It’s perfectly normal to experience negative feelings from time to time. Many of us might wish our lives had turned out differently or we’d made different choices.
Most of the time, we deal with the ups and downs of life and our emotions – frustrations, worries, envy, even anger – and move on.
Sometimes, however, feelings of unhappiness can escalate until they threaten to overwhelm you. When this happens, your emotional well-being can be so badly affected that you can’t think clearly or even function properly.
If you are looking after someone, it’s important to look after your own emotional well-being too.
Boosting your mood
If you’re feeling down for no obvious reason, it might be time to make some changes to your lifestyle, for example, introducing more physical activity into your life.
Helping others makes us feel good too, so if you have time on your hands, you might consider volunteering or maybe you would like to study something new.
Getting out and about is often all it takes to lift your spirits.
Talking to someone
Sometimes it’s hard to talk to people who are close to us. If you are unhappy about something or are feeling isolated or lonely why not talk someone who is trained to listen?
Samaritans is there 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Most callers are not suicidal.
Counselling
Counselling gives you the opportunity allows you to talk about your problems and feelings in confidence. A trained counsellor will listen to you and help you understand yourself better and deal with any negative thoughts and feelings you may have. They will not tell you what to do but help you find your own way forward.
Veterans
Veterans Wales offers specialist support to veterans who are experiencing service-related mental health problems, for example, Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome.
Support groups
Support groups may meet face-to-face or exist only online; however, what’s important is that the members understand and support one another, and share information and advice.
If you are looking after someone, why not find out if there’s a carers centre or support group in your area?
Help from books
There are many self-help books out there; however, the quality (and accuracy) of the advice on offer can vary dramatically.
Reading Well helps people with mild to moderate emotional problems. The idea is that a GP or other professional (a psychologist or councillor perhaps) recommends a book they think will be helpful to you. This book can then be borrowed from any branch library in Wales free of charge (or you can purchase your own copy).