Redefine “Doing Better”

Before the weekend, do a quick recalibration: choose one thing to carry forward and one thing to set down. No grand plan needed, just a clear next inch.

Today’s Quick Overview:

🔬 Science Spotlight: Diet patterns and memory…
🗣 Therapist Corner: Recovery model…
📰 Mental Health News: Simpler living, happier days; caregiving’s hidden toll…
🫂Community Voices: When “playing it safe” quietly shrinks your life…

Let's see what you're planting and what you're ready to harvest:

What final seeds are you setting before the weekend: rest plans, clear boundaries, a few intentional notes for next week? And what’s today’s harvest, the ways you showed up, lessons earned, small joys gathered, and the quiet strength that carried you here?

We shield ourselves in ways that sometimes hurt more than help. What's your pattern?

Free Self-Reflection Worksheet

Small, steady check-ins add up. This one-page worksheet helps you track goals, mood, habits, and challenges—clear, calming, and easy to use with your therapist or on your own. Bring it to sessions or use it nightly for a few focused minutes of mindful growth. Download, print, or save to your phone and start reflecting with clarity today.

Answered by: Dr. Nicola Santarossa, M.Couns, MBBS, MACA. Registered Counsellor, Psychotherapist, Peer-Reviewed Author, and Clinical Supervisor. Director of Strive Counselling & Psychotherapy

"They may tell you that your goal should be to become normal and to achieve valued roles. But a role is empty and valueless unless you fill it with your meaning and your purpose. Our task is not to become normal. You have the wonderfully terrifying task of becoming who you are called to be." (Deegan, 2003)

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, statistics show that:

Receiving a diagnosis of SMI, particularly Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder, can feel like a traumatic event. This is made harder by both the stigma you might feel internally and the stigma that exists in society.

Like other traumatic events, it can challenge your fundamental beliefs about yourself and the world, often creating a crisis of meaning. Symptoms like psychosis can significantly alter your sense of who you are and shake the trust you once had in yourself.

Even with the best medical and psychological treatment, many people continue to experience intrusive and disabling symptoms, such as depression, that prevent them from returning to their previous work or social roles.

It's unrealistic to expect yourself to return to your previous level of functioning after your first episode and diagnosis, and holding yourself to that expectation can add to the distress you're already feeling. An SMI can also mean losing life plans, hopes, dreams, relationships, work, financial stability, independence, and freedom. These losses are real and are often not talked about enough.

The Recovery Model

The recovery model offers a different approach than traditional medical models. It focuses on building resilience and living a meaningful life even while managing ongoing symptoms. This model includes five phases that aren't necessarily linear; you might move back and forth between them:

The phases include:

"This is the paradox of recovery: in accepting what we cannot do or be, we begin to discover who we can be and what we can do" (Deegan, 1988).

Identity in The Growth Stage: Living Authentically

This stage of the recovery model is what I've chosen to focus on, as I believe this phase to be the most empowering. The loss of goals and direction in life that often coincides with the illness onset often results in deep self-exploration.

This, in turn, results in a stronger sense of self, which is a hallmark of the growth stage. Surprisingly, many people report that they've grown in meaningful ways as a direct result of living with an SMI. In research studies, people living with SMI reported developing these personal qualities:

Making sense of and finding meaning in one's suffering can allow the individual to extricate themselves from the "sick person" role to imagine a more hopeful future. Examples of this may include: a change in career to working within mental health, offering peer support, undergoing training to run group programs, academic writing, and volunteer work within the mental health field.

Friedrich Nietzsche once wrote, "those who have a why to live can bear almost any how," highlighting the importance of the meaning we attribute to our various challenges in life. While you can't control external factors like genetics, family history, or past trauma, you do have control over your thoughts and actions, your values, where you put your energy, how you treat yourself, and most importantly—how you choose to face hardships while maintaining hope.

Dr. Nicola Santarossa is a Registered Counsellor and Psychotherapist with a background in Medicine. She specializes in working with individuals with unresolved childhood trauma and its consequences in adulthood. Her specialties include mood disorders such as bipolar and major depression, ADHD, substance misuse, disordered eating, and managing complex medical conditions, including chronic pain.

