How are you keeping up with your mental health?
We’ve been in a global pandemic during an election year with major civil unrest around the world and a pretty abnormal school year for most of us so...I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a struggle some days. It’s been SEVEN LONG months of adjusting at my house. How about at yours? For most of us, any one of the things above are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the answer of “what’s been going on?”
Even if you have a partner at home, you likely feel like some of the single people at times like you are slugging it out alone. New routines, new jobs, new school situations, new ways to eat, shop, etc are having to be developed for many of us. Unfortunately, that tends to fall on the woman of the house...or do we just take it on? *Imagine pic of me raised eyebrows here.
In a time when we really need to ask “How are you doing?” AND LISTEN to the answer rather than using it as a polite way to start a conversation, I don’t hear it asked as much as I used to. Is it because our plates are too full to listen to someone that might need to just feel heard for the day?
I encourage you to ask your loved ones and share honestly in this time as we have been through some really unusual stuff this year.
I venture to say most if not all of us have run the gamut of self-care this year.
If you are anything like me it looked like this:
January- start working out but not at the gym until February when all the non-committed people get tired of the gym. Drink lots of water. For my own development and the betterment of my business, I started a mastermind because 2020 is going to be a fabulously memorable year!
February- start going to the gym a few days a week. Weigh myself obsessively since my doctor insisted I lose 20 lbs before my next visit in 6 months. Drink lots of water and cut out sodas (quick 5-10lbs of my 20, RIGHT?!?!?).
March- FINALLY getting into a schedule and then WHAT THE….???? The city shuts down and we all think great! We have 14 days where we will have SOOOOOO much “extra” time to get the projects down around the house. I’m going to have so much self-care! (There is a sarcastic look on my face as I write this in retrospect.)
April- Well, exercise is out the window. That to-do list is somewhere around here…... I binged all the seasons I was behind on and have now fallen in love with grocery delivery. We had a tornado and my kitchen sink drain pipe broke. So, my kitchen is destroyed, there is a pandemic in full force, a huge part of the city was destroyed by the tornado so...good luck getting the kitchen fixed soon. Although I love my kid, she has been here for 6 weeks straight and we are starting to get on each other’s nerves.
Self-care has been reduced to pints of ice cream and finishing off the cookies when the kid goes to bed.
May- well, shit. Nothing else to do but stress over my kitchen, pray for the end of the school year so that there is less to do every day...I start meditating and figure what the heck, start a business! I think this was the month I decided to not only cut my own hair but also started to dye it through a series of various shades of blue. We closed out this month with a senseless death and a heaviness that rocked the world, followed by demands for change through riots.
Jun-ly- not sure why this month was so long or when June became July so in my mind, it was just one really long month. I spent a lot of time keeping my mental health in check. Journaling. Meditation. Reading. Building the crap out of my business systems (those that know me well, are probably laughing really hard at me building out a website, etc). Kitchen work started. More meditating and started working with a health coach at the end of July. Somehow with all this, I lost 12 lbs by cutting out 90% of my meat and sugars (including that super yummy Sweet Cream Coffee creamer!).
August- HOW CAN IT BE TIME FOR SCHOOL AGAIN?!?! Lots of self-care happened this month as I worked on my eating habits. Lots of changes and meditation, journaling, and DEEP BREATHING.
September- I know the song is Wake me up When September Ends...but when did it begin? Also, thanks for waking me up because I don’t remember ANY of it!
October- The best and worst month for me. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Halloween. So did my sister because that was her birthday. It was the start of buying Christmas presents and the three festive months of the year. So as I’m sure you can imagine celebrating and grieving don’t really go hand in hand.
Halloween candy does fit in your hand, your mouth, your pockets, and in my bra next to the chapstick.
Now that we are caught up...HOW IN THE WORLD is it almost the end of the year???? I started the year running like a woman on fire (the good kind of on fire, not the burning to the ground kind of fire), then I dipped down in the valley of death and despair and have been clawing my way back up.
I spent a lot of time reading, working on mindset, and attending webinars to keep myself in the “I have to show up for this obligation” mindset so I didn’t just sleep. This helped me to feel pretty good most of the time. Lots of days lost in the blur but I kept moving forward. It might not have been what would have helped others but I did my best to show up everyday for myself...if I had to score myself, I would say I was pretty close to a 90.
WHAT?!?!?!
A 90???
How could I feel that good with all the things going on in my life and in the world? I have learned to listen to my body and was really put to the test this year. It make it hard to walk the walk after years of talking the talk. I had to be intentional about what I did, when I did it, and sometimes even how I did it.
The blogs and social media things I post contain all the ingredients to make the recipe work. I’m not a chef so I won’t make a big metaphor for the way this works. In all honesty, I don’t always read ALL of the instructions...I do get all the ingredients and put them together in the way I think it works best. Big surprise- it usually looks NOTHING like the photo BUT it tastes GREAT!
Here are the ingredients for a life that you can learn to manage in the hard times:
A HUGE cup of self-love
A large heaping of grace
A smidgen (or three) of dancing with the volume too loud
Several dashes of journaling
A long pour of meditation or prayer (the bartender in me is coming out...I promise my food is edible)
A dollop of cuss words
Drizzle the happy and sad tears as needed
Peace and love,
Teresea
Photo Credit: Unsplash
Combine all these in a big comfy bed and “rest” at least 7-8 hours before until you rise. Perfectly blended and beautiful!
Ready to serve up the best you have to offer at that time, no matter how little or how much it is. Because it is ENOUGH!
(So it looks like I lied about not using an elaborate metaphor...it just started coming to me as I typed!)
I’m here to help you through this year, and next year, and the next. I would love to know how you are doing and what struggles you are having right now.
Just hit the Book a Clarity Call with me and we’ll have a chat about what is happening for you.
NO PRESSURE to buy anything -I just want you to feel like someone listened to you today.
If you want to join the Facebook Community for encouragement and be in a group of amazing women, join HERE.
Peace and Love,
Teresea
Photo credit: Unsplash
