Dark Shadow

Even men suffer body shaming

I decided to create a masterpost that would help you with what you are struggling with. Hopefully any of the links below will help you! Reminder; You’re going to be okay. What you are going through will pass, just remember to breathe. 

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Distractions;

Here are some distractions to help keep your mind occupied so you aren’t too focused on your thoughts. 

-Draw something

-This website translates the time into colours.

-Create your own galaxy.

-Play flowing.

-Make a 3D line travel where ever you like. 

-Listen to music.

-Calm.

-Ocean mood, do nothing for two minutes.

Sleep issues; 

- 8 hour sleep music.

-Rainy mood. 

-Meditation.

-Coping with nightmares.

-How to cope with nightmares, 11 steps.

-Calm

-Foods that can affect your sleeping, both positive and negatively. 

 Uncomfortable with silence; 

-Rainy mood.

-10 hours of rain and thunder.

-3 hours of rain and thunder.

-Human heartbeat.

-Rainforest.

-Sound of rain on a tin roof.

-Autumn wind.

-Rain on a tent

-Traffic in the rain.

-Soft traffic. 

-Fan.

-Train.

-Simply noise.

-My noise.

-Rainy cafe.

Anxiety; 

-How to stop worrying. 

-Tips to manage anxiety and stress.

-The 10 best ever anxiety management techniques. 

-Self-help strategies for anxiety. 

-Helping a friend with anxiety. 

-All about worrying.

-8 myths about anxiety. 

Sad, angry and depressed/depression; 

-“I’m always sad”

-Feeling sad.

-Going through trauma.

-“I’m always angry”.

-Anger management. 

-All about anger.

-National helplines and websites.

-Self-help strategies for depression.

-Dealing with depression at work.

-Dealing with depression at school.

Isolation and loneliness; 

-Pets and mental health.

-All about loneliness. 

-“I feel so alone”

-10 more ideas to help with loneliness. 

-How to deal with loneliness.

 Self-harm;

-Alternatives to self-harm and distraction techniques.

-146 things to do besides self-harm.

-More alternatives to self-harm.

-Self-harm alternatives.

-How to take care of self-harm wounds/injuries.

-Getting rid of scars.  

Addiction; 

-How to help a friend with a drug addiction.

-What is addiction?

-All about alcohol and addiction.

-The facts about drug addiction.

 Eating disorders; 

-Helping a friend with an eating disorder.

-Eating disorder treatments. 

-Support services for eating disorders. 

-Self-help tips with eating disorders.

-Eating disorder recovery. 

-Recovering from an eating disorder. 

-100+ reasons to recover. 

-Understanding and managing eating disorders. 

 Dealing with self-hatred;  

-3 ways to ease self-loathing. 

-How to turn self-hatred into self-compassion.

-Self-hatred resources.

-10 step plan to deal with self-hate. 

 Suicidal; 

-International suicide hotlines (1)  (2)

-Preventing suicide. 

-Reasons to stay alive.

-Dealing with suicidal thoughts and feelings.

-Coping with suicidal ideation.  

 Schizophrenia;

-All about schizophrenia.  

-Helping a person with schizophrenia.  

-Understanding and dealing with schizophrenia.  

-Delusions and hallucinations.  

OCD;

-Managing your OCD at home. 

-Overcoming OCD.

-How to cope with OCD. 

-Strategies for dealing with the anxious moments. 

Borderline personality disorder; 

-Helping someone with BPD. 

-All about personality disorders.

-Treatment for BPD.

Abuse; 

-Healthy relationships VS abusive relationships. 

-Emotional abuse

-Overcoming sexual abuse. 

-Hotlines services. 

-5 ways to escape an abusive relationship. 

-Domestic violence support. 

-Signs of an abusive relationship. 

-What do to if you’re in an abusive relationship. 

-Surviving abuse. 

-What you can do if you’re sexual harassed. 

-Sexual assault support.

-What to do if you’ve been sexually assaulted or abused. 

 Bullying;

-How to stand up against bullying.

-How to protect yourself when it comes to cyber bullying.

-How to help stop people bullying you. 

 Loss and grief; 

-How to cope with a suicide of a loved one.

-Grieving for a stranger. 

-Common reactions to death. 

-Working through grief.

(Other loss and grief)

-Moving away from friends and family. 

-Coping with a breakup.

 Getting help; 

-Seeking help early. 

-All about psychological treatments. 

