Music is a barometer to how I’m feeling

Why is looking after your mental wellbeing important to you?

It is the bedrock to a quality of life, where I can achieve stability, have the capacity to function as best as possible, and manage the mental and physical health challenges that I face on a daily basis.

What do you do to protect and improve your mental wellbeing?

I have a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and anxiety, so managing my moods, reactions to certain environments, and preventing problems in general, requires a good level of self-care.

I’m not one for exercise, or eating particularly healthily, so my self-care exists in other forms.

Music is my main source of pleasure and is a barometer to how I’m feeling at any given time.

Once I start playing an album or playlist, it’s the soundtrack to my day. This can be playing songs that I’ve loved for many years, or exploring new artists that I haven’t heard of before.

This triggers both nostalgia and joy, and times when music gets me through a bad day. It can lift my mood, help me to relax, enable me to concentrate better, or simply make me happy. I usually listen to music at home or in the car. I don’t have the best voice, and tend to get the lyrics wrong, but it doesn’t matter – it’s about enjoying yourself. I know I’m not doing well if I go a day without music.

I try to get to gigs when I can, which is an altogether different experience, as it’s something you’re sharing with an audience, and interacting with whoever is on stage. It’s a real buzz.

I derive a lot of value from sleep, and I just try to listen to my body and go to bed when I really need to.

I also take medication for my mental health. While not the complete solution, it’s been a key feature of managing my mental health for many years.

What is one thing you have started doing in the last year that’s helped your mental wellbeing?

Since April, I have been using a free app called Pixy to chart my daily moods. It produces two types of graphs which I like, as I sometimes prefer visual data. On the app, I can also list my emotions, activities, and sleep quality.

By doing this, I can see whether there are any trends, or things that I do, that show why my mental health is the way it is from one day to the next. For example, I’ve discovered that a bad day follows a ‘not so bad’ day – the peaks and troughs of bipolar disorder.

Anything else you’d like to share?

Have someone in your life who has always got your back. My best friend is priceless. She’s got me through so many difficult times down the years, and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for her. We message most days, meet up regularly, and I can completely be myself and can talk about anything that might be causing me concern. It’s also about socialising and having a good reason to get out of the house.

I don’t take her for granted but do know that I can call upon her in an emergency.

Isolation and loneliness are not helpful to our mental wellbeing, so I do hope you have someone who can walk alongside you through life’s travails.