Resource Distracting yourself

[21Neberg]

Hey everyone,

one of the few things I learned during my stay at the psych ward was to distract myself as much as possible. This helps me because if I start thinking about myself, my future and shit I'll often end up in a negative spiral of thoughts. This is what brings me to self harm or attempting suicide. If I want to get through the day, I have to prevent this from happening.

That's why I now try to distract myself, keep myself busy. I'm not very good at it, but at least I get out of the bed now. Some of the things I try to do is drawing, working out and studying. Perhaps you can think of things that work better for you.

I wanted to share this in hopes of helping someone. Recovery is something I don't think I'll ever succeed in, but I have tried to recover for the past 6 months. I don't think I'll die a natural death - but I hope this tip can help someone recover and live a long life.

 

[Mr2005]

I've turned distraction into a fine art. Unfortunately it's also why I'm in this mess. More specifically procrastination so I'd just add not to distract from what you're meant to be doing if you know there's something you could do to make things better. I don't know if there's anyone else who'd be stupid enough to do that though

 

[BeenDoneForSoLong]

Issue I have is when sleepy time comes. How can you distract yourself when it's time to go to sleep?

My internal monologue screams "killyourself" and I can't sleep, because there are no distractions.

If anyone has a coping mechanism for this I'd love to hear it. It's where I struggle most.

 

[Morto]

Issue I have is when sleepy time comes. How can you distract yourself when it's time to go to sleep?

My internal monologue screams "killyourself" and I can't sleep, because there are no distractions.

If anyone has a coping mechanism for this I'd love to hear it. It's where I struggle most.

Do you use any benzos? I relate completely to this, sleepy time is maybe the worst part of the day.

 

[Oblivion Lover]

Issue I have is when sleepy time comes. How can you distract yourself when it's time to go to sleep?

My internal monologue screams "killyourself" and I can't sleep, because there are no distractions.

If anyone has a coping mechanism for this I'd love to hear it. It's where I struggle most.

Sometimes when my mind is buzzing with thoughts at night and I can't sleep I listen to ASMR videos in Youtube with earbuds. It is very distracting and at the same very calming and helps not only with sleep but with anxiety. It's a nice thing, but very few people ever heard of it. Anyone with sleep problems should try it, but keep in mind that it is only a complement to actual treatment and the therapeutic qualities depend on the person's susceptibility, like hypnosis.

 

[TiredHorse]

Issue I have is when sleepy time comes. How can you distract yourself when it's time to go to sleep?

My internal monologue screams "killyourself" and I can't sleep, because there are no distractions.

If anyone has a coping mechanism for this I'd love to hear it. It's where I struggle most.

If you're in a cannabis-legal state, there are some decent tinctures that help bring sleep more quickly. Between dosing and actually going under is wretched, but at least I seem to go under more quickly.

 

[BeenDoneForSoLong]

If you're in a cannabis-legal state, there are some decent tinctures that help bring sleep more quickly. Between dosing and actually going under is wretched, but at least I seem to go under more quickly.

Not even in murica. Where I live is very 'anti-cannabis', I feel like becoming reliant on it to go to sleep would be detrimental in the long term anyways tho.

Do you use any benzos? I relate completely to this, sleepy time is maybe the worst part of the day.

No, no benzos.

 

[Nem]

I've turned distraction into a fine art. Unfortunately it's also why I'm in this mess. More specifically procrastination so I'd just add not to distract from what you're meant to be doing if you know there's something you could do to make things better. I don't know if there's anyone else who'd be stupid enough to do that though

Hey Mr2005, how are things going for you?
Hugs!

 

[thomasdoyletad]

If anyone has a coping mechanism for this I'd love to hear it. It's where I struggle most.

