There are many people suffering from chronic low mood. They look fine from the outside, but because of their inner mental states, they struggle to function well at work, get along well with others, and adapt to society’s norms. Jennie (a fictional character) represents one of these people. She is living with a chronic low mood. Let’s witness a typical day of her.
A typical day for Jennie (living with low mood)
I woke up early; all night, negative thoughts were passing through my head. I have to go to work. My boss asked me to do a presentation. I worked all day, but it was not good. I don’t think I have the skills to prepare the presentation well. Furthermore, I am on my way to work with worry. He will ask me to contact with all the stakeholders. I have to please them all. Then there are the colleagues. They all understood that I would accept whatever they asked me to do because I have issues with saying “no”. Another new day is ahead to deal with all this.
Every day is another stress, another battle dealing with people and life’s demands. This influences my mood. I have issues with low mood. Sometimes I get very anxious, and people recognize it. Some of them try to be supportive, but some others take advantage of it. I get the impression that they like making me feel small. I already have issues with being confident, and these people push me down more and more. I tolerate these people, but over time, deep resentment is accumulated inside, and sometimes I overly react. Then people escape me.
Sometimes, when I get anxious, hypochondria attacks me. I started to feel that there is something in my leg or arm. Maybe a tumor is growing inside me, but it does not give any symptoms. All this idea makes me feel anxious. I start to panic and cannot give my attention to work. But work is waiting. I have a long to-do list.
The list doesn’t get short; I also have issues with perfectionism. I want to do my job well. But people delegate me more and more work; they are aware that I won’t reject them. I always leave work without getting things done, with a full worry in my head. This influences my sleep; sometimes I wake up and think about the long to-do list.
From the outside, everything looks okay, but from the inside, I feel like I am locked in the prison inside my head. When I try to explain the situation, people don’t really understand me. They say that I need professional help. Yes, I do, but you have no idea how much therapy costs. I don’t have enough money to afford it. I have already read a few books about how to overcome anxiety. Furthermore, I can do breathing exercises to calm myself, but it does not save me from the prison in my head. My mind poisons me every second. I feel deeper and deeper inside.
Jennie is not the only one who is suffering this way
There are many people outside, like Jenny, who live with a chronic low mood, and sometimes they mentally cannot cope with dealing with daily hassles that would be simple for others. Yes, as she said, therapy is not affordable. Besides anxiety and depression, treating them would help to relieve her symptoms, but what about other things? Thus, someone needs to help her solve her core problems in addition to a therapeutic journey to relieve symptoms. Here is some advice to help her.
- Jennie needs to work on her boundaries to be able to say “no” to her colleagues
- Jennie is a perfectionist; this slows down her work progress. Maybe she is also afraid of being criticized, or she feels shame because she takes her accomplishments far too personally.
- Jennie overly reacts when angry, which gives the idea that she needs to work on emotional regulation
- Although Jenny learned to calm herself with breathing exercises, she needs to learn to do meditation every day to gain awareness of dysfunctional thoughts so that she could be able to identify that they deviate from reality
- Jennie is very much influenced by others’ opinions; she needs to work on codependency
- Jennie’s sense of self is not healthily established; she is suffering from low self-image, she needs to work on her self-image
In short, Jennie needs help. She need to feel that she is understood. As a society, we first have to understand these people, then we should to help them, support them to overcome their mental issues. At least make them feel comfortable. When someone is weak, we have to support them. Not everyone grew in a house which they were healthily supported to grow emotionally. Not everyone learned the social and mental skills to function properly. Besides, there could also be genetic factors which might influence their behavior and particularly low mood.
Compared to previous decades, we made lots of progress on being more understanding to mental health. However, we have to be more empathetic to people who cannot get out of bed, constantly suffer from low mood and not able to enjoy their lives because they are being terrorized by their minds.
Disclaimer
The information provided in this blog post is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always seek the advice of your physician or another qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or health concerns. The use of any information provided on this site is solely at your own risk. The author and the blog are not responsible for any adverse effects or consequences resulting from the use of any suggestions on this site. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of medical professionals or health care providers.
I love the examples you provided.