So I made a list of mental health rules to follow for the rest of the summer. I'll reiterate them in this post:
1. No irl venting
2. No ventposting online
3. Go outside at least once a day
4. Go further from home at least once a week
5. No contacting the forbidden person on forbidden days
I'm doing okay with these so far. I did vent a little bit to my parents and regretted it. I'll avoid that from now on. Also I went to the mall with my friend and I didn't really vent to her, but I did tell her about a problem I was having and she said some comforting words that really helped. And she was being really calm and level-headed about it, so she didn't suggest that I needed to take any extreme course of action to make myself feel better about it. So I think what I said to her was not truly venting, so I won't consider that a violation of the rules. If it actually makes both me and the other person feel better after talking about it, it's probably not venting.
About the no ventposting rule... I've been good with it but I noticed I still interact with other people's ventposts online. It's better not to engage with these. And I really think there should be a sixth "no doomscrolling" rule. But it's easier to remember 5 rules than 6.
I've mostly been good with going outside. I didn't do that yesterday though. A five minute walk outside counts, but I didn't do that.
The mall trip with my friend counted as #4. However, in the original post about the rules, which you can read here: https://freyathefrypan.blogspot.com/2024/06/mental-health-tips-i-will-follow-for.html I said that these trips that are a further distance away from home must be done alone. Before going to the mall that day, I did go to the library and get a bunch of relevant books for my research though. And I looked through them while waiting for my friend. So I think I spent a sufficient amount of time away from home while being alone.
And then we come to Rule 5. I thought this one would be the hardest, but it has actually been really easy so far. The Forbidden Person is forbidden only on weekends. I can still yap to them on other days. And I have known this person long enough to understand their texting style, so their texting does not feel unpredictable or cause me anxiety on other days.
Anyway, to help me out with following these rules I've started playing Habitica again. I recommend the app on your phone but right now I'm just using the desktop site habitica.com and it's great. Basically, you tell the app what healthy habits you are trying to cultivate and what you are trying to stop. You can also add a to-do list and "dailies" (these are tasks you have to do every day, like going outside at least once for me. Or doing my Duolingo Spanish lesson). You will be rewarded by in-game currency which you can spend on fancy accessories for your character and also on creatures. You can feed the creatures and they can grow into mounts for your character to ride on. It's pretty based. I would recommend it.
I literally used to use Habitica in high school to motivate me to do my homework and now I have returned to it as someone who lowkey has a masters degree but still doesn't have their life together lmao.
Anyway, I'll keep you updated on how this goes for me.
