It's time to heal.
It can be very overwhelming to know where to start when you’re not feeling good. Here are some tips to wearing your heart on your sleeve and telling someone you're not ok.
Here’s 3 steps to get you started.
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Step 1
Find 1 person
- Find someone who you can trust who can listen non-judgementally. It could be a friend, psychologist, work colleague etc.
- Not everyone will get it, and that’s ok!
- Don’t expect everything to be solved straight away.
- In fact, it might take a few people before you feel heard. That’s ok too!
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Step 2
Focus on 1 main issue
- Concentrate on what is bothering you the most. There may be a few. What is the #1 thing right now?
- Tell the facts, but make sure you tell the feelings too. Don’t neglect them.
- State why this is important to you (i.e. why it is affecting you so much)
- Healing may be painful, but it doesn’t mean something is going wrong. So long as you feel supported and you don’t go beyond your “edge”
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Step 3
Flag 1 helpful idea
- Clarify what you want them to do - are you sharing just to get it off your chest, or because you want advice/suggestions?
- Bring a possible solution of how that person could help (or tell them you just want them to listen)
5 sentence stems to help you find your words and keep it real.
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1 Share your factsWhat’s happening?“The situation for me is…”
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2 Share your feelingsHow it’s impacted you?“It has made me feel...”
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3 Share your meaningWhy it’s affecting you?“The hardest part about all this for me is...”
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4 Share your copingWhat are you doing to manage?“Things that have helped are...”
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5 Ask for helpWhat has worked for others?“Can you support me with… ?”