This is the mantra that every person with a chronic illness of any kind – physical or mental – will have heard many, many times. It makes sense to take each month, week, day, hour as it comes and to celebrate the little things.

Does anyone else find this difficult?

Let me explain. Taking each day as it comes is all well and good. But, when you have a list the length of your leg to get through and you maybe check off two it is hard to celebrate the two that you do achieve than the rest that you didn’t. Those unchecked boxes are the focus rather than the two checked boxes. This is known as negativity bias – when the brain recognises the negative emotions and events more strongly than the positive ones. Which means that even if you try to “celebrate the little things” and “take baby steps” that it is difficult for the average person to successfully achieve that – never mind one that suffers from mental illness.

For example last week I had so many things I wanted to do that I didn’t achieve – going for a walk in the Kilpatrick Hills, taking photos of the turning leaves to put up as prints on Society6, sort out the study/ hobby room… The list goes on.

Anyway, onward – I’m at least trying not to dwell.