fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2081 ]

[ SECRET POST #2081 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2081 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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[Paul Ryan / Matthew Morrison]

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[The Incredible Hulk]

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08.

[inuyasha and mobile suit gundam]

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[My Chemical Romance]

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[The Closer/Major Crimes]

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[Perception]

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[The Circle/ The Engelsfors Trilogy]

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[The Shoes-Time To Dance (official music video)]

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[UC Gundam]

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[Friends]

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 017 secrets from Secret Submission Post #297.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 - too big ], [ 1 - repeat ], [ 1 - posted twice ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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Anybody else ever get that feeling of being able to perform (or appear to perform) life okay, but feel like you're a shade away from feeling total crap?

If so, do you have any tips for feeling better? Or just general life tips for feeling physically well?

I want to feel better, because I have a fuckton of stuff to do that is physically taxing, but I'd rather not throw up while doing it.

Anxiety? Depression?

Anyway, I identified some things I can personally do that makes me less likely to implode, but you'll have to work out what works for you.

1) Getting to sleep at a reasonable time, getting enough sleep, getting up and out of the house.

2) Eating actual meals three times a day, even if I don't think I need them. Include a glass of orange juice somewhere in there. McDonald's and Domino's count.

3) Be careful of my caffeine dose over the day. I need one cup of coffee in the morning to function properly in mathsey things, another in the afternoon can be nice, but more than that or taking them too close together is bad news when I'm already stressed. My heart starts racing.

4) When I start getting panicked, I know that much of it is a physiological reaction: my heart is pumping overtime, and that feels bad, and my breathing is probably mucked up. So, I control that bit. Long slow breathes out. I find it help to pretend you're singing: one quick breathe in, then slowly breath out until the end of the line. Keep going.

5) Remember that you've felt like this before, and that when you looked at the situation afterwards, when you felt better, it didn't look so impossible. What things do you actually have to do, and what can be reasonably dropped? What about if it wasn't you, but someone else? Would you think they could drop some of the things? Would you think it was terrible if they messed something up?

6) For general advice, I often find it helps to imagine explaining the problem to someone you normally trust on this sort of thing, and then imagining what they'd say. Or imagine someone a bit younger than you had the same problem: what would you suggest?

7) If all else fails, go for a walk. And make sure you get to talk to actual people every so often.

Oh, also, a while ago I realised I'd forgotten to make sure I had iron in my diet, and had accidentally eaten my way anaemic. So I had a big push over a few weeks to get it back up, then made sure I was scheduling meals in over the week that had decent levels of iron. And ate more dried apricots. Also realised vit C had somehow become a problem, so orange juice.

That was making me feel pretty crap.

I was going to add something, but you pretty much said all I was going to say :) Good comment.

I think the best thing you can do is just go through a list of potential causes and eliminate them in turn until you identify the one that's the root of the problem. From there, you can work on a solution. Try something like this:

- Is this because of a pre-existing condition (anxiety or depression, etc.)
- Is my job/school causing my stress? Am I under too much pressure?
- Is there something in my social life causing stress?
- Is there something else causing stress (money, living conditions etc.)
- Am I eating, sleeping, and exercising well and regularly? (This is important, because most people disregard this stuff and neglecting it can cause all sorts of problems.)
- Am I actually sick?

Obviously I'm no expert and this is just a rough idea, but knowing the problem you're facing makes it a lot better to find a solution. I personally was dealing with feeling crappy for quite a while when all things were going really well for me. Eventually I found out from my doctor I had a number of really bad vitamin deficiencies (VitD, Iron, Zinc) and because of that my body wasn't operating at 100%. I also had a piss poor diet and wasn't drinking enough water.

Fixing that up, I feel more alert, healthier, and happier.

Hope this wall of text helps somewhat!

Oh dear. In that case, that explains a lot. I know it may sound a little thick of me, but really a lot of these things didn't occur to me.

Some of them I'll just have to wait out, but I will definitely look into the nutrients/diet thing, which is something I have direct control over.

Everything else, like the amount of stress I'm under (moved to a city I've never been too, stated grad school in a uni I've never been to, no job, no contact with family), will have to be something I acclimate to.

I wouldn't call you thick at all - most people just don't think about this stuff. When we're stressed/upset, we react emotionally rather than stopping to think about it in detail.

A couple of general healthy eating tips for you: drink plenty of water, and eat three balanced meals a day. It's harder than it sounds. For water, humans should be averaging two litres a day at the very least. Staying hydrated is like keeping an engine well oiled!

As for the balanced meals, the general rule of thumb is to have the proportions correct. The one my doctor recommends is half vegetables/fruits, a quarter protein, and a quarter carbs. There are lots of ideas and methods out there, but if you can get meal balancing into your daily routine then you're a good step in the right direction.

As for the rest... It sounds like you're in the middle of a rough patch right now, and that's going to put a lot of strain on you. I think the best thing you can do is take some time every day for yourself and just yourself. Spare half an hour to do something you enjoy (some people like to run or have a bath - I play video games myself) and just take your mind off it.

Deep breathing techniques will help in stressful moments too - the extra oxygen will release happy chemicals into your brain and ease up that general feeling of nausea. Try looking up some meditation techniques. I'm not that great at the sitting still for an hour part, but the slow breathing helps a lot.

Good luck with the rest of it and I hope it all works out! (And sorry for rambling. I can really go on!)

I'm sorry, everything else you say is fine, but the water thing is crap. Humans do not need to drink 2 litres of water a day: that just makes you pee more. Humans need to have access to liquids for when they are thirsty, and need to notice when they are thirsty.

The "2 litres" thing came from an observation that an average person sitting around all day loses about 2 litres of water a day, in urine and sweat and in their breath. So, we need to take in that much, on average, but we get most of it from our food. Squash and juices are also fine sources of water, yes even cups of tea because it's not as diuretic as cranks would have you think. If it's very hot, or you're active, you may need more. How much more? Drink when you're thirsty. Your body regulates this stuff, as long as you listen and don't just force yourself to drink way more than you need.

The "drink 8 glasses" thing is an urban legend which the water companies have been happy to jump on.

Oh woah, sorry, I also just noticed you recommend deep breathing in times of stress to increase oxygen. You don't want to be taking deeper breathes in when you're stressed and panicked: the problem is often hyperventilating, which is what your body does to increase oxygen because you're going all fight-or-flight. You want to counter that, to force your body to calm down, by concentrating on long slow breathes out.

Whenever I start feeling crappy I start drinking more water and that usually helps. It's really easy to get under-hydrated and not notice it, especially if you're drinking a lot of soda or fruit juice or coffee in place of water.

Walking for 15~20 minutes a day can help too. Even if you feel really crappy and don't want to do anything physical, walking for a few minutes can make you feel better.

Thanks for your suggestions! I do walk a lot, anywhere from a mile to several everyday, as well as more strenuous physical stuff, like running or MMA.

But I will defintely keep up on my water because I mostly just drink coffee, tea, or soda. Oops. :(

Don't beat yourself up on the drinking. Chances are, it's the high caffeine and possibly the sugar that contributes to feeling crap, so it's not a bad idea to reduce those, but I seriously doubt you're dehydrated. Your body is quite capable of getting water from soda and tea and normal coffee.

Obviously, if you're reducing your caffeinated and sugar drinks, you will need to replace them with other drinks, but that doesn't have to be just water.

Yeah, I feel like that right now. Kind of fevery, generally lethargic and a little short of breath sometimes. It sucks.

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[ SECRET POST #2081 ]

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