Mood Swings

Depression is classed as a mood disorder which affects over more than 264 million people of all ages worldwide! One of the side effects of depression is mood swings. 

I’ve been experiencing mood swings from a very young age and there have been some hard times. My mood could just drop in an instant from being so happy to feel like I have no meaning in life. 

When I first started to have mood swings I didn’t know what was going on as there is no education about mental health and stuff like mood swings. I felt like I was losing my mind every time my mood changed!

My mind became a dark hole where I would isolate myself when I had one of these mood swings. I felt like there was no way out of these cycles of feeling happy but then suddenly depressed.

“What caused these mood swings”, I asked myself as a child but now being a young adult I understand I was experiencing depressive thoughts. But, what I didn’t realise was that others around me had these negative thoughts too. 

One situation I experienced was when I came home from high school and I went straight to my bedroom for 5 days. I didn’t talk to anyone, I just slept, watched movies and slept more. 

Looking back on that time, it scares me how my behaviour can change. Sometimes, I don’t even recognise myself at all, it’s like I’m a different person

These days I try to make a plan of what I can do to cheer myself up. Some of those plans are; 

1. To make sure I’m in my comfort zone which is my bedroom or inside somewhere, that’s when I can concentrate on myself and have no distractions, plus I’m safe! 
   
2. Ask myself what’s made my mood drop so low. I write this all down in one of my many journals, so then next time I have a similar situation I can look back on what I did the time before. 
   
3. I love to video edit and write, so I always make sure I have a list full of articles or video ideas that I can then edit and create! This is to distract my mind from doing something I enjoy and love! 
   

Lists can be so helpful, especially for me! It keeps me feeling in control and this has helped with my mood swings because having them can make you feel controlless. Asking yourself questions can be good as well because then you can explore inside your mind and see what caused that mood swing. 

• Mel ​
  

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MEL