The time is now.
Question: What is the best mental health tip for managing stress in the midst of a pandemic?
Answer: Notice your emotions and honor your needs.
You all. YOU are the expert. The most empowering work I have done for myself and been privileged to accompany others with is when the goal is that of an internal wringing. Not just looking for some tangible coping skill, or band aid.
The real skill, is the internal knowing. You are the expert of you and what you need to best navigate the stress of this time.
What works for me may not work for you, what works for others may not work for you. You have to know you. You have to be committed to learning your needs. This is what I love about therapy. It is a journey designed to illuminate your individual needs and emotions in order to generate a personalized strategy within your family system and world.
We are fortunate to live in a time with many inspiring people, self help models and modalities. Don’t bank on just one working for you. Don’t get defeated when it doesn’t work for you. Take what you need and leave the rest.
We are in the midst of an opportunity. An opportunity to reflect on what is working and what is not. You get to make a choice of what reintegration is going to look like for you. But first, you have to know your feelings and your needs. This is the time to get connected with you.
Who have you missed having in your life during shelter and place? Who have you felt relief not having to interface with?
What is feeling aligned? What is feeling misaligned?
What roles are fueling you? What roles are zapping you?
How have emotions shifted? How are you tending to them?
What does a trigger look like? What is the first indicator that it is coming?
What information does your body give you?
What unhealthy relational patterns do you engage in? In what ways are you more intentional?
The only thing I know for sure is; the most important work is that of learning your own needs.
