Quartz boulder
Coping with unexpected boulders
Sometimes, boulders can help you focus, regroup and rediscover what is important to you. But, they can also cause stress, anxiety and depression, if not managed and you learn ways to cope with them.
Things like:
Illness – both short-term and long-term
Death of a loved one.
Unexpected financial outlays, ie for significant items breaking in the home or business
Debtors not paying
Marriage break up
Suddenly losing ‘me time’
Loss of work
Sudden overwhelm
Children leaving home
Children moving back home
You getting in your own way
In no particular order, you could try:
Wine and chocolate! (please don’t do these long term)
Acceptance and acknowledgement
Meditation
Comforting yourself and being kind to yourself.
Reward yourself and others.
Exercise
Seek the opportunity from the situation
Looks at the end result, make a plan of action and break into small, baby steps
If something the same or similar has happened before, learn from it by thinking about what you did last time.
Delegate and outsource tasks, so you can focus on you and your recovery.
Know that the situation will not last forever.
Forgiveness of yourself and others.
Show gratitude of the past and other present situations.
Talk to someone! Even, seek professional help! There is no shame in it.
Regular self-care helps in the long term and perhaps lower the impact of boulder situations.
Tracey of PlumEssence is a therapist, hypnotherapist, mental health first aider, stress management consultant and mentor, who helps people to manage and cope with boulders thrown at them. Tracey also runs workshops about Managing and Coping with Stress and Anxiety, which are suitable for support groups and the workplace.
For a no obligation chat, so see if I can help you, please call 01889 808388 or 07803 399594 or email [email protected]
I do enjoy a stress-free festive period.
I have to admit, I cannot understand what all the fuss is about.
What’s the point if you refer to the words ‘frazzled’, ‘stressed’, ‘anxious’, ‘hassle’, ‘hassled’, ‘frustrating’? You get the idea. I’ve heard these words a lot the past couple of weeks and I wonder why this season of goodwill brings about these words and emotions.
People who know me, know I ‘don’t do Christmas’. What I really mean is that I don’t get caught up in all the hype and commerciality of Christmas. It’s supposed to be a period of enjoyment, especially if you do things you don’t do all year. So, enjoy it I do.
I know it’s cutting it fine to give some hints and tips about how to have a stress-free festive period and Christmas. Even so, here’s some of my thoughts (Only a few. This is a blog, not a book) and most of them are stating the obvious:
Most of all, remember this is your time too. You have to enjoy the festivities before everyone else can.
Caring for yourself is not self-indulgent, it is self-preservation.
Looking after yourself is not pampering, it is a necessity.
I thought of this today as clients are not booking appointments due to their workloads.
Many in the health field will say “when you don’t have time for you, then that’s when you need to make that time”.
To enjoy work, to stay focused and be productive, you need to take time out for you. Enabling your mind and body to relax, helps them to rejuvenate and refresh, helping you to replenish the energy in both. Renewed energy allows for improved thought processes and to be able to think more productively, often allowing you to come up with better and new ideas.
You need to take care of yourself as it is easy to forget to do so, especially when you’re busy looking after your work responsibilities and trying to appease others.
Whatever you do, you should prioritise your own health and well-being. You need to eat well, and rest your mind and body. You need to take time out.
Scheduling time to help you maintain your well-being gives you something to look forward to. If
you like, you can consider it a pampering treat for all the hard work you have completed. Take it as time to enjoy. It’s more difficult to be successful if you don’t take care of yourself.
Working hard and not taking time for your well-being will lead to regular illnesses and stress-related illness. More illness causes more stress as you fight the initial illness and then you don’t perform at your best. It’s an easy catch-22 situation to fall into.
This is usually when I get the calls. People wanting to book in because they don’t feel great. That’s fine, I like people to book in and we can start the well-being journey.
But really, prevention is better than cure.
Don’t wait until you feel something is wrong. Don’t wait until you are in pain, stressed, or suffering anxiety or elements of depression.
Make a plan, now, to book yourself in for your well-being treatment, and make sure you come first.
If you don’t look after yourself, you cannot look after anyone else. If you don’t know where to start, or don’t know what treatments to have, then just ask!