in a fictional character’s problems. It also serves to remind me of why I started writing in the first place.

* acupuncture

* massage

* volunteer trail restoration with the national parks: working in the dirt, getting sweaty, pulling weeds or whatever, was so relaxing. I don’t have a garden but this was just as good.

*Headspace Mindfulness App: just ten minutes a day. It’s doable. It makes a difference. https://www.headspace.com/

I also took a mindfulness course through the med school here and felt the effects meditation had on my entire being. It actually helped me get through creative blocks as well as kept me calm when I allowed myself to just sit, doing only one thing for twenty minutes. (Instead of my usual doing twenty things in one minute.) Meditation is hard but it’s worth it. It made me slow down my entire day and focus on just one thing at a time, which did wonders for my lack of patience and anxiety.

The best takeaway from the mindfulness course, though, is something you can do anywhere at any time: take three deep conscious breaths and be aware of every second of those breaths. In. Out. Just those three conscious breaths can have a positive effect of your whole self. I do it sitting in traffic — eyes open, of course.

Also, be kind to yourself. Mentally beating yourself up over real/imagined failures or disappointments piles on your anxiety, stress, and unhappiness. Forgive yourself and let it go. Move on. You’ll try again.