When you’re feeling really depressed, upset, or anxious, it can be hard to come up with ways to understand what is happening with yourself, let alone what to do about it. Even the most basic self-care can be hard to remember when your executive functioning is down.
This is a very helpful list to have handy for those times when you are unable to generate the energy to remember how to support yourself:
Single-Session three-hour therapeutic art groups for adults, each focused on a specific theme:
~Appropriate for adults with OCD, Panic, Phobia, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, or other anxiety disorders.
~Online Signup via Eventbrite (or contact us directly) REGISTRATION EXTENDED THROUGH 12/5
~Appropriate for adults with PTSD or related issues deriving from experiences of violence or abusive/chaotic/violent environment
~Online Signup via Eventbrite (or contact us directly) REGISTER THROUGH 12/30
~All supplies provided
~You may sign up for one or both groups, depending on availability of spaces
~Many insurances will reimburse – please ask for a receipt
~If you are not a current client at Intersectional Life C&P, a referral from your current therapist is required ~OR~ if you don’t have a therapist you may request a brief screening interview (phone or in-person, 1/2 hour)
While hotlines are not a substitute for clinical care, they can be a caring connection that may help someone having any sort of crisis or trouble to figure out how they’re feeling, what’s going on, and what they want to do about it. They can also offer referrals if needed. Because so many people use text as a means of communication, now there are text hotlines for crises:
Frequently asked questions answered by Crisis Text Line:
https://twitter.com/CrisisTextLine/status/1067459982143221765
Self-care includes accepting your needs and protecting your vulnerabilities. Taking care of yourself is your right!
This image specifies introverts, but these rights are true for everyone who needs them, not just introverts:
For many people, the holidays are a time of increased anxiety and depression because of ongoing family conflict. Often people struggle to find ways to respond to outrageous or subtle expressions of prejudice or bigotry. Responding to the prejudice of family members and neighbors is even harder if you experience anxiety, PTSD, or your family is a mental health risk! It can help to make sure you are feeling stable yourself, and to be prepared beforehand.
First of all, remember to take care of yourself. You deserve protection, and you are allowed to set boundaries about how family members treat you! You are also allowed to withdraw and rest when you need to, to ask for help with tasks, to say “no” to unwanted activities, and to take care of bodily functions such as eating and going to the bathroom. That may sound obvious to some, but if your family has some dysfunction, those may be things you need to practice allowing yourself.
Secondly, try reading through this list of six steps (below) to speaking up. It will help you to frame your responses and to feel stable in your understanding, which will reduce your anxiety about a possible confrontation even if no conflict occurs. It also explains how to point out unacceptable behavior without name-calling or escalation:
Six Steps to Speaking Up Against Bigotry
If you are interested in broadening your skills in speaking up, here is a comprehensive list of a variety of situations and topics for which you might need a concrete and useful way to respond:
Responding to Everyday Bigotry
Have a peaceful and healthy weekend!
The first Thanksgiving was actually a fact-finding mission:
On Thanksgiving Day, many will be commemorating the losses of Indigenous peoples and protesting continued injustices.
Remember, in an oppressive system, just surviving and daring to take care of yourself is an act of rebellion.
We need you alive and doing okay. Be your best rebel self!
“How can we live our trans lives in a world full of violence without turning that violence on ourselves?”
From Them.us:
Men struggle with mental health as much as anyone else, but for cultural reasons may not talk about it or seek help.
Everyone needs support sometimes no matter how strong they are. It’s healthy to talk about it with someone you trust instead of suffering alone.
Having PTSD and asthma means that there are many times I can’t run or my training is derailed for short or long periods.
I began running because it was an activity I remembered enjoying in childhood, and I really wanted to reclaim it. I also wanted to improve my cardiopulmonary health. I never thought I would make it up to even a single mile! But that wasn’t the important part. I wanted to develop a habit and create new, positive mental associations.
My training method was this: I would run only as far as it felt good and enjoyable, and then stop or walk. If I felt like it, I could start again. When I felt done, I was done!
Because I took the performance pressure (“shoulds”) off myself and made the activity 100% about enjoyment and health, it ended up being something I have stuck with, and I progressed far more than I imagined possible.
Not only do I only run as much as feels okay, I likewise never pressure myself to run when I’m not feeling well, or I’m too tired from missing sleep, or something hurts.
In this way I am mindful of not being a punitive taskmaster towards myself, which would activate PTSD symptoms and also put me at increased risk for injury or illness. Exercising punitively is a form of perfectionism that can be injurious very quickly.
I accept my current level of ability as it is, knowing it does not make me superior or inferior to anyone else. I also know my ability is temporary, fluctuates, and includes a large component of sheer luck.
I pay caring attention to my body’s needs, which sometimes (often!) means I have to re-start my training all over again from mile 1. But it also means I am more likely to be able to continue running further into my lifespan.
I hope that whatever kind of exercise you prefer, you remember that the point of exercise is to improve your physical and mental health, rather than to punish your body (for eating, for example!) If you are exercising in a self-punitive way, it will not be healthy for you for very long.
And I want you to experience as much physical and mental health as you can, for as long as you can!
Intersectional Life Counseling and Psychology, LLC 