Inspired by work people have done on madness maps and mental health first aid kits, I decided to make a checklist/flowchart to use when I am having a particularly hard time or am in crisis. It was a good process for me to make because it helped me to really think about what has helped me or caused me trouble in the past. I really like that we can make these sorts of tools for ourselves instead of relying on more general (often judgmental) dos and don’ts or advice from people who never know us as well as we know ourselves.

Tags: anxiety, art, BDSM, beauty, body, checklists, comfort, counseling, crisis, crisis checklist, depression, eating, emotions, enjoyment, exercise, fear, flowcharts, friends, games, hormones, hunger, hypnotic, illness, injury, insomnia, isolation, journaling, laundry, loneliness, madness map, madness maps, manageability, massage, medication, meditation, mental health, mental health first aid kits, messy apartments, misanthropy, museums, music, pain, painkillers, panic, parks, pets, projects, psych meds, psychiatrists, QueerMentalHealth.org, responsibility, rest, restlessness, self-fear, self-harm, self-help, self-help books, sex, showering, sleep, sleeping environment, snacks, social activities, stair climbing, stress, supplements, support groups, symptoms, task management, tea, The Icarus Project, therapists, therapy, tools, vulnerability, withdrawal, yoga

In retrospect, I never was a child with high esteem for myself. I faced two distinct messages that I feel shaped my self-worth as a young adult: the media along with all the beautiful women I admired sent the message that to be a woman means I need to be beautiful and as a Catholic, I needed to be holy and a homosexual was not holy. So I grew up wanting to be beautiful and fearing being gay.

Tags: acceptance, anxiety, beauty, bisexual, blame, body image, bullying, Catholic shame, Catholicism, codepedancy, coming out, counselling, denial, depression, doubt, drugs, escapism, family support, feeling worthless, fitting in, homophobia, insomnia, internalized homophobia, isolation, lesbian, low self esteem, manageability, media portrayals, mood, mood disorder, motivation, overcompensation, panic attacks, parental approval, parental rejection, peer isolation, recovery, rejection, relapses, religious homophobia, religious upbringing, self-acceptance, self-esteem, self-harm, self-hatred, shame, suicidal thoughts, suicide, throwing up, women in media