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Early Research Suggests Diet Quality May Affect Memory Function—But Individual Meals Don't Define Brain Health

Research finding: Researchers fed mice a short-term high-fat diet and saw hippocampal memory circuits falter within four days, before weight gain. A specific cell type (CCK interneurons) became overactive when brain glucose use dropped. Restoring glucose, or adding brief intermittent fasting, normalized those neurons and the mice’s memory performance.

Why it matters: This preliminary animal research suggests the brain may be responsive to dietary patterns, though it's important to note that mouse studies don't always translate directly to human experience. Your brain health is shaped by overall eating patterns over time, not by individual meals or short-term dietary choices.

If you're concerned about cognitive health, focus on generally eating a variety of foods that make you feel good physically and mentally, rather than fixating on avoiding specific ingredients. Consistent, adequate nutrition supports brain function better than restrictive approaches.

Try it today: Notice how you feel mentally when you're eating regular, satisfying meals versus when you're restricting food or skipping meals. Cognitive function depends on your brain receiving adequate, consistent fuel, not on perfecting every food choice.

I can trust that today's small efforts are building toward something significant. Greatness isn't one dramatic leap; it's the accumulation of choices I'm already making.

Think of one habit you've maintained quietly over time: maybe journaling, calling a friend, or taking daily walks. That consistency has already created more than you realize.

It's okay if today feels ordinary and unremarkable. Most meaningful things are built from days exactly like this one.

Choose one tiny action that aligns with something you want to build long-term—write one sentence, do five pushups, send one thoughtful message. Let it be small enough to feel effortless, significant enough to count.

"I Discovered My Comfort Zone Was Trapping Me"

Shared by Dan, 29

I thought I was being smart about my mental health. Parties make me anxious? Stop going. Public speaking feels uncomfortable? Avoid jobs that require it. New restaurants stress me out? Stick to the same three places. I called it "knowing my limits" and "honoring my boundaries." My friends even praised me for being self-aware about my triggers.

But last month, my best friend got engaged and asked me to give a toast at her wedding. My immediate reaction was panic, followed by mentally preparing my excuse about why I couldn't do it. Then I realized I'd already turned down being in her wedding party because the attention made me nervous. And I'd skipped her birthday dinner because it was at a restaurant I'd never been to. I wasn't protecting myself. I was shrinking.

My life had become so small. Same route to work, same grocery store, same weekend routine. I'd cut out anything that made me even slightly uncomfortable, and what was left barely qualified as living.

So I said yes to the toast. I'm terrified, obviously. But I'm also tired of using self-care as an excuse to hide from everything. Sometimes growth lives on the other side of uncomfortable, and I'd been running from it for years.

Share Your Story

Have a mental health journey you'd like to share with our community? Reply back to this email. All submissions are anonymized and edited for length with your approval before publication. Each published story receives a $10 donation to the mental health charity of your choice.

Evening Reset: Notice, Write, Settle

Picture a mosaic artist placing one small tile at a time onto a vast wall. Up close, each piece looks insignificant; just a fragment of color among thousands. But step back, and those fragments become a masterpiece. Tonight, you can trust that your daily efforts are creating a pattern you can't yet see from where you're standing.

Spend three minutes writing: What small, consistent action have I been undervaluing, and what might it be building toward if I keep showing up for it?

Close your notebook and ask yourself: What "little thing" did I do today that actually mattered more than I gave it credit for? Where am I waiting for dramatic progress instead of honoring incremental growth? What would change if I trusted the power of repetition?

"For the great doesn't happen through impulse alone, and is a succession of little things that are brought together." — Vincent Van Gogh

Today's small step is part of tomorrow's transformation; it just doesn't announce itself yet.

Video: "The Science of Self-Blame and Depression" (Therapy in a Nutshell)

Watch: "The Science of Self-Blame and Depression"

Therapist Emma McAdam explains why intense self-blame is a symptom of depression, not a character flaw. Our brains are meaning-makers; when mood dips, they often mislink “I feel awful” with “I caused this.” She summarizes research showing altered connectivity in brain areas tied to self-blame, evidence that depression distorts thinking, and it doesn’t reveal your worth.

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Coming Monday: Scientists discover how emotional moments reach back in time to save ordinary memories through "graded prioritization," and why your brain actively decides which fragile experiences deserve rescue based on their connection to meaningful events.

Researched and edited by Natasha. Designed with love by Kaye.

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*The Daily Wellness shares educational content only and is not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice and diagnosis. Please consult a licensed provider for personalized care.