-Types of help.

-All about age and confidentiality. 

Things you need to remember; 

- Don’t stress about being fixed because you’re not broken.

-Remember to remind yourself of your accomplishments. Tell yourself that you’re proud of yourself, even if you’re not. 

- This is temporary. You won’t always feel like this. 

-You are not alone. 

-You are enough. 

-You are important. 

-You are worth it. 

-You are strong. 

-You are not a failure, 

-Good people exist. 

-Reaching out shows strength. 

-Breathe. 

-Don’t listen to the thoughts that are not helping you. 

-Give yourself credit. 

-Don’t be ashamed of your emotions, for the good or bad ones. 

-Treat yourself the same way as you would treat a good friend. 

-Focus on the things you can change. 

-Let go of toxic people. 

-You don’t need to hide, you’re allowed to feel the way you do. 

-Try not to beat yourself up. 

-Something is always happening, you don’t want to miss out on what’s going to happen next. 

-You are not a bother.

-Your existence is more than your appearance. 

-You are smart. 

-You are loved. 

-You are wanted. 

-You are needed. 

-Better days are coming. 

-Just because your past is dark, doesn’t mean your future isn’t bright. 

-You have more potential than you think. 

- Your value doesn’t decrease based on someone’s inability to see your worth.

Happy International Men’s Day!

Carpe Diem bitches!

4 Ways Movember Benefits Men’s Health

When it comes to living long and healthy lives, gender plays a big role.

Statistically men have gotten the short end of the stick. Our life expectancy is about 6 years less than that of our female counterparts.

Movember helps in many ways. The majority of these illnesses are ignored or turned a blind eye to. This month helps open the eyes of the general public through awareness.

Financially, It helps to fund research projects all over the world for the 4 leading types of illnesses that men face:

Testicular CancerProstate CancerPoor Mental HealthPhysical Inactivity

Their website also links to particular research projects that they help support.  It is a great place to get educated.

1. Testicular Cancer

Mainly affecting younger men ages 15-35, testicular cancer is the most common to go unnoticed. 

If caught early, survival rates are high.

It’s important to get a regularphysical exam from your doctor every 6 months that includes a checkup for testicular cancer.

A common issue for testicular cancer survivors is relapse due to treatment at an early age.  Assuming a clean bill of health forever, they never return for regular checkups.

You can read more about how the Movember Foundation is supporting testicular cancer here.

2. Prostate Cancer

Coming in at the number 2 most diagnosed cancer for men, prostate cancer affects 1 in 7 men during their lifetime.

The American Cancer Society predicts that in 2015 there will be 228,800 new cases in men and 27,540 deaths from prostate cancer.

Symptoms rarely occur in early stages.  If you have symptoms, schedule a checkup immediately.

What can you do to prevent this from occurring to you?

Get educated.

It’s important to understand that with age comes an increased risk factor. Get regular checkups if you’re over 50.

Talk to your family and learn about your health history. Has your father or grandfather ever been diagnosed?

Learn about your ethnicity and if it increases your risk. Different ethnicities can have greater or less risk factors.

3. Poor Mental Health

Studies show that men are 3.5 to 7 times more likely to commit suicidedue to a mental illness than women are.

Depression is serious.

As men, we have a tendency to not want to “hurt our pride” by admitting that we need help.  Our ego says “we can get over it ourselves”, without assistance.

Unfortunately that silence leads to over 85 men a day committing suicide.

It’s time to speak up.

Know where to get help. 

If you know anyone dealing with these issues, or you may be one of them, go to the Suicide Prevention Lifeline for help. Your call is 100% free and confidential.

4. Physical Inactivity

It goes without saying that remaining active decreases our chances of all the other health issues occurring.

However, lack of exercise accounts for 3.2 million deaths globally, and 41% of men in high income countries don’t exercise enough.

So why aren’t we moving more?

It’s time to put the MOVE in Movember.

Nothing gets the endorphines flowing better than exercise. Being physically healthy translates into healthy thoughts and feelings.

The Movember foundation has a 30 day challenge to get you moving every single day.

2 Ways You Can Participate in Movember

Don’t be the guy who stands off to the side and watches while all the other men take action.

These are real men battling real obstacles.

Here are two ways YOU can get involved.

Take Action for all the men in your life. LINK

IMPORTANT SIDENOTE:

Avoid organizations like the white ribbon Society the good men project and the Australian men’s Network.