Wellbeing
Small steps that worked for real people, on wellbeing.
The sky over Wellbeing · 182 small steps
- Anger arrives with information
- Anger is a boundary alarm
- Awkward is a season, not a sentence
- Criticism needs credentials
- Don't park your life at "someday"
- Get stronger at being misread
- Heal the fear first — the words follow
- Judgment is one habit, pointed two ways
- Pleasing everyone still gets you judged
- Practice having no audience
- Some advice assumes the rent is already paid
- Take the laugh back
It sounds heavy. We’re here.
In the US
In the UK · Samaritans
Worried about someone else? What helps →
In the US · National Domestic Violence Hotline
Call 1-800-799-7233Text START to 88788
In the UK · National Domestic Abuse Helpline (Refuge)
For men in the UK · Men’s Advice Line Lines open Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm
Outside those hours: Samaritans will listen any time, on 116 123.
Need somewhere safe to sleep tonight? What to do, step by step →
More lines: Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland
In Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland · your nation’s own 24-hour line
Scotland: 0800 027 1234Wales: 0808 80 10 800Northern Ireland (18+): 0808 802 1414
In the US · Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline
Call 1-800-422-4453Text GO to 1-800-422-4453
In the UK · Childline
An adult worried about a child? Childhelp takes those calls too. In the UK: NSPCC, 0808 800 5000, 10am to 4pm, Monday to Friday.
Under 18 and told to leave home, or not safe there? What to do, step by step →
More: Childline’s online chat
Can’t talk out loud? Childline’s 1-2-1 chat → You make a free account first (no email needed).
It was not your fault.
In the US · RAINN — National Sexual Assault Hotline
Call 1-800-656-4673Text HOPE to 64673
In England and Wales · Rape Crisis (16+)
18 or under in the UK? Childline, any time: 0800 1111.
More lines: Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland
In Scotland · Rape Crisis Scotland (13+) Lines open every day, 5pm to midnight
Call 08088 01 03 02Text 07537 410 027
Outside those hours: Samaritans will listen any time, on 116 123.
In Wales or Northern Ireland · 24-hour lines that cover sexual violence
Followed, watched or harassed? What to do, step by step →
In the US · VictimConnect Resource Center
Call 1-855-484-2846Text 1-855-484-2846
In the UK · National Stalking Helpline (Suzy Lamplugh Trust) Lines open Monday and Wednesday, 9:30am to 8pm. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 9:30am to 4pm
Outside those hours: Samaritans will listen any time, on 116 123.
Someone sharing, or threatening to share, intimate images of you?
StopNCII.org (18+): help stop them being shared online →
In the UK · Revenge Porn Helpline (18+) Lines open Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm, excluding bank holidays
Outside those hours: Samaritans will listen any time, on 116 123.
Under 18 in the images? In the UK, Childline can help you get them removed (Report Remove): 0800 1111. In the US, NCMEC can point you to Take It Down, any time: 1-800-843-5678.
Forced or tricked into work or sex?
In the US · National Human Trafficking Hotline
Call 1-888-373-7888Text 233733
In the UK · Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline (Unseen) Lines open 8am to 6pm, Monday to Sunday (reduced hours until further notice)
Outside those hours: Samaritans will listen any time, on 116 123.
An older person being hurt, neglected or exploited?
In the UK · Hourglass (older people and abuse)
Call 0808 808 8141Free text 078 6005 2906
If any of this is about you: call 988 in the US or Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK. In danger: 911 / 999. Someone to talk to →
Afraid of someone at home? Domestic abuse lines → Worried someone checks this device? Browse more privately →
About a child? Childline 0800 1111 in the UK, Childhelp 1-800-422-4453 in the US.
Sexual assault: RAINN 1-800-656-4673 in the US, Rape Crisis 0808 500 2222 in England and Wales.
In danger now: 911 in the US, 999 in the UK.
A teen or young adult in the US? Love Is Respect, any time: 1-866-331-9474, or text LOVEIS to 22522.
18 or under in the UK? Childline, any time: 0800 1111.
If you’re over 18: domestic abuse lines →
Worried someone checks this device? How to browse more privately →
Someone to talk to, and more →
Thinking of ending your life, or in danger? 988 (US) · Samaritans 116 123 (UK) · 911 / 999
Or browse another area:
- wellbeingIf you get lost on a hike or walk, stop before you walk any furtherLost on a walk? Go back only if you are sure of the way and it is safe; if not, call 911 or 999 and stay put unless your life is in danger.
- wellbeingKeep your wheels pointing straight while you wait to turn across trafficWaiting to turn across traffic? Two US state manuals say to keep your wheels straight until you start, in case you are hit from behind.
- wellbeingLet the ambulance go, then drive to the hospital at a normal speedAn ambulance took someone you love? Do not race it. Take a few minutes, pack what they need, then drive normally or have someone drive you.
All 182 tips on wellbeing
- “Busy” isn’t about you
- “My responsibility” instead of “my fault”
- A slanted report can still be accurate
- Aim yourself at people, especially when the pull is inward
- Alone can be a life, not a waiting room
- Anger arrives with information
- Anger is a boundary alarm
- Ask for the ferritin, not just the iron
- Ask plainly when a low spell goes suddenly calm
- Ask them how they did it
- Ask what a mistake would cost before you do it badly
- Ask whether the worry has a next step
- Ask whether you forgot or you are afraid
- Awkward is a season, not a sentence
- Book the assessment, and stop guessing
- Break your gaze every few seconds
- Budget for the social hangover
- Call the card before you post the wallet
- Change the slot when after-work workouts keep failing
- Check the plate before you open the door
- Check the sliding scale before you go it alone
- Check your child’s photos for a white glow in the eye
- Childhood dreams are not a debt
- Confidence follows competence
- Confidence is the receipt, not the ticket
- Criticism needs credentials
- Dab the balm on before the tissue does
- Depression is an illness of motivation, not a shortage of cheerfulness
- Do a sum in your head when you can’t start
- Do I have to be in the room?
