1. Write down EVERYTHING

2. Avoid triggers & preserve your energy

Triggers can be made up of absolutely anything, depending on the person; objects, people, smells, sounds, anything that titillates the human senses to stir up a memory that can manifest as a trigger, the trigger sends a signal to the brain, and our bodies react with a fight or flight reaction, sometimes it can be paralysing, sometimes more adrenaline is pumped into the body and a crippling anxiety takes over. Either way, it can feel exhausting, your day may have just started, and you feel an overwhelming sensation to go back to bed, to rest. This whole process can be avoided by protecting your physical and mental space, do not put yourself in situations you know will drain you, for whatever reason, avoid that bookshop if it carries memories, put barriers on your social media to ensure that anxiety riddled name does not appear on your feed, do not accept that invitation if your gut is warning you not to go. Be fully ok with managing your life just like your finances, write down your triggers, understand what the root causes for them can be, and manage your weekly schedule around your triggers, knowing how certain spaces (you may have to be in) will be difficult for your body and mind, therefore training your mind and body to be prepared for this, can make its impact a lot less devastating.

3. Know your body clock

Your body clock is what you should trust, there is no single framework to follow from the internet in how to treat your body as it carries unique memories, traumas and reactions. The rule is when you know you have slept well, and eaten well, are aware when your period is due, as any woman will know hormones during this time can be brutal, and temperamental and can lead to devastatingly crippling effects on the body. Then you can start to inquire as to other reasons for low mood. Write down when it is your time of the month, monitor your mood day to day, any medication you may be taking, and if something happened in your day that threw you off, as this will become part of your trigger section so you have systems in place to avoid it next time!

4. Avoid the bloodsuckers

Absolutely at ALL COSTS and I do not say this lightly, avoid those who drain you of your motivation, those with negative thought patterns and mental structures. This could be a family member, a friend, a colleague if you bring an idea to them that makes you passionate, happy, and motivated enough to work on it even for just that day, and they shoot it down to be ‘realistic’ you need to get away from that human, especially when it comes to your ideas. Have you ever heard the saying protect your dream? I always understood it, but never in this context, I understood that people can often steal your ideas, or you can lose focus over the years and let it fall by the wayside, but never in this context. Your ideas can collapse in on themselves, from fear, fear is paralysing, it can put people in the hospital. You must acknowledge that ideas are a mercy from Allah, and some pop up at particular times for a reason, for another person to brazenly dismiss your idea and call it unrealistic, or even show slight doubt in your abilities, is enough to set you back weeks. What we must remember is that our ideas are not ours, they are little mini gifts from Allah because there is a greater purpose for them and you were chosen as the vessel to carry it out. Those who negatively inject doubt into the minds of creative, and imaginative souls who wish to cause a change even in the slightest, are enemies of your dreams, enemies of Allah’s plan,  the One who chose you as a messenger to carry out this message. It’s that deep! You cannot be around people who have no business in giving advice that can ultimately lead to the world being prevented of experiencing greatness, in any capacity.

5. If your body says rest believe it

I remember when I felt the impact depression can have incredibly severely, I had gone through an incredibly traumatic experience that involved a group of girls, It was so bad in fact you could say I went through a mini break down. My body never felt the feelings of weakness, lethargy, and fatigue as I experienced during that time. I couldn’t continue the sports that I loved so much and was involved in, because I would literally fall to the floor out of feeling demotivated. I started to look into this,  and do my research as to why the body reacts in this way. This is where I came across countless Ted talks from individuals, men and women who had gone through depression as a child, and all they wanted to do was sleep, rest, and gain back the energy they had lost. They spoke about how doctors and family members around them advised them to go for a run in the park, get outside, go for a walk, exercise more, and yet all they wanted to do was stay inside with the curtains closed, sleeping. Sounds bad, doesn’t it? But it isn’t, this man was trusting his body, trusting that at that time, for whatever reason his body had experienced some sort of trauma large or small, and physiologically it needed to rest, it was begging him to rest, to enable him to recuperate. He trusted his body, and that is exactly what he did. He didn’t try to take medication to counter this feeling of lethargy, he just accepted the emotions, felt them a little, and carried on his life. He was able to identify that we are taught to be petrified of our emotions, that we try to avoid feeling sad, blue, fatigued, at all costs, as if we are all machines products of a capitalistic system,  not allowed to rest, or feel broken, weak, that must be filled with energy, and happy unicorn hormones every day to carry out tasks to keep the earth afloat.

6. Stick to a routine

The high functioning part is the tricky part, finding organisation methods that fit with your anxiety or depression is a process, just like work processes, they need time to develop. Learn yours and stick to it religiously.

I remember when I first started taking anti-depressants,  I was finishing up my dissertation at university, the night before I took them I felt absolutely numb like I was dead inside, I prayed to Allah to help me, to help facilitate a way out of this feeling. The next day I visited my GP, she put me on a course of anti-depressants almost instantly. I was a little taken aback at how quickly it occurred, but I trusted the process as I knew it was from Allah. The first few months were amazing, I mean optimum focus, energy, motivation, inspiration. It was a little scary how quickly I went from feeling blue, lethargic, demotivated and physically tired to having spouts of non-stop energy it was the most productive time in my life, I finished my dissertation in two weeks. A little like how Bradley Cooper felt in limitless the first time he took NZT and finished his novel from start to finish in a day, it was like I was out of my skin for the first time, it felt wonderful. I felt happier, my relationships improved, life was really good. My family and friends noticed a change in me straight away.

However I noticed this invincible feeling was here with conditions, I remember feeling so great that I would sleep over at friends houses often, and it would lead to my routine falling through again. Sleep and food became inconsistent, and I felt the dip in my mood straight away. It reminded me, Bradley Cooper is an actor and there is no such thing as a magic pill.  I realised there is no hard and fast rule to happiness or just feeling ok enough to get through the day, each day your body will experience different hormone balances, the weather may impact your mood, these are things you cannot change, but you can adapt! I came to find that when I made sure I had the same sleep time every night, I managed what foods I was eating, taking less sugar to avoid the dip after the sugar high, I avoided fast food, I felt better. I meditated, read Quran, did yoga in the mornings, went for a run for 20 minutes in the evenings as I was told a healthy human needs at least 20 minutes of cardio per day for our mental health alone. I felt better, it worked, I realised greatness, even greatness of the mind, required routine, effort, good habits formed over months just like any athlete training her body, I needed to train my brain.