Self care survival kit

Today, I asked some friends, “What do you do when you just feel done?” There is no one specific thing that is weighing on me, but I feel restless . . . antsy . . . and also like tossing in the towel.

I recognize these feelings as anxiety or stress or whatever name works best for you and I recognize that this happens when my self care is not in place. Then I had to ask myself, “Lisa, what is self care for you? And how can you get a better grip on it in the middle of your busy life?”

By the way, being busy isn’t a sign of honor, so that isn’t me bragging. It’s a statement of fact. I have a full time job and am taking six hours of graduate work every semester. I also teach yoga once a week and help sponsor a student organization on campus. And I have a marriage relationship which I long to give time to and I try to stay connected with my kids as much as possible. Which isn’t much.

Photo by Andrey Grushnikov on Pexels.com

So I need a self care kit. A list of things to incorporate into routine to help prevent these days of wanting to run away to Canada. I read about a school that has comfort corners with supplies for kids when they are feeling overwhelmed. That sounds like a wonderful idea, so this weekend I am going to create a comfort corner in my house.

Lisa’s Self Care Survival Toolkit

• Yoga — 15 minutes a day keeps the anxiety away
• Writing — journaling to get the thoughts out and gratitude to find the happies
• Music — it’s the language of my soul
• Fiction — I need to read for fun
• Movement — dance or walking or something. I just need to move more.
• Visual beauty — I need to do something creative
• Soft things — a super soft blanket or other warm fuzzy
• Fuzzy socks with aloe
• Lavender anything
• Cooking and filling the house with the yummy smell of baking

So tonight when I get off work, I’m going shopping for a few things to add to a self care kit. I am also going to focus on planning a morning and evening routine that will incorporate some of these things.

I’m tired. I’m tired of life and the world being hard and weighty and constantly present and never getting better. The world is too much. The longer I live, the more often I come back to these words:

The world is too much with us; late and soon,

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—

Little we see in Nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!

This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;

The winds that will be howling at all hours,

And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;

For this, for everything, we are out of tune;

It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be

A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;

So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,

Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;

Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;

Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

I want to shout AMEN! We are out of tune. . out of tune . . out of tune . . . and if what I see as Christianity in our nation is the real thing, then yes — I would rather be a pagan. 

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.com

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

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