Independence Day can be rough for Americans living with hypervigilance related issues. The loud noises can make your heart race and your head spin. It may even feel hard to breathe. You’re gonna have to be strong. Fortunately, there are some things you can do to help.
Put in your earbuds. Listening to music will not only drown out the sound, it may also help you calm down. Music has been shown to help reduce anxiety and stress levels by up to 65 percent.
Use noise reduction headphones. If you want, you may even be able to see the fireworks! Just make sure you slip on a pair of noise reduction headphones. They can reduce the noise by more than 70 percent!
Spend the day with someone you love. Just being around someone we love can help steady our heart rates and calm our breathing. While it may still be rough, spending the time with a loved one is likely to make it a little less torturous.
Take a shower. It’s gonna be a long shower, but the noise of the water will drown out the fireworks.
Cuddle with a furry friend. Pets can be hugely therapeutic to people struggling with any sort of mental health issue, and even more so for those struggling with anxiety and ptsd. (Note: this may not work if your pet is just as panicked about fireworks as you are.)
But most importantly, especially for anyone struggling with any past trauma, remind yourself that you are safe. Do something that requires you to interact with your environment to help yourself stay in the here and now. It can be hard to stay in the present when faced with certain triggers, especially if you are alone.
Oh my god please tell me this is a joke. People perceiving my bpd as manipulation has torn my life apart and I just lost the love of my life to it. This disorder ruins my life. It took him away from me. And I’m so fucking tired of it.
I really don’t understand why so many borderlines are so afraid of unintentionally being manipulative.
PREACH
I’ve met a lot of people who flaunt their mental illness. They use it as an excuse to be bad to other people and to themselves, and they want all the attention that comes from that. They’re upset and need help and assume that needing help means they have a mental illness. And maybe they do, maybe they really have that mental illness. But the problem with so many people using things like depression and anxiety for attention is that it forms an image in people’s heads that mental illness is something that exists only when something bad has happened, and that everything will be ok once the situation improves. I’m gonna be honest: this gets me so angry. Not so much angry as jealous. I’m jealous of these people that can just switch off their mental illness when they’re happy. I’m happy. Everything in my life is objectively amazing, but it’s still so hard just to keep getting out of bed every day. I feel guilty cause there are people out there with problems and I want to end it all even though everything is amazing. But that’s just it; Mental illnesses don’t care what’s happening around you, they’ll do anything to keep you in their grasp. It’s not fun and it isn’t fair. Which is why when people use mental illness for their own gain without actually having it I get so upset. We should all be able to get help, with or without an illness, but these illnesses aren’t a trend or something cool to look up to, they ruin lives. Lives like mine. But, this isn’t about me. Not really. It’s about everyone with mental illnesses that they can’t just turn off when they get bored or want to be happy. I want to acknowledge the struggles they go through daily, the strain on their relationships, jobs, personal hygiene, even when everything is going well. You deserve better, and I hope one day you can find it one day.