I have a lot of problems sleeping between hyper-vigilance and chronic sleep paralysis. Aside from chemical assistance like benzos, especially clonazepam, or K which work wonders, but can only ever a short-term solution (I've heard good things about THC as a more long-term solution, but it doesn't agree with me) I've found some good distractions include:

1. Listening to music (though sometimes this hypes me up and makes me not want to sleep)
2. Audiobooks (I hate them personally but I know some swear by them)
3. Watching movies or TV shows (again not for me, but I know it works for some)

The last two require a little more explanation. The first is more of a lifestyle change and is hardly a big secret, but regular exercise (especially working out just before bed) is something I do find helpful but I don't always have the motivation for it. Another is writing. Obviously you can't write while falling asleep, but when I'm working on a story I can mentally go over the scenes and dialogue I have and think about how I might change it or think over scenes I want to write. It's kind of like playing a movie in my head. Once you've committed even a page or two of a story to paper it's very easy to get lost in it.

 

[Mr2005]

Hey Mr2005, how are things going for you?
Hugs!

Long time no see Nem. When I made a thread asking who was still here you were one of the people I had in mind

 

[21Neberg]

Issue I have is when sleepy time comes. How can you distract yourself when it's time to go to sleep?

My internal monologue screams "killyourself" and I can't sleep, because there are no distractions.

If anyone has a coping mechanism for this I'd love to hear it. It's where I struggle most.

I tend to listen to a podcast. Keeps my mind off the negative thoughts, but let's me fall asleep too.

 

[Mr2005]

The only time I seem to struggle with that is at my girlfriends when I'm alone with my brain and I just want to blow my brains out so I can sleep and stop thinking. At home I'm very much in my bubble so whatever I've distracted myself with tends to be what's still on my mind when I go to bed.

 

[littlelady774]

I've tried distracting myself, but it's very hard because my depression/anxiety is like this huge purple monster in the corner of the room that just keeps following me everywhere I go.
Xanax calms me.
But without drugs, I try to think of a very neutral memory, and put myself in it.
Like shooting a basketball through a hoop. I focus on how my feet were positioned, the feeling of the ball in my hands, the weird rubbery smell of the ball, the sun on my face, and that noise the ball made going through the hoop net.
I focus my all energy on my senses.

 

[pole]

Issue I have is when sleepy time comes. How can you distract yourself when it's time to go to sleep?

My internal monologue screams "killyourself" and I can't sleep, because there are no distractions.

If anyone has a coping mechanism for this I'd love to hear it. It's where I struggle most.

I struggled with sleeping alot as well. Changed after i tried a few things.

started taking iron supplements because i had very low iron levels. It helped alot and my dreams were alittle more vivid and like real in a way which was nice.

Melatonin is a common one you probably know about it, but it helps alot. Usually taking more than one like two or three can help me sleep really well.

I also use a sleeping mask, and it helps alot. I have windows on the roof of my bedroom, so sunlight early mornings ruins my day and sleep.

Listening to music, not just music, but calming sounds, like raindrops, a thunderstorm, nature sounds. I always am anxious or stressed whenever i sleep, doing this calms me down alittle.

Eating celery, which is proven to help with insomnia. It makes me drowsy.

another big thing i tried recently is scents and fragrances to help sleep. theres specific scents for relaxation, improving sleep quality and treating insomnia including lavender, sandalwood, lemon, etc. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...FjAQegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw3acguN8LHjg946kiFjWGzk

Hope this helps in any way possible.

 

[BeenDoneForSoLong]

I struggled with sleeping alot as well. Changed after i tried a few things.

started taking iron supplements because i had very low iron levels. It helped alot and my dreams were alittle more vivid and like real in a way which was nice.

Melatonin is a common one you probably know about it, but it helps alot. Usually taking more than one like two or three can help me sleep really well.

I also use a sleeping mask, and it helps alot. I have windows on the roof of my bedroom, so sunlight early mornings ruins my day and sleep.

Listening to music, not just music, but calming sounds, like raindrops, a thunderstorm, nature sounds. I always am anxious or stressed whenever i sleep, doing this calms me down alittle.

Eating celery, which is proven to help with insomnia. It makes me drowsy.

another big thing i tried recently is scents and fragrances to help sleep. theres specific scents for relaxation, improving sleep quality and treating insomnia including lavender, sandalwood, lemon, etc. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...FjAQegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw3acguN8LHjg946kiFjWGzk

Hope this helps in any way possible.

Haven't heard of celery that's interesting. Importing melatonin from the u.s with no noticable improvement . Lavender also didn't work for me. I haven't tried going the whole ambient route. I'll try it tonight :)

 

[Tortured_empath]

Issue I have is when sleepy time comes. How can you distract yourself when it's time to go to sleep?

