May is mental health awareness month, so let’s talk about it. In case you missed it in my previous posts, I have mental health issues. Mainly depression and anxiety. In the past I have taken medication for my depression but the side effects really outweighed any benefits so I stopped taking them. I’m currently back in therapy and the title of this post is something my therapist said during our session this week.
Thinking of depression and anxiety as a monster that’s constantly trying to feed itself on my emotions has really helped me. I’ve been practicing mindfulness for many years now and I’m pretty good at identifying when my depression and anxiety are trying to take over. I don’t catch it 100% of the time but I catch it a lot of the time. I realize now that when I would catch those emotions in the past I would just acknowledge it but still let it control my actions.
The last couple of days I’ve been able to really shut those feelings down by recognizing them and just telling myself that I’m not going to feed the monster. It’s not a magic cure but it’s something to add to my mental health toolbox.
It’s a couple of days later and I’m going to post this. I don’t feel like it’s “ready” but I also can’t define what would make it so. I’m really trying to get past the “It’s not perfect so I can’t post it” way of thinking.
My Journey 
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