My Mental Health Survival Kit: Tools for Navigating Crisis Moments
[Photo credit: Chris Abatzis]
When anxiety, panic, or deep sadness strikes, it can feel like your whole world collapses. Time distorts, the future feels impossible, and your thoughts spiral fast. In those moments, I return to one grounding truth: Just focus on the next minute.
You don’t need to fix everything right now. You just need to breathe, ground yourself, and take it one step at a time.
This is my personal first aid kit for mental health emergencies—strategies I use when my mind is in a tailspin:
Focus on one minute at a time
Use breathwork to calm your nervous system
Try a guided meditation for anxiety relief
Do one soothing thing in the next five minutes
Seek comfort—without guilt
Connect with a pet or calming video
Use grounding techniques to stay present
Not every moment will feel good. That’s okay. You don’t have to feel good to keep going—you just have to take the next breath. And then the next. One minute at a time.
Your To-Do List Is Killing You—Here’s What to Do Instead
[Image credit: Agustín Farias]
You’re exhausted. You’ve got too many expectations on yourself, and it’s really hard to survive. So you go to therapy, and they tell you to breathe, take a walk, drink more water, try a weighted blanket, make a new friend, paint a picture. None of these things help you get your already huge to-do list done. Why are you paying for this? Sound familiar?
Here’s the thing—your brain lies to you. It tells you that grinding harder will solve everything. That rest, play, and creativity are luxuries you can’t afford. But what if they’re actually the key to survival?
Maya Angelou once said, “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” Creativity isn’t just for artists; it’s for anyone who wants to feel human again. What might happen if, instead of pushing through your stress, you danced? Wrote? Doodled?
This isn’t self-care fluff. It’s ancient. It’s necessary. And it might just change how you move through the world.