Across the United States, millions of people are facing all kinds of pressures amidst the current ongoing pandemic. From job loss to economic pressures, Americans are finding themselves either faced with extreme stressors… or buckling beneath them.

What’s worse? While speaking with a mental health professional could help so many of these people, access to mental health resources aren’t always covered by health insurance companies. And if you don’t have health insurance it’s even harder to find.

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It’s not a fix, or a susbtitute, but we scowered Reddit to find some of the best pieces of advice users had recieved from their own psychiatrists and therapists and they’re pretty enlightening.

Check out the pieces of advice below.

“Your time and energy are valuable and spendable just like money. You don’t go and blow all your hard earned bucks on things that are shitty and make you feel terrible, so stop blowing all your time and energy on people and things that are shitty and make you feel terrible.”- pickleschnitzel

“Treat yourself as you would treat a small child. Would you only give them fast food? Deprive them of sleep? Let them lay on the couch all day?” –TheGr34tGhastly

To stop making to do lists, and instead make ‘done’ lists. I burned out and I’d make extensive lists of things I had to to, because I thought ‘every time I cross something off that list, I will feel accomplished’. The problem was, I always overestimated what I was going to do so I ended up only doing a few things, and the half crossed list would make me feel unaccomplished. When I was halfway through the list, i’d think ‘uuuuugh, I’ve done so much already and I’m still not done!’. Now, at the end of every day, I make a list of the things I’ve done. I still keep track of what’s been going on, but I feel more accomplished. On some days I feel like I haven’t been productive, but then I write down what I did that day and I realized it wasn’t half bad. – Reddit user

“I struggle pretty badly with anxiety and I was having lots of thoughts about wanting to die. I wasn’t planning on doing anything, but I’d find myself wishing I’d just get in a car accident or something so that I wouldn’t have to continue living in pain. I felt so guilty for having those thoughts, but my therapist told me something that I’ll never forget. He said, “It doesn’t sound to me like you really want to die, but that you just don’t want to suffer. That is a perfectly human reaction to not want to suffer, so let’s work on some ways to minimize that.” Now any time I feel like I want to die, I just remind myself that I just don’t want to suffer, and it makes my thoughts so much less scary.” –ststustutter

“The best thing I learned from my therapist wasn’t anything she said, but how she acted. Never interrupted. Waited until I finished talking, and a good five seconds afterward to see if I thought up more to say. Usually she’d answer with a question, asking for clarification about one thing or another. When she gave advice, it was usually in the form, “I wonder if…” or “Have you heard of… Active listening is so powerful. It helps people come up with their own solutions, and think through their own problems. I never realized how much I interrupted people in conversation. It’s not that I didn’t listen to what they said before, but I kept trying to understand it at a glance, and offer my input immediately. Keeping quiet and just trying to understand has led to some great conversations with people.” –owrowfightthepandas

“You are in control of your life. Not your parents or friends or boss or the society. You may be shaped by them but you can’t live your life blaming them for everything and not doing anything to improve your situaiton.”- TheDudeWithNoName_

“You should not rely on other people for you to feel happy. You will only burden them with your problems and put your issues on them. Same goes for them. They should not rely on you to feel happy.” – Eventually_Melissa

“’So what if _____ happens?’ I was seeing a therapist for anxiety/depression and one of my stressors was worrying about failing a class. We talked about what would happen if I did fail and my realistic next steps. It was uncomfortable to think about but that kind of questioning still helps me today. This definitely wasn’t the only thing that helped me but I am now no longer on Lexapro!” – rainbowfountains

“I walked in and he asked me what I thought of the plant on the little side table he had. Its vines were hanging off the table curled up as if they were desperately reaching for the light that they were growing so far away from. It looked very sad to me and I painted him a very sad picture when I described it back to him. He looked at me and said good. ‘Do you know what I see? I see a plant I bought 3 years ago. One I didn’t know how to care for. One that died on me. But after I asked for advice and gave it what it needed, became the plant before you today. It is now green and thriving where it was once brown and withered away. It was dead, but with a little water and light from a lamp look at it now. It is alive again. It is all about perspective.’ That stuck with me. My outlook is still pretty bleak, but I think of that and I try to change my perspective to see the good and better in things. It’s hard. Hard as hell, especially being so accustomed to my ways, but it has helped me so much.” –LoveFromAFriend

“Just because you think it doesn’t mean it’s true.” –alwaysknits

“’Raise the stakes.’ Meaning, take on a new responsibility in your life, even if there’s risk in failure. For me, the first step was adopting a dog – I immediately felt like “the stakes were raised” in my life, since I had this little creature who I loved and depended on me. I always wanted to get a dog, but was always anxious and nervous about not being able to take care of one properly… turns out, when you thrust yourself into a situation like that, more often than not, people will do the right thing and rise to the occasion.I think it kind of taps into the phenomenal human trait of adaptation, and I’ve tried to apply that to all areas of my life now, by adopting a ‘growth mindset.’ I’ve gone in to do pretty well so far in my career, got married, kids, house, etc. and have my depression pretty well under control now, and I think that basic idea of ‘raising the stakes’ in my life has been key.”- kiss_the_siamese_gun


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