You Can Be Self-Confident When You Live with Mental Illness

Here's what's happening on the HealthyPlace site this week:

• You Can Be Self-Confident When You Live with Mental Illness
• From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs
• Video: What Does a Bipolar Depressive Episode Feel Like?
• Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans
• Mental Health Quote

You Can Be Self-Confident When You Live with Mental Illness

“Believe in yourself,” they say. If you live with a mental health disorder, you might have well-meaning friends and family members who try to encourage you.
Yet the nature of mental health disorders can make it difficult to have self-confidence. It’s hard to feel sure of yourself when mental illness looms over you. Mental illness in general

• makes you question yourself, wondering if you’re thoughts and feelings are “normal”
• zaps your energy, making you feel “lazy” or “worthless”
• interferes in your ability to take actions you want to take

These are a few ways in which mental disorders interfere with self-confidence. Despite these things, you can believe in yourself and act with confidence. Try these tips:

• When you find yourself questioning your thoughts, acknowledge them, but don’t get stuck there. Examine your goals and things you can do to achieve them regardless of what your thoughts are telling you.
• Drop labels like “lazy” and “worthless.” Focus on self-care, including rest, exercise, and nutrition.
• Know what’s important to you, and define goals accordingly. Then, create an action plan that involves taking small steps every day to achieve it.

Mental illness can affect your life, but you can move forward and live well despite it. It is this that hones self-confidence.

Related Articles Dealing with Mental Illness and Self-Confidence

• Low Self-Esteem and Mental Illnes
• Confidence and Mental Illness
• Healthy Self-Esteem When You Have Bipolar

Your Thoughts

Today's Question: In what ways has mental illness affected your self-confidence? We invite you to participate by sharing your thoughts, knowledge, and experiences on the HealthyPlace Facebook page and on the HealthyPlace Google+ page.

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From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

On all our blogs, your comments and observations are welcomed.

• How My Bipolar 2 Diagnosis Brought My Family Closer
• 3 Ways Rape Culture Impacts Rape Survivors’ Mental Health
• Mental Illness Can’t Be Cured with Love
• Autism vs. Other Childhood Mental Illness
• Integrating Old Binge Foods Back Into Your Diet
• Mental Illness Symptoms Can Make Communication Difficult
• Don’t Look Insecure: 6 Ways to Change Behavior and Be Confident
• The Stigma of Hearing Voices in Schizophrenia Is Unnecessary
• Shedding Light on Anxiety and Sunlight
• Create a Morning Ritual to Calm Anxiety
• Seek Depression Counseling to Help You Cope

Feel free to share your thoughts and comments at the bottom of any blog post. And visit the mental health blogs homepage for the latest posts.

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From HealthyPlace YouTube Channel

What Does a Bipolar Depressive Episode Feel Like?

After a recent bipolar depressive episode, I realized it was time to open up about what a bipolar depressive episode feels like from my point of view. As optimistic as I try to be about my experience living with bipolar 2 disorder, I cannot ignore the pain of depression..

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Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans

Here are the top 3 mental health articles HealthyPlace Facebook fans are recommending you read:

1. Family-Based Therapy for Eating Disorders — 5 Critical Parts
2. Happiness and Depression: It’s Possible to Feel Both
3. To Overcome Anxiety, Divide and Conquer

If you're not already, I hope you'll join us/like us on Facebook too. There are a lot of wonderful, supportive people there.

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Mental Health Quote

"The darkest place I’ve ever seen was inside me, and nothing scared me more."

Read more mental health quotes.

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That's it for now. If you know of anyone who can benefit from this newsletter or the HealthyPlace.com site, I hope you'll pass this onto them. You can also share the newsletter on any social network (like facebook, stumbleupon, or google+) you belong to by clicking the links below. For updates throughout the week, circle HealthyPlace on Google+, follow HealthyPlace on Twitter or become a fan of HealthyPlace on Facebook. Also, check out HealthyPlace on Pinterest and share your mental health pins on our Share Your Mental Health Experiences board.

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