When times get tough, you have to think back to basics. Are you eating properly? Are you exercising regularly? Are you checking in on yourself regularly (which I define as once a day)? Are you keeping contact with those you love? Are you expressing yourself in some way or another?

These are such normal parts of our lives that they are easy to forget at times. These are questions that you can always fall back on to help you get back on your feet soon. However, you should be doing these anyway to ward off any such disaster. Eat probably and get regular exercise, that should be easy enough.

To check in with yourself, there are many ways. You can try doing something creative, like writing or art (it doesn’t have to be published), or do something in which you absolutely must concentrate. For example, walking on an uneven terrain out in the forest, or in my case, making pour over coffee (who wants a bad cup of coffee?). Another good exercise is drawing a circle, an exercise from Zen Buddhism. Sounds simple, but it’s actually quite effective at showing your current state of mind. Only one, and only once, no repeats.

Whether you can do this well or not tells you where your mind is at, and let’s you know if you need to do something about it.