My internal monologue screams "killyourself" and I can't sleep, because there are no distractions.

If anyone has a coping mechanism for this I'd love to hear it. It's where I struggle most.

I haven't found any surefire ways to mitigate the crippling dread that insues when I try to go fall asleep. I think I've accepted it as a part of my life, a pain that is there, like an ankle that is always sore (even though this is much worse). I used to do meditation exercises in an app at one point, but itwas with very mixed results. One thing I am weary about is that distracting myself adds the risk of my depression and anxiety accumulating and blowing up extremely hard when I try to go to sleep - it's not something that always happens though, sometimes it just comes back as the same. When it does happen I try to go to sleep when I am really tired though, so that the feeling dosen't last very long...

 

[vulturecyclop]

I can't really seem to be able to distract myself lately, just watching youtube and sleep a lot.

 

[TAW122]

My distractions are primarily music (classical, video game, and then some other genres like rock, metal, edm, to name a few), then video games and just perusing the forums. Sometimes my distractions aren't enough and ineffective though. I think distractions are really just a temporary respite of my miserable life in general, but just little breaks in the insanity. It doesn't really solve much (long term), but at least buys me some time and numb my pain for a bit.

 

[pole]

Haven't heard of celery that's interesting. Importing melatonin from the u.s with no noticable improvement . Lavender also didn't work for me. I haven't tried going the whole ambient route. I'll try it tonight :)

Yeah celery was wierd for me lol, but it made me feel drowsy. And wierd enough, i did research about it online and found that Celery is full of anti-inflammatory and cancer-fighting compounds. It can alleviate irritability, depression, and anxiety, reduce high blood pressure and cholesterol.

Celery: A Surprise Cure for Insomnia

If you've suffered with insomnia, chances are you've tried just about anything to get a good night's sleep. But has celery made the list?

www.tcmworld.org

 

[Midnight]

To me distraction just keeps you here longer without improvement. It can have it's benefits i won't deny it. But i have grown tired of it.

Hopefully it can help others more than it did for me.

 

[Kjo]

Issue I have is when sleepy time comes. How can you distract yourself when it's time to go to sleep?

My internal monologue screams "killyourself" and I can't sleep, because there are no distractions.

If anyone has a coping mechanism for this I'd love to hear it. It's where I struggle most.

I take sleeping pills... A lot. I'm trying to give them up but I relate so much to this

 

[No_more]

I sometimes do puzzles. I like hanjie, crosswords, wordsearches etc but I've started to lose interest in them.

 

[azucaramargo]

I've turned distraction into a fine art. Unfortunately it's also why I'm in this mess. More specifically procrastination so I'd just add not to distract from what you're meant to be doing if you know there's something you could do to make things better. I don't know if there's anyone else who'd be stupid enough to do that though

I am in the same boat. I am a master of distraction as well, and just as you said, it has wreaked havoc on my little life. I hope we can stay on-task.

 

[Liveandlearnagain]

So I've heard of this technique before. And we all talk about the dishonesty of the field of mental health, especially in these clinics where suicidal people are handled.

So let's talk honestly. Distraction can work when a person is feeling impulsive (for example, for an emotional night, or during a short period of their life where things are difficult). Distraction is not a good long term solution.

Because after awhile, you find that you are not doing anything in your life, only distracting yourself from life, and you end up in a worse position than you were in originally because you haven't moved forward.

My only advice is to be careful with long term distraction, or using it over and over over long periods of time. I distracted myself for ten years from suicide, and while I feel better, I haven't achieved anything because all of the "hard things in life" (education, jobs, hard work, self development) made me anxious, depressed, and eventually suicidal. So I avoided them.

Now, after avoiding all the hard things in life for years and years, I'm in an even worse spot.

Just make sure to use your head. If you are distracting yourself 24/7/365 you are not living and moving forward.

 

[azucaramargo]

So I've heard of this technique before. And we all talk about the dishonesty of the field of mental health, especially in these clinics where suicidal people are handled.

