Tag Archives: mental health

Nature Therapy

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It’s no secret to me or anyone who has to put up with me that I’m mentally tired and probably need a day off – or a nap – or maybe a time out. Yesterday I ran for the door at the end of my work day for the first weeknight hike of the season. 

The evening daylight is long enough now that we were able to fit in almost four miles. 

Four glorious miles. Well, all were glorious except for the last very steep hill that left me so winded I was sure I had emphysema. Man, I have some goals for this hiking season! But I survived and without stopping so that’s something to celebrate. 

Another thing to celebrate is the incredible restorative effects of nature. To breathe fresh air is to start anew. To hear birdsong is to hear the earth sing. To feel a light breeze on your face is an embrace from the world. To feel dirt and fallen leaves beneath your feet is to connect with the earth in unexpected ways. To look up into the tree tops is to understand your place in this world.

In case there’s any doubt – you are small and so is your place here. 

I came home feeling so much more grounded and better equipped for all that’s bugging. At least for a while. 

I am fortunate to live in the country where my literal backyard is filled with trees and shrubs, flowers and weeds and where birds and frogs gift me with their beautiful songs every day. I’m also fortunate to live close to hiking trails so I can easily run away from home for natural therapy when time allows. 

If you’re having a hard day, if you need a mental health break, if you’re struggling or if you’re doing just fine and simply want the amazing things I described above, find your way outdoors. You will be happier and stronger for it.

I promise.

Every Day Can’t Count

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Make every minute count. You only live once. Carpe diem. You’ve heard all these phrases and more like them. 

Those people who insist that every day must count are well meaning, but man, they are exhausting. We get a finite amount of days in this life so it is best not to waste them. I get that. In fact, many people waste every single day and then complain the world is passing them by. We can’t do that either.

Unfortunately, every day can’t be the best, most productive day filled with breakthroughs or adventures. We can’t always be high energy and ready to tackle the world. Anyone who says different is either selling something or lying to themselves too. On the flip side of the coin, when our world turns small, it’s important to find ways to be fulfilled and to make life more meaningful.. 

There has to be a middle ground. 

Some days are only meant to be survived. These days don’t need to count – they just need to accumulate. Think of them as rungs on a ladder to help you get to the next step. You have to keep moving forward to get through this day and on to the next and the next and the one after that. 

Whether the days seem dreary and hopeless or the night long and dark, the night will eventually end, the clouds will move on and the sun will shine again. 

There’s a point every year that I need a mental health day but can’t get one in good conscience. It sucks but it’s character building. At least that’s my theory and it does help. After all, if you think that what you’re doing is good for you, it’s easier to keep going. 

So keep going. You’ll get there.

Calm Waters

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This season of life I’m in isn’t the best. There’s no need for worry. I don’t need counseling or a spa day. No need for a major life shake-up either. The phrase “it is what it is” comes to mind a lot more than normal and I’m the kind of tired that can’t be cured by a good night’s sleep.

It is what it is. 

But it’s a season of life rather than the way it will always be. So it’s ok.

I’m starting to allow my mind to wander into adventure season. Oh, the places I might go!  I’m currently craving outdoor time and a road trip. The thought of throwing open the windows, getting rid of most everything I own and scrubbing clean what’s left is sounding more appealing by the day.

Again, don’t worry. This happens every year at this time and I solemnly promise not to pitch my couch and my entire wardrobe out into the front yard!

Even if  it is tempting.  

For now, I’m settling for short bursts of outdoor time because fresh air is good for the mind, body and spirit. On Tuesday night I went to Lake Alma State  Park  for a walk on the busy bike path. It wasn’t quite the outdoor fun I had planned but it at least was some fresh air and exercise 

I marveled at the water. Look how glassy and still it is!  The trees remain bare as it isn’t white time for the spring bloomers. The sky was a brilliant blue we typically don’t see this time of year. 

Calm water. Still water. It’s what I needed on that day and at that time. If only everything else could be so easy as beautiful nature reflected in calm water!

Self Care Sunday Isn’t What It Sounds Like

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Yesterday was Self Care Sunday in my world. That doesn’t mean I sat on the couch and ate chocolate while watching a Golden Girls marathon. Although, a day with Dorothy, Rose, Sophia and that endearing hussie Blanche would be hard to resist. 

Instead, it means that I spent the day doing things that will make my life better or even easier in the coming workweek and then spent some time writing, reading and doing quiet activities that bring me joy. 

I slept in and caught part of the CBS Sunday Morning Show, an important one as they honored longtime host Charles Osgood who passed away this week at the age of 91.

Charles … yes, we were on a first name basis – Charles was my absolute favorite television news personality of my lifetime. Cultured and witty, never crass or cruel, he had a voice that made me feel like I was sitting down with an old friend. He looked for the good, the interesting and the untold stories in the world and I have missed him every Sunday since his retirement. 

Next up were two chores that I simply haven’t had time or energy to deal with lately – clean the bathroom and Scout’s litter box. These are not difficult chores but they do require mental preparation that I sometimes can’t pull off during a busy workweek. 

