Mood swings and how to control them

Are you as bewildered by my mood swings as I am?  Probably not if you too are living a life affected by dementia.  Maybe you're just surprised at my bewilderment but I've never really had mood swings you see and they take me by surprise.  One of my friends once said that I had an expectation of happiness in my life which even now I'm not sure was entirely true but what was true was that I rarely felt unhappy and it's only now that I realise how lucky I was to be able to live like that.  Currently things are a little different, I have more of an idea of what's to come and am fairly sure that things are going to get more difficult as time goes on but for now I hate the mood swings and after Monday's episode I decided I needed to find a way to avoid them whenever possible.  So what causes them?  I've thought a lot about this over the past couple of days and today I think I may have found the answer.  It's just possible that I find myself in a downward spiral whenever I don't feel in control of my life which could account for this latest bad day.  We've been told to stay at home which is exactly what we need to do and I know it but that means giving up my walks and other catch-ups with friends which also means giving up the conversations and the exercise that go with them and I've realised those are the things which really, really keep me on an even keel.  Ash doesn't do conversation any more and the dog isn't much better but there must, I thought, be another way and I've found it.  I don't have an Iphone (or any other make of smart phone) so can't do facetime but I do have a laptop and have discovered that I can do video calls through facebook.  This is amazing and has already revolutionised my life.  Yesterday, instead of our Tuesday walk, my two walking friends and I got together through video.  We each had a cup of tea in front of us and spent an hour covering all the topics we'd usually discuss while walking through the Lincolnshire Wolds.  It didn't take us quite as long as on the walk as we didn't have to keep stopping to catch our breath but the conversation was just as comprehensive.  I have more groups of friends lined up for this now and my world has opened up again.  So that's the conversation but what about the exercise that has also disappeared in the absence of those walks?  This morning, after much prompting by another walking friend, I put Joe Wicks on Youtube and discovered that I'm not quite as fit as I thought I was so that's now going to be another part of my daily routine.  So there you have it, conversation and exercise as usual but just in another form.  How you look at things really does make a difference.

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