Joe Tracini

The best mental health advice I’ve been given

• It's a Blue Monday like no other – the saddest day in the calendar year, after 12 months of turmoil, with weeks to go until lockdown restrictions lift. Here, as part of The Telegraph's Mental Health Emergency campaign, prominent mental health figures share the tips and mantras they've learned to help them cope when times are tough. ‘Everything – even this – passes eventually’ Marian Keyes, bestselling author (pictured above second from the left) Life can seem irretrievably bleak, but if you wait it out, it will change. That goes for long bouts of depression just as much as it does a particularly bad day in lockdown. Breaking time down into manageable chunks is what enables me to do that waiting. Now, when I feel frightened, anxious or just very bleak, I try to divide the day into half-hour increments. I tell myself that all I have to do is to get through the next half an hour. It takes effort – it’s a deliberate decision to take things one step at a time and not get overwhelmed by the relentlessness of a dark period. But it’s worth it because in a week, or three months, or a year, life will be very different. Things will get better. I think people are still expecting too much of themselves at the moment. Try to build rewards into your day. Small things like doing a sudoku or having a nice cup of coffee. When everything feels overwhelming and there’s nothing good to look forward to, making everything very small is the only way I can manage. But you’d be surprised by how much of a positive effect it can have. I also try to control how much negativity I allow into my day. I counteract doomscrolling with conversation. I’ll call someone I’ve been on holiday with and remember everything that was lovely about it. It has a huge effect on me, lifting my mood and reminding me that life isn’t always going to be as grey and gruelling as it is now. Marian’s latest book, Grown Ups, is out in paperback on February 4 ‘Name what you’re feeling’ Julia Samuel MBE, psychotherapist