Juki’s Field Guide to Malaise
QUICK START: Write
- What am I feeling physically and mentally? Thinking?
- What is bothering me?
- - What was I doing before this?
- - What do I have to do after this?
- Why do I feel like this?
- Why does [b.] make me feel like this?
- I feel __ because __.
- Is this feeling worth what is causing me to feel this way?
- If yes: what are the consequences of this cause? Do I need to call for help? If I don’t, what can I do to fix it? Write those things down and then look at the list later when you’re calmer.
- Now let yourself feel these things and then go chill [See Aftercare].
- If you don’t have time or don’t want to: [See Grounding, Distraction]
Note:
Grounding and distraction get you out of a negative or spiraling headspace.
This is good if you’re in public, are on a time crunch, or just too uncomfortable to bear with yourself any longer.
Grounding techniques: slow but help address the problem.
Distraction techniques: quick and help address the symptoms.
Grounding: Get out of your head
- Write things down to get your mind straight.
- Write a character feeling what you feel.
- Look in a mirror and think.
- Talk out loud to yourself.
- Do something physical.
- Pinch your fingertips, drink water, shake out your arms, wash your face, get up and walk around, stretch.
- *Listen to something quiet like ambient noise or ASMR.
- *Use an anchoring phrase
- Answer question words. Who are you, what’s your age, where are you, what time is it, etc.
- Don’t repeat frantically.
- *Go to a nice place in your mind.
- Also don’t do this dramatically. Just go there and chill. *These can become escapes and make you feel worse when you’re done. Need to list solutions first. Technically these are distractions, but can also help you see your problems from a less intimate position.
Distraction: Come back to it later
- Get up and set up in another room. Walk a lot; do this in many trips.
- Work on a different task. A different assignment, another chore, take a shower, etc.
- Make food and eat it slowly.
- Think of how you would tell someone a long story, like the plot of Hunter x Hunter or Solo Leveling.
- Recite the lyrics of a song in a language you don’t know, like Monologue, Better, or Love Foolish.
- Call your mom.
- Make a playlist.
- List what you need to do and do the easiest ones first. Break the others down a lot. Researching a task is a step.
- Write a story with a plot you already know.
- Design a website theme or a carrd.
Aftercare
- Put on comfortable clothes. Take off socks! Untie hair, remove hair ties around wrists or other textures that feel bad.
- Drink something and eat.
- Watch something simple, like a Ghibli movie, Kipper, SpongeBob, or ASMR.
- Watch an LP like MBH’s Hypnospace Outlaw, John Wolfe’s Rusty Lake or Dropsy, Laila Dyer’s Painscreek Killings, Mad Max’s cozy games playlist, or Etho’s modded series. Or Danny Gonzales or Drew Gooden lol
- Play a video game.
- Read a book. Annotate it.
- Go to sleep literally.
