A few words on the days when we get some unpleasant news, and a few ideas on how to immediately deal with it all.
Hello and a very warm welcome to the spot on the site where we chat about things that may be affecting us, our mental health and just how we are. No miracle cures are promised here, but hopefully across the growing series of articles we run in this series, there might be something of use. And there’s always the comments section if you just fancy a chunter.
This week, just a few words on getting bad news. The headline probably gives that away. I’m not necessarily talking about blanket bad news, but a piece of news that’s personal to you. It might be a relative not being well, a problem with a job, something to do with health, or someone who’s let you down. It’s obviously part of the to and fro of life, but that doesn’t necessarily make it any easier to deal with.
First things first, the best course of action tends to be to do nothing. To absorb the initial impact of whatever the news in question happens to be. I’ve had bad news recently, and I was pottering around on social media at the time, and starting writing a post. Thankfully, I stopped myself pressing send just in time, and remembered to follow my own rules. But it can be really difficult in the heat of the moment to do that. I’m glad I did, as I appreciate in hindsight it would have made things worse.
Don’t let the process of absorbing the news lessen its importance to you though. Another thing I keep finding myself doing is accepting it must just be me, and that I’m the problem or at the heart of whatever’s gone wrong. That doesn’t help either. Again, over time, I’ve learned to recognise that bad news is just that.
Then, again if you can, try and talk to someone. Is there someone you trust, who you can be open with? Is there anyone else in the same boat as you? Are you comfortable ringing a support line, because there are brilliant ones out there backed by people who really want to help? Internalising things is a coping mechanism lots of us lean on, but it rarely really solves anything, at least not longer term. Even if it’s just a chat in the comments below, there are human beings out there happy to talk.
Most of all, self-care. How many times do we forget to eat, drink and look after ourselves when things are a little darker? If you can keep the basics in place, that’s an important step.
If you’re going through bad news at the moment, sending you the very best. Thanks for reading. As always, stay safe and take care.
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