I let Robot Bob do some vacuuming. Scout likes to oversee this process and it freed my time to do a little straightening in other areas. Clean sheets and clothes washed, dried and returned to where they belong is a gratifying feeling, especially when you slide into a freshly made bed!

Afterward was some light exercise. I’m still babying my knee a bit but it felt good to move and stretch. I also feel better about myself after any kind of exercise. A walk in the woods is always best but anything will do on a rainy day. 

Then it was back to the kitchen to do some meal prep. There’s nothing worse than coming home after a long workday to remember you still haven’t won the lottery and there still isn’t a personal chef waiting anxiously to learn if you prefer broccoli or asparagus tonight. Oh, the disappointment! 

So I roasted veggies, made some fish and experimented with overnight oats. I don’t like oats but am trying to learn to like them in the interest of being a healthier me. This has been an ongoing struggle for most of my adult life. We shall soon see if I cracked the case this time!

I also worked on my budget and gathered items for tax preparation. 

See where I’m headed with this? Self care is many things. For some it’s a Tuesday night massage, lots of moisturizer and sleeping in. For me, it’s often a morning in the woods, a day in an antique mall or a road trip to a destination unknown. However, it can also be lots of unattractive things batched together over a few hours to make the next few days more pleasant. 

It was about 4:30 when I finally sat down to read.

Was the house perfect? It was not. No indeedy, I didn’t dust but I did vacuum the dead stink bugs out of the window sill where they collect in the living room. Having that done made my heart happy and mind relax just a little more than normal. 

While in the kitchen, I was able to keep an eye on the dozens of birds flitting about the feeder. I put a bird feeder in the line of sight of my kitchen window last year and it has brought me great joy. It’s on a metal shepherds hook at this time but I would like to eventually have something taller and more permanent placed in that location to make it harder for the wandering cats in the neighborhood to grab one of my visitors like it’s dining at the Ponderosa buffet. 

But that’s a project for another day’s list. 

Instead, I kicked back on the couch with a book and my journal, with Pandora on my favorite oldies station and rain hitting the windows. Later I switched gears to PBS to watch All Creatures Great And Small, the very best show on tv these days. 

This, my friends, was a perfect day of self care because that’s how I choose to view it. The work had to be done anyway. I couldn’t go another day without emptying Scout’s litter genie. I needed to cook some food and wanted clean clothes ready to go for the week. Yes, it was work but I chose to view it differently. I chose to view it as a form of preparation to make my week better, to make myself feel better. And I still had time to relax and kick up my feet with a snack and to do the fun things I looked forward to enjoying. 

Self Care Sunday. I should do this more often!

Recharged

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My phone stopped charging this week. One day it charged to 100 percent and the next day it struggled to reach seventy. 

I turned it off and back on, checked my settings, ran an update, cleaned the charging port and examined the charging cord.

When that didn’t work, I rinsed and repeated. After all, maybe something would work on a second or seventeenth try.

Nothing worked. This is my work phone so I try to take especially good care of it but something was amiss. So I ordered a new charging cable just to be safe and the phone was charged fully within a couple of hours of its arrival.

People are not unlike phones in this situation. Sometimes we don’t feel well and simply can’t improve using the old ways. We need something different, maybe something new, to give us the boost we need to feel like ourselves again.

Albert Einstein told us the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. The rational thing to do is to try something else but that’s not always our instinct.

If you’re feeling like you could use a boost or like your battery is running low, consider abandoning the old methods that once worked and try something new.

What harm can it do? You might even find something that makes you feel better than ever.

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly Of News Stories

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“People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for.” – Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

Read that again.

“People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for.”

It’s true. If you walk around expecting the world to be ugly, it will indeed be ugly. If you drive down the road looking for a white car, you will only see white cars.

I believe this with all my heart.

Yet, for the last seven days, I have been looking for good news stories and I’m struggling to find any at all.

Every December, my friend Nichola and I challenge each other to post a positive news story on Facebook every day. We both scour news sites searching for positive news, something uplifting, something remotely happy that might brighten someone else’s day.

Do you have any idea how hard this is?

War, politics, death, sickness, crime, car accidents, poverty – these are the things that dominate the media landscape right now. Of course, this isn’t anything new but it is worse this year than it was last year and significantly worse than five years ago.

When I was a young reporter, I heard the phrase “If it bleeds it leads” more than a few times. Tragedy, war and sorrow have long played better in the media than people living their dreams or performing good deeds.

People like to complain that the media only covers the bad stuff but they don’t want to take responsibility for their own consumption habits.

Did you know that negative headlines have a sixty percent higher click-thru rate than happy or neutral headlines? Since clicks translate to money, media outlets obviously are going to focus on the negative.

If I am LOOKING for good news and can’t find it, what hope is there for everyone else?

Good news is good for mental health. It gives us hope and brightens our day. Bad news is hard on your mental health and it encourages a sense of helplessness and despair.

We need more happiness in our lives. We need more goodness and light. The world around us is dark enough as it is. Why not go looking for the light?