whentherewerebicycles:

“How one treats one’s body and psyche speaks volumes about one’s self-esteem: abusing body or soul with harmful chemicals, behaviors, work overload, lack of personal time and space all denote poor self-regard. All of these behaviors and attitudes reveal a fundamental stance towards the self that is conditional and devoid of true self respect. Self-esteem based on achievement has been called contingent self-esteem or acquired self-esteem. Unlike contingent self-esteem, true self-esteem has nothing to do with a self-evaluation on the basis of achievement or the lack of it. A person truly comfortable in his own skin doesn’t say, ‘I am a worthy human being because I can do such and such,’ but says, ‘I am a worthy human being whether or not I can do such and such.’ Contingent self-esteem evaluates; true self-esteem accepts.”

-Gabor Maté, Scattered

compassionatereminders:

This post doesn’t contain links to many professional resources - it’s a list of coping tips from people who are mentally ill/disabled themselves and who all decided to share what has worked for them here on tumblr. In the last 7 months I have been sharing content created for and by mentally ill/disabled people on this blog - and to celebrate reaching 5000 followers, I have decided to collect all the best coping tips I’ve come across in one easily accessible place. Enjoy!

Managing emotions:

• Letting go of emotional suffering via mindfulness.
• DBT strengthening statements
• Handling negative emotions
• The “emotions are signals” method
• The “mindfully recognizing emotions” method
• Healthy perspectives on emotions
• The “emotions are like hiccups” method
• The “healthy outlets” method

Managing anxiety:

• Coping statements for anxiety.
• Breathing exercise gif
• Breathing exercise gif 2
• Things to remember when having an anxiety attack
• The “just show up” method
• The “panicky friend” method
• Grounding techniques 
• The “I can survive the next 10 seconds” method
• The “distract your brain” method
• The “you will be able to cope” method

Managing depression:

• 7 depression tips and why they work
• Depression tips
• 21 tips to keeping your shit together when you’re depressed

Managing executive dysfunction:

• The “might as well” method.
• The “one step access” method.
• Why self-discipline isn’t always the answer. 
• The “use whatever works” method.
• The “taking care of someone else” method.
• The “june-bugging” method.
• Tricks for pushing through executive dysfunction
• The “do several things at once” method
• The “accept your limits” methods
• The “turn it into a game” method
• The “anything worth doing is worth doing poorly” method
• The “tricking your brain” method
• The “untangling the spaghetti” method.
• The “smaller steps” method
• The “emergency cleaning” method
• The “letting go of should” method.
• The “my body is an animal I need to care about” method
• The “fork theory” method
• The “remove the barriers” method
• The “half-ass things” method

Managing negative thinking:

• Challenging cognitive distortions.
• Finding alternative thoughts.
• Challenging negative thoughts
• How to get over past mistakes
• Toxic positivity vs hope and validation
• How to improve your self-esteem
• Negative and positive cognitions
• The “self neutrality” method
• The “separate your negative qualities from your identity” method
• Self talk to help end obsessions
• Ten forms of twisted thinking + ten ways to untwist your thinking

Managing self care:

• How to practice balanced self care.
• Why hands-on hobbies are important
• Ways to self-soothe
• A list of mental illness workbooks 
• Ways to start feeling again
• How to get back on track after a breakdown
• How to self-soothe and treat yourself
• Types of healthy coping skills
• The “parenting yourself” method
• An interactive self care guide
• The “don’t ignore your needs” method
• Online self care
• Making the most of therapy
• Free worksheets for people who can’t access therapy
• The “add good things to your life” method
• Showering for spoonies
• The “do what you can” method
• The “it isn’t a waste of time just because it won’t cure you” method.
• Self care cheat sheet
• The “create something” method

Managing school:

• Studying with anxiety and depression
• Studying with mental illness
• Coping with dissociation in school
• Managing exam periods when you’re mentally ill
• The “done is better than none” method
• How to survive college

Managing urges to harm yourself:

• What to do to when you’re suicidal
• Questions to ask before giving up
• Alternatives to self harm
• Coping with suicidal thoughts