Day 4 of my week long challenge

***Warning - first paragraph may be triggering for some***

So my challenge is to blog (visually) 5 skills I use a day for a week. So far so good. Even today I feel miserable and I am still determined to get these skills done. Distraction for me while I'm feeling sad is most important so I don't focus on the suicidal thoughts I've been having. It's working but I'm slowly seeing where I could easily come undone - I guess that's why I set the challenge to be a week so I ensure finishing what I started. Using a visual diary has also helped as well as the blog as it seems I can put how I feel in pictures/words. 

Anyway, here are the skills I've used today:

Finished an art journal page I started yesterday. It is titled 'Positive Distractions'

Skill - Distress Tolerance (activity)

Skill - Distress Tolerance (self soothe - sight)

 

I did a mindfulness activity I learned from one of my DBT trainers.

It's called 54321 See, hear, now.

You sit quietly and label 5 things you can see, 5 things you can hear and 5 things that tells you that it is right this moment. Then you do it for 4 things, 3, 2 then 1. 

Apparently this is really good if you wake up from nightmares too.

Skill - Core Mindfulness (describe)

Gathered my tax stuff today - blech. I even started writing some of it up. I am the biggest procrastinator so this is definitely building mastery for me.

Skill - Emotion Regulation (building mastery)

 

I half smiled

Skill - Distress Tolerance (half smiling)

When I went to fill up the car I got self serve - woot woot. When the guy told me it was for a gold coin donation I immediately thought 'how rude' then I thought 'no I would be happy to donate to the charity of their choice so I did, even for more than I initially wanted to.

Skill - Distress Tolerance (contribute)

 

I meditated - it was so good.

Skill - Distress Tolerance (Improve the Moment by relaxing)

Skill - Distress Tolerance (observe breathing)

Skill - Core Mindfulness (participate - as I actively participated in each in breath and out breath)

Went to the library. Again I am a procrastinator and always take my books back months late. This time the books were 2 weeks late - yeehaw!

Skill -Emotion Regulation (building mastery)

Skill - Emotion Regulation (acting opposite to emotion - as I definitely did NOT want to go)

 Found some funny pictures on Pinterest - OMG Hilarious.

Skill - Distress Tolerance (activity)

Wow and the day hasn't even finished. It's amazing that I did that many skills and there are even more skills that I did like listening to music, burning oils and looking at Pinterest (of course). Keeping on distracting.

See you Day 5.