4 Steps to Recover From Emotional Breakdowns (Nervous Breakdown)
Oh, emotional breakdowns… what heavenly experience. Have you ever had a nervous breakdown before? I know I have. Multiple times.
Here's my story on my last traumatic (exaggerating) nervous breakdown. It was during my final exam weeks. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who has emotional breakdowns during exam weeks. It's stressful, ok?
I was stressing out and overwhelmed by how much information I had to learn and remember before the exam. I studied between 8 pm - 11 pm every night.
Of course, I had to take breaks in between the 30 minutes of studying. As I was nearer to the exam, it was at that moment I went mental!
I ended up feeling "dead inside" (insert Goofy singing a cover to Evanescence - Bring Me To Life).
So grab your mug of coffee or tea and let's get right into it!
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Backstory
Exhausted and mentally drained out of my mind. My mind was at its state where I wanted to cut all my hair off as if I'm having an identity crisis. I was easily irritated at friends and family for no reason. Even their existence had me going mad.
One of my best friends didn't know what to do with me because I kept dropping in and out of our conversation. But he stuck with me till the end (you know who you are).
The only thing that helped me steady my mental state was playing League of Legends. Every time I wanted to pull my hair out during study time, I would quit and go play that game.
It was until after the exams that I ended up bursting into tears and binge eating. I didn't know what to do with myself. All that was left was "am I glad it's over?" or "my score is going to be terrible" (spoiler alert: it was bad).
So here are 4 ways on how I dealt with my mental breakdowns and how you could too if you think you're going to shatter into pieces.
Take full deep breaths (x3)
Before you start bursting into a fit of rage and crying on the floor like Trisha Paytas on the kitchen floor, take 3 deep breathes to calm yourself down.
It's a good technic used in meditation, yoga, and exercise. But mostly for letting out stress and anxiety.
Get more in-depth about helpful breathing techniques by checking out Groom and Style's post.
Whenever I get mad, I would take deep breaths and calm myself down. For me, it took more than three deep breaths. Continue as you wish until you finally get back into reality.
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Write in a journal
Jot down everything that is on your mind. And I mean EVERYTHING. Just let everything down on paper and let your mind go to ace.
Even the reason why you're having a mental crisis or the emotions that you're feeling.
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Once you can't write anymore, then stop and take a look at the problem of why you're having a crisis.
What I noticed for me is that I'm less likely to stress when I keep a daily journal that I write in every day. I stopped journaling through my exams and that's why I started to get overwhelmed with my thoughts.
Take a break
You don't have to feel ashamed for stepping out of your work or study sessions. Only when you procrastinate is what you should start being aware of.
Like me, I play LoL as a simple reward, stress management and break time. So does going outside, hanging out with friends or family and even stress shopping (don't stress shop please).
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Yours could be different. You could hang out with classmates or employees. The more you work, the more you're going to get overwhelmed and end up having triple the mental breakdowns.
Talk to someone or a therapist
At the end of the day, talking about your feelings really helped. With my best friend being there for me, it made me release my emotions and feel a little bit better knowing that someone was there for me.
If you go to therapy, then that's more than the help that you need to get through with nervous breakdowns.
If you have no one to talk to, you could always try being anonymous and tweeting out your feelings or use an app called Talk Life (Android | Apple) which works the same way.
What now?
When you start having a mental breakdown, remember these tips and try them out to see which one calms you down. Or better, try them all out!
You can also check out Simple Truths for more books and videos on how to find ways to be productive.
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~ Ellen
I’m new at navigating the internet so please be patient I don’t have any one to help me learn to use it. Unfortunately I had the same type of problem with my depression as a teen. We didn’t talk about feelings or mental illness . I used to sit on my bed and wish I was dead. It took a lot of time and a rough life to finally get me to open up and talk to someone. Please if you are feeling like hurting yourself, someone else or not being able to shake the feelings you are having call someone or call the hot line they really do care. They can get you some help. There is a way to get past this point and you can get better.
🙌🙌🙌
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all great tips, mental health is such an important issue! thanks for bringing awareness
I agree! Mental health needs to be recognised more! Cheers for reading.
Great tips. Talking about these issues are more important then we realize!
I feel like people should be more exposed to this issue, especially teens!
Having a mental breakdown is totally not great or funny at all. Some people tend to think it’s pretence or something but it does happen. I think taking a break and just backing away is a great idea.
You’re are definitely right when people start making fun of mental breakdowns. It happens and the only possible way is to take a step back!
I’m glad to see this. People make lots of jokes about having a breakdown, but it is a legit thing. Mental health doesn’t get anywhere near the attention it deserves.
I agree and same with people making fun of depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses. People should be more aware of mental illness!
“Take a break” cannot be undervalued!
I had a high school teacher tell us once, “If you ever start to really freak out about something to the point that you are thinking about hurting yourself, just go to bed. After a good night’s sleep, no problem is ever as bad as you thought it was”
Sleeping is so much important and so true! I lacked sleep due to overstudying is probably why I had many mental breakdowns. That is such an inspirational quote from your high school teacher. Wished I had teachers who told me that when I was in public school. 😛