We Are You: A Wellspring Therapist relates to handling difficult emotions
Many of us with kids have started the dreaded digital learning/homeschooling! How has that been going? I won't lie, I am feeling the stress of being in a pandemic, digital learning, and life in general. I have made it a point to take a step back and take care of my mental wellbeing. What have you been doing to take care of yourself?
I am going to offer you three tips to take care of yourself and deal with the stress that has taken up residence in many of our lives!
Make time and space for yourself: There are 24 hours in a day. Can you give yourself 1 hour of time to simply attend to yourself without attending to someone or something else? I know, our to do list is ENDLESS…Which is why we need to have a hard stop! We can't begin to do anything for ourselves unless we are intentionally creating space for ourselves.
Just Breathe: OK, I know some of you just balked when I said take one hour for yourself. Where do we find one hour!? How about 5 minutes? Spend 5 minutes every day simply focusing on your breathing and nothing else. If random thoughts come into your mind, simply notice it and refocus on your breathing. You can count each inhale and exhale and each time a thought enters your mind you start over. See if you can make it to 10! It takes A LOT of practice. Thoughts come in my mind before I say “2” and then I am back to one!
Ice-Water: If you are really overwhelmed and angry, dipping your hand in ice water will immediately reduce the intensity of how overwhelmed you feel. Your heartrate will instantly decrease and you would be able to get your "thinking brain" back online. When we are angry or overwhelmed emotionally, our "thinking brain" goes offline and our "emotional brain" takes over. This is God's design to protect us when we are threatened. However, many times we are not in a real life or death situation and therefore we need to be able regulate ourselves.
When we take care of our emotional wellbeing, we are simultaneously taking care of our marriage and family. We cannot take care of others well if we do not take care of ourselves. If these emotions are too much for you to handle, we, as therapists, are trained in a variety of different techniques to help you. It is a sign of strength to reach out for help.
Contributing author Kaara Kiddoe, Wellspring Therapist
This week's episode:
Listen in as Tova Kreps, LCSW, and Kaara Kiddoe, discuss more practical ways to handle difficult emotions and when it's appropriate to seek help.