So let's talk honestly. Distraction can work when a person is feeling impulsive (for example, for an emotional night, or during a short period of their life where things are difficult). Distraction is not a good long term solution.

Because after awhile, you find that you are not doing anything in your life, only distracting yourself from life, and you end up in a worse position than you were in originally because you haven't moved forward.

My only advice is to be careful with long term distraction, or using it over and over over long periods of time. I distracted myself for ten years from suicide, and while I feel better, I haven't achieved anything because all of the "hard things in life" (education, jobs, hard work, self development) made me anxious, depressed, and eventually suicidal. So I avoided them.

Now, after avoiding all the hard things in life for years and years, I'm in an even worse spot.

Just make sure to use your head. If you are distracting yourself 24/7/365 you are not living and moving forward.

Amen to that! Please let me know how i can acquire the rights to use your words for the excerpt on the front cover of my autobiography: " amnot doing anything in [my] life, only distracting self from life." That is EXACTLY my predicament. Thank you.

 

[paul29]

One thing I did as I was starting to have energy again was I really started studying the world, in ways I'd never thought to do before.

I wandered though grocery stores, leaning how much things really cost - I'd long ago stopped bothering - and became wise as to what to buy, when, from where.

As I got moving more, I ditched public transit in favour of walking. I didn't do this by choice. It wasn't a choice. It was me following by body's instinct.

I sat in parts. I watched people, totally randomly. I saw everything from kids playing on the slide to vagrants urinating on trees. (The parks in my area are rough.)

It was through all that life studying that I was able to identify what I hope turns out to be my path back into the world.

 

[azucaramargo]

One thing I did as I was starting to have energy again was I really started studying the world, in ways I'd never thought to do before.

I wandered though grocery stores, leaning how much things really cost - I'd long ago stopped bothering - and became wise as to what to buy, when, from where.

As I got moving more, I ditched public transit in favour of walking. I didn't do this by choice. It wasn't a choice. It was me following by body's instinct.

I sat in parts. I watched people, totally randomly. I saw everything from kids playing on the slide to vagrants urinating on trees. (The parks in my area are rough.)

It was through all that life studying that I was able to identify what I hope turns out to be my path back into the world.

Wow! So cool! You are a good observer and recorder of your own behavior. I, too, aim to have your courage to spend time with myself. Face myself, is what I mean. Just like you have done.

 

[paul29]

Wow! So cool! You are a good observer and recorder of your own behavior. I, too, aim to have your courage to spend time with myself. Face myself, is what I mean. Just like you have done.

I actually meant the opposite...
I didn't need to study myself. I already knew myself. It infuriated me when "therapy" insisted that all the answers came from within.
I found my path by looking OUTWARD. I stared out at a world that I no longer recognized and tried to make some sense of it. And I eventually spotted a little something that could make me relevant again.
I don't fault anyone who finds solutions by facing themselves, as you say, but that's not how it was for me. Absolutely not.

 

[azucaramargo]

I actually meant the opposite...
I didn't need to study myself. I already knew myself. It infuriated me when "therapy" insisted that all the answers came from within.
I found my path by looking OUTWARD. I stared out at a world that I no longer recognized and tried to make some sense of it. And I eventually spotted a little something that could make me relevant again.
I don't fault anyone who finds solutions by facing themselves, as you say, but that's not how it was for me. Absolutely not.

Thank you for explaining! I guess I STILL think such a keen ability to observe one's surroundings indicates a good knowledge of one's own self. What you describe sounds sort of like an epiphany, and I just really admire people (like you) who can put into words these personal experiences/realizations. The hours of walking you described made an impression on me -- simply because I just thought to myself that I couldn't stand my own company for that amount of time. Your efforts at looking out at the world -- on your own -- are and were inspirational to me. Thank you.

 

[paul29]

The hours of walking you described made an impression on me -- simply because I just thought to myself that I couldn't stand my own company for that amount of time.

I get this. I hate being alone.

The epiphany, I guess, is accepting that I have no choice, that I can't escape, that no one is coming, and that all I can do is try to minimize my misery.

I am foreseeing a period of "better" for now, but I fully expect another "worse" to then follow, for reasons outside my control, with me powerless to do anything about it.