Faith has a lot of tools in her arsenal. She whips out papers from inside her desk the moment a possible helpful exercise pops into her head. I've been a grateful recipient of her insight and ability to present stuff I don't want to do. She speaks softly to my scared inner child and tells me that I don't have to do it if I don't want to. I usually do it because I know it will be good for me and I know God prompted her. I'd be lying if I didn't say I've not always done it or done it but not enjoying it.
However, there are occasions when my mood is not sour or pushing back so hard. Those times make it much easier to learn and apply what she is teaching me.
Self-Care? Yes, now I get it. I get it because she points out every time I am using great self-care in whatever is going on in my life. It could be as simple as taking a shower or as complex as driving to the behavioral hospital and admitting myself. Most of the time, I don't even know I'm changing from harmful-care to self-care or from others-care to self care.
Because I'm in the beginning stages of what I call "permanent self-care", I created a daily self-care assessment worksheet. I'm big on charting because I have a tangible way to record my activity (or inactivity). This has taken about 2 weeks (yes, while I've been sick my brain has still been active) to brainstorm what MY self-care looks like. Feel free to download and tailor it for your use. I used Microsoft Office Excel 2016.
Self-Care Daily Assessment Worksheet
You can add categories:
- Feelings I Had Today
- Number of Days Clean and Sober
- Relaxation Activities (Coloring, Play-Dough, etc)
- Anxiety and/or Panic levels
- Did I laugh today?
- What Risk Did I Take? The Result?
- Did I give or receive my 8 required hugs for the day?
A wide variety of self-care items can be recorded and talked about in your therapy session especially if you have difficulty remembering the previous week like I sometimes do.
That's where I plan to use mine!!
Here's a song that tells us where our real help comes from, who really empowers and bestows wisdom into the ears and minds of our Christian therapists and who we need to allow to help us.
Above all others....It's Jesus.
