Alone time
Have you ever felt as if you are just fed up of people, humans, mankind everywhere? We have! Most of us find being with others can just what we need at times, but we also need our space and alone time once in a while.
What you do during that time is up to you. Do something creative or arty, write, play on your Xbox. There’s loads of possibilities, just make sure you can relax and get a breather for a bit.
Spending time on my own in my room…to take the time out to have some breathing space and say no to commitments…really taking a step back to give my mind a bit of recovery time.
What young people have told us:
'My alone time helps me to relax and not feel judged.'
'I don't like to be constantly surrounded by groups of people and if I have a lot of social engagements planned in a row I find I feel really exhausted by the end of it so having time to just be by myself and let my mind clear, calm down and relax always helps me.'
'That being alone isn't the same as being lonely. I feel most lonely in big groups of people because I find it too easy to judge myself and assume everyone else is better, cooler, more interesting but being alone gives me time to reflect and realise that this isn't the case. Also if you don't just want to sit and relax then combine being alone with one of the other suggested activities like reading, drawing, walking etc.'
'Create a balance between people time and you time. You don't want to neglect either.
'I think it helped because when you're alone - there are no expectations to act a certain way and it means you can relax without the fear of judgement.'
'Try not to be alone too much as you can send yourself down a bad spiral. Apart from that, occasional alone time is perfect to ensure that your wellbeing is up to scratch.'
'I think it helped because I gave me time to get away from my family and to focus on myself and think about what I could do better the next day.'
'It gave me time to calm down have a time where I can be me for a while and maybe even get some sleep and thinking done.'
There isn’t much academic research in the area of self-care for young people who are living with mental health issues. We are trying to find out more about what works for different people so we can better advise other young people what to try.
If you’ve tried this activity when you were struggling in relation to your mental health, please let us know if it helped you and how by clicking on the ‘Did this activity help you’ button.