Handling Borderline Personality Disorder During COVID-19

Having a mental illness during times like these can be really difficult, and having BPD is no different. As individuals we thrive off of routine and structure and basic needs being met, all of things which are pretty hard to come by at the minute. For myself, I'm finding it hard to not get overwhelmed by everything, and if I wasn't isolating with my partner I know I'd be in a lot worse of a state, a state which many people who also can't isolate with their loved ones are feeling.

All of this is completely new to all of us, and I know many of us are finding it hard to cope with at the minute, which is completely okay. I've been thinking of some ways to keep myself occupied, a list of which I compiled in this post How To Productively Self-Isolate if you fancy reading that, or another post  Maintaining Good Metal Health During a Pandemic, but I thought I'd do a BPD focused post on keeping up with caring for ourselves during such hard times.

Keep a Routine

One thing that I find keeps my BPD at bay is a good routine, keeping myself busy and occupied with regular breaks and knowing what I'm doing one day to the next. At the minute my routine is a bit all over the place, but it's generally, sleep in for a bit, shower, play sims 3 whilst Patrick sleeps, watch the news together, go for a walk, do some creative activity or go on my phone whilst Patrick plays his games, eat some lunch, alternate between sims 3 and watching TV so me and Patrick both get computer time,  go to the shop if necessary (I find it's best timing to go about 5 or 6 in the evening) and make dinner, then watch TV together and go to bed around 11 or 12. There's not really a lot to my routine, because there's not really a lot to do minus tidying the flat or washing the pots, but I'm finding sticking to these activities good for keeping my brain active and not letting myself get overwhelmed or too upset over things.

Keep Busy

Similar to keeping a routine, I find alternating activities throughout the day therapeutic for me at the minute, this is stuff like scrolling through instagram or twitter, playing a game on my phone, doing some bullet journalling, reading a book, playing sims 3 or watching TV, just little things that stops me moping on the sofa scrolling through facebook getting annoyed at the human races stupidity at such trying times. This is the main reason I'm missing my work, it always gave me a purpose and something to do with myself that wasn't moping into my emotions or getting too bogged down in how overwhelmed I am by everything. Exercising is also a major keeping spirits up activity to do, not something I particularly partake in often but I'm trying to do little bits here and there and go for walks etc.

Talking

Me and Patrick are talking most of the day since we're co-habiting for the lockdown, but we alternate between talking utter tripe between each other, talking about what's going on in the world and just cuddling in silence. I find if all I'm talking or thinking about is coronavirus, that's all I can think and feel and I just end up getting upset and overwhelmed with emotions. I find texting or ringing my loved ones great for this too, last night I facetimed my sister to see her and my niece and it was so nice to get a bit of normality back into my life, to see that crazy munchkin running around half naked singing Frozen 2 songs. I also like to facetime my friendship group or talk to them in the group chat about random stuff, this morning we played quizzes on who knew each other the best and it was such a little fun distraction for an hour or so but little things like that can really lift the spirits.

If you think you need a little extra help coping with what's going on, ask for it. Ask your loved ones to just check in on you more often, tell your friends you're struggling and could do with some support. If you're in therapy, ask for some drop in phone calls or call your local mental health team if things are getting too much. We can do this together.

Meg x