+ [Combating Depression: Many Small Successes](#combating-depression-many-small-successes)

+ [Journaling as a means to externalize self exploration](#journaling-as-a-means-to-externalize-self-exploration)

+ [Mindfulness exercises for better mental health](#mindfulness-exercises-for-better-mental-health)

+ [General Tips: Knowing where to start](#general-tips-knowing-where-to-start)

+ [Going Outside](#going-outside)

+ [DIY Cognitive Behavior Therapy](#diy-cognitive-behavior-therapy)

+ [Post-it notes/loving reminders](#post-it-notesloving-reminders)

+ [Spotting unhelpful thought patterns](#spotting-unhelpful-thought-patterns)

+ [A short video on suicide (and why it helped anon)](#a-short-video-on-suicide-and-why-it-helped-anon)

+ [Mindfulness exercise: "5 senses"](#mindfulness-exercise-5-senses)

+ [Recovering from too much masturbation](#recovering-from-too-much-masturbation)

+ [Is seeking therapy risky? What counts as "immediate risk" of suicide?](#is-seeking-therapy-risky-What-counts-as-immediate-risk-of-suicide)

## Combating Depression: Many Small Successes

Think of them as "the primary gameplay loop" of combating depression: ALWAYS have a couple of those.

Seek out small, well-defined tasks that are easy to do. Atomize a task into as many sub-tasks as is

feasible. Reflect on succeeding at the sub-tasks. Keep lists. For example,

- **VERY BAD:**

- [ ] clean house

Reason: ill-defined, no clear goal or way to do it, you get stuck/overwhelmed, end the day with no

boxes ticked, feel even worse.

- **GOOD:**

- [ ] put 1 sock into the laundry where it belongs

- [ ] clean 1 plate

- [ ] put 1 tissue away

- [ ] vacuum [particular corner of your house that takes no more than a minute or two to hoover]

Reason: autistically narrowly defined, clear goal and means execution, even if you don't accomplish

all you know where to pick up again and have a clear visualization of all the things you did.

Things you should consider as tasks:

- cleaning

- maintenance of your body (washing, teeth brushing, eating, drinking)

- opening windows for X minutes

- going outside for X minutes

Things you should schedule:

- screen time (otherwise you will spend the entire day in escapism)

- bed time (regular sleep schedule strengthens body and mind)

## Journaling as a means to externalize self exploration

I think one thing that could be added that's helped me a ton is encouraging journaling your memories

and feelings about them. I found it helped me immensely in both recovering from and uncovering old

trauma I was still carrying around, as well as feel more connected to myself as a person in my own

right by giving me a private, safe place to put my inner voice into outer words.

It can be weird to start, but a prompt that usually helps is to try to write as much detail as you

can recall about how you got from being born, to being where you are now. It will jump around a lot

and have a lot of holes to start with, but it was amazing just how much myself and others have been

able to remember about ourselves from just asking yourself to bother remembering it. Even a year

later I'm not great at remembering what age things actually happened at, but I've been able to carve

out a very solid timeline even for my first 4-5 years of life, and I'm getting there for the next

10-15 slowly but surely, and that's helped me feel a lot more real and capable of handling things

like self improvement, because I know the self I want to improve for better.

## Mindfulness exercises for better mental health

If can throw my own advice in for what helps me to be in a really good head space, even just 5

minutes of really letting myself meditate, as in let my mind loosely focus on being empty, and take

deep breaths, really makes everything feel so much better, especially if I do it daily.