- Do one new thing this weekend
- Do the push-up you can do today
- Doing everything right and feeling nothing
- Don’t believe everything you think
- Don't park your life at "someday"
- Download the map while you still have signal
- Dreamed about your ex? Don’t text them
- Drink the glass, then wait fifteen minutes
- Drink the water and count it
- Drowning is quiet
- Enamel does not grow back
- Envy can be grief in disguise
- Familiarity starves fear
- Find out what rehab will cost before you book it
- Find out who your campus police are before you need them
- Find the second way out
- Get stronger at being misread
- Get the guard before the crown
- Get up and move; the bed makes it worse
- Give blood in the quiet weeks
- Give your mind a sum when the tears come at the wrong time
- Give yourself the basics first
- Heal the fear first — the words follow
- If they flash you, check your own lights first
- If you get lost on a hike or walk, stop before you walk any further
- If you need to disappear for a while, say so
- If you shower and still smell
- Improve yourself because you like yourself
- It was never mostly about size
- Jealousy is the smoke, not the fire
- Judgment is one habit, pointed two ways
- Keep the beliefs that survive scrutiny
- Keep your wheels pointing straight while you wait to turn across traffic
- Leave the phone in your pocket for the wait
- Let four sentences do all the talking
- Let the ambulance go, then drive to the hospital at a normal speed
- Let the thought you hate pass without a fight
- Let thoughts be weather
- Loneliness bends what you see
- Look out the window every twenty minutes
- Make the plan, then ask who wants to come
- Make the sun a tie-breaker
- Meditation: becoming impartial to the weather inside
- Mortality is a lens, not a morbid thought
- Move a muscle, change a thought
- Move while it still bothers you
- Name one person, give one job
- Name the sounds in the room
- One story: the drink was the depression
- Open the window before the water reaches it
- People learn the jokes you make about yourself
- Perfectionism is a hamster wheel, not a high standard
- Pick the volunteer job you can carry this month
- Plan it for the new moon
- Plan tomorrow’s drive before tonight’s first drink
- Pleasing everyone still gets you judged
- Practice having no audience
- Practise the talk out loud for one person first
- Press your tongue to the roof of your mouth
- Pull a tick straight out with tweezers as soon as you find it
- Pull your toes toward your shin
- Push your belly out to quiet it
- Put down the case you keep reopening
- Put lip balm on before the dentist
- Put the drop in the pocket under your lower eyelid
- Put your face in cool water
- Raise the screen and stand up before you buy a chair
- Read the UV index before you skip it
- Rebuilding? Start with a physical
- Replace the helmet that took the hit
- Rinse the eye with water and do not rub it
- Roll the tennis ball against the wall
- Run the bite under warm water
- Say ‘I’m blushing’ before they do
- See a doctor before you try another alarm
- Shave it before you start hiding it
- Show up anyway
- Show your eyes the motion
- Slow down for the deer you haven’t seen yet
- Small promises you actually keep
- Smell the shirt dry, not the skin
- Sober for months and still not feeling better
- Some advice assumes the rent is already paid
- Sometimes it’s a money problem
- Spit, don’t rinse
- Stop arguing with the fear of dying
- Stop somewhere safe and rest when you start to nod
- Stop trying to fall asleep
- Swap the en for simple in the web address
- Take a first-aid class before you need one
- Take the laugh back
- Take the photo before you go in
- Take the walk after lunch
- Take two dry weeks and read the result
- Take yourself to the film
- Tell the dentist before you sit down
- Tell the doctor what it stops you doing
- Tell your therapist what isn't working
- Tense your legs before you stand
- The bacteria are on your tongue
- The book works when the reader is ready
- The case for tomorrow is your track record
- The clean toilet is the one nobody uses
- The compliment lifts the giver too
- The earplugs make the band sound better
- The far side of lonely
- The feed is a highlight reel
- The feeling is automatic. The next move is yours.
- The glow is mostly sleep and water
- The irritation is a mirror
- The journaling trio
- The last drops hide upstream
- The pillowcase experiment
- The regret you get to choose
- The regulars are watching the mirror
- The spotlight is mostly in your head
- The spray that works has a three-day limit
- The water goes between the drinks
- The way out of a rip is sideways
- The whole-life trade
- Their reaction is their history talking
- Their win is not your loss
- They forgot it before you got home
- Tired after people, or afraid of them?
- Tired is a symptom before it's a personality
- Treat natural anxiety cures as extras
- Treat the depression, not the optics
- Try a brisk walk, and get lasting brain fog checked
- Try a glass of water once, then look further
- Turn the dome light on
- Turn the rival into a teacher
- Unlearning the verdict
- Wash the dishes when your head is full
- Watch the urge instead of fighting it
- Wear it at hugging distance
- What the envy is pointing at
- What the gym can carry
- When anger beats the pause, get help for it
- When the answer keeps being “a therapist”
- Will moving fix it? Both answers are true
- Write down a week of food when the weight won't rise
- Write down the good thing, with its details
- Write down the panic, then check it later
- Write down what you will say before you dial
- You can stop before anything falls apart
- You can't out-discipline a wound
- You know your reasons. Grant them theirs.
- You're allowed to be ordinary
- Your bloopers against their highlight reel
- Your job is not your worth
- Your paycheck was never a measure of you
- Your tail lights are probably off
Walk a trail
For the things that take longer than a day — a few small steps, in the order that helped real people.
Questions people ask
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