October 2019
October Mental Health Challenge: Self-Care
Okay, self-care is a bit of a buzzword these days. It's thrown around a lot (especially by us therapist and social worker types) and we are told to practice self-care, but how does one even start to do that? It starts with honouring your needs, which means directing some of the energy that you put towards caring for others onto your self. Self-care doesn't always look like candle lit bubble baths and manicure's with your girlfriends. It can look like that but maybe that isn't what your needs are in that moment. We often overcomplicate self-care and turn into more of a chore then it needs to be. The "self" in self-care often gets overlooked. What is it that YOU need to help keep you afloat? Self-care can involve things as simple as going to bed earlier instead of staying up an extra hour to watch television, or setting your clothes out for the week so your not stressing about what to wear every morning, or saying "no" to extra obligations and instead rereading your favourite book. Take some time this month and make a list of what your needs are and what self-care practices you can implement in order to get those needs met. It doesn't need to be an exhaustive list, you can focus on 2-3 needs and start finding ways to implement a self-care routine. Share the ideas you came up with and any of the challenges that may have come up for you!
October Mental Health Tip
Nowadays it seems that October is the start of the holiday season. We have Thanksgiving at the beginning of the month, and then Halloween, which this year because it is on a Thursday, seems to be spanning two weekends. November is generally when holiday festivities start, with many holiday parties and events filling up the calendar. This can equate to feels of high stress. Often times people struggle with gauging where they are in terms of their stress level, and when we become overwhelmed with stress we may stop and feel unable to do anything. I know that I have had times when even receiving a text about a party can make me feel like I have one more chore to add to the list.
So what can we do when we start noticing that everything feels like a chore? How do we stop ourselves from getting to that point? It can be important to be aware of whether you are in the green, yellow or red zone. The green zone is where you have enough mental, emotional and physical energy to do things. At this stage you find enjoyment in activities that you like and spending time with friends and family. The yellow zone is where you find that you are struggling but can still find enough mental, emotional and physical energy to get through what you have to do and some of the things you want to do. You may notice that things start to feel a bit more like a burden. The red zone is where you find that you do not have enough mental, emotional and physical energy to do things. Everything feels like a chore and you may notice that your mood is low or that your are more irritated by things that would not normally bother you.
There are usually signs that we are in the yellow or red zones. These signs could be related to how we react to small challenges. Whether we are willing to volunteer to do things. Or whether we have the patience to help someone who is struggling. Often times our friends and family are more aware then we are of what the signs are that we are in the yellow and red zone.