Bipolar Rough Guide

HOW FULL IS YOUR STRESS BUCKET?

Stressors fill up your bucket – such as:

• Work What are your stressors?
• Family
• Relationships
• Money
• Lack of Sleep

Eventually the bucket overflows – This can manifest as rage, crying, anxiety, depression, hypomania or mania. What does it look like when your stress bucket overflows?

You need to find outlets for your stress. Ways to relive stress, coping mechanisms, to release the pressure. Let some water out of your bucket before it overflows and you have a big mess on your hands!

What are your stress relievers?

• Sleep – Rest
• Eat Healthy – Hydrate
• Meditation – Yoga – Mindfulness
• Exercise
• Nature – Outdoors
• Pets
• Socialise – Laughter

PUT YOUR WORRIES TO BED

Identify the worry – What are you worrying about? – Can you do anything about it?

No?

• Let go of the worry
• Change the focus of your attention
• Distract yourself

Yes?

• Create an action plan – What? When? How?
• Can you do it now? Yes? Then do it, don’t procrastinate!
• Now let your worry go
• Schedule it if you cannot do anything about it now – then let the worry go
• Change the focus of your attention

Muscle Relaxation Technique

Stress manifests in our minds and bodies. It is important to learn the signs of stress in your body. This can often be in the form of muscle tension. Being able to relax your body, will help reduce your stress levels.

• Get comfortable – this exercise can be done sitting in a chair, sitting on the floor, or lying down.
• Tense the muscles in your feet slowly while taking a deep, slow breath through your nose.
• Hold those muscles tight whilst holding your breath for 5 seconds.
• Breath slowly out through your mouth, whilst releasing the tension in your feet.
• Repeat this with different body parts, working your way up to your head.
• Focus on key spots of tension, such as the neck, the jaw, shoulders.

HOW DO YOU RELIEVE STRESS? LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW OR ON SOCIAL MEDIA

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