Some helps for when you’re sinking

Nothing very profound.  But when you feel rubbish, small things can help.

1. ask a friend to come and be with you.  Not with heavy chats (unless you want them). No expectation to be sociable or entertain. Just a comforting presence; someone to watch TV with and a way of connecting safely with the world outside.
2. stick to a routine.  If you normally get up at 7, keep getting up at 7.  If you usually take the dog for a walk, keep going. There may be things (like work) that aren’t possible right now, but it helps to have markers – and they stop us from falling further.
3. stay connected.  Right now, others feel exhausting – and it’s tempting to withdraw.  But the more time you spend alone, the more you lose track of what’s real and who you are.  You don’t have to go to big parties or events.  But you can sit quietly at the back during a service.  You can go to the library and leaf through your favourite book.  You can meet a friend for a walk in the park. Or send a text message if you don’t feel like chatting.
4. the best is yet to come.  Jesus promises it.
5. pray for other people.  This might sound odd, especially when you can’t pray for yourself.  But it reminds us that we’re part of a wider family; that others have struggles; that we can bless them, even at our weakest and that our God is mighty to save them – and us.
6. read through a gospel.  They’re short, but full of Jesus.  They tell us that the world can be dark and difficult; but He has blazed a path of light. And He leads us through.
7. get a haircut. Nothing drastic, just a way of caring for yourself and saying, ‘this person is worth looking after.’
8. cook/buy something you love to eat and put on a favourite movie.
9. remember that you will not always feel like this.  There’ll be a day when looking back, you won’t be able to remember why you felt so bad.
10. change your sheets. Clean sheets make a lot of things feel better.