Self-Care Resources for Tumultuous Times
Fatigue. Frustration. Dejection. Disconnection. Disillusionment. These are just a few of the many emotions wrought by collective challenges beyond our immediate control. When it feels like the world is exploding around you, it’s hard to keep things on an even keel. Thankfully, we’ve got some resources to help you out.
1. Affirmations for Difficult Times
When it feels like the weight of the world has fallen on your shoulders, sometimes the best thing you can do is pause, take a breath, and check in on yourself. Affirmations are a (research-backed!) way to boost self-esteem, motivation, and resilience. In difficult times, take a moment to speak aloud your appreciation for the person that you are. It’s like Sylvia Plath wrote: “I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. I am, I am, I am.”
2. Strategies for Managing Panic
Racing mind. Pulsing heart. Intrusive thoughts. Sweating, trouble sleeping, nausea. For those who experience panic or anxiety, the physical and psychological symptoms can feel insurmountable. While you may not be able to eliminate the cause of your anxiety — at least in the short term — you can learn strategies to cope with it. Read on for tips for keeping calm and carrying on.
Is reading the news stressing you out? Chances are, you’re experiencing a little (or a lot) of something called media fatigue. Media fatigue describes the psychological exhaustion caused by overconsumption of information media, and in particular news media and social media. The way we consume media has a massive impact our health, our relationships, and the world we share. If your brain is feeling broken, this could be why.
Having a bad day? Or week? Or month? Remember that bad days are bad days, not all days. So take these tips, rest up, and get ready to wake up tomorrow and take on the world.
5. “Holding Vigil”: A Poem For Difficult Times
Elections are reminders to us all that the world is or isn’t what it seemed to be, that our voices are or are not heard, and the future becomes a nebulous and opaque thing, impossible to see with just two eyes or hold with just two hands. In “Holding Vigil,” a meditation on this moment, Alison Luterman writes, “...we all just have to live through it, holding each other’s hand.” Let this poem be a mirror for those who need it, a reminder of the ways we hold one another as we move forward into difficult and uncertain times.
6. 5 Daily Questions for Self Care
You ever make it through six hours of your day only to realize you put your shirt on inside out? Or you haven’t had a glass of water? Or you’re long overdue for a bathroom break? When it comes to taking care of yourself, it’s the little things that count. Here are some check-in questions to help.
7. 10 Ways to Make Yourself Feel Better
Do you ever wake up in the morning and open your eyes and stare at the ceiling and know, deep within your bones beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this day, today, the day in front of you, is not going to be a very good day? In the wise words of Hannah Montana: Everybody has those days! Read on for some silly, sweet, and serious ways to cheer yourself up…
8. 5 Free Mindfulness Resources
Has anyone else here noticed that the rent on our brains has gone through the roof!? When we think mindfulness, it’s hard not to think of the pricey apps, workshops, and retreats that have become synonymous with a booming wellness industry, but it doesn’t have to be this way! Read on for five resources to help un-break your brain without breaking the bank.
9. 5 Poems For When You’re Feeling Lost
It is hard to get up and face the day when you are feeling lost, downtrodden, or stuck. The thing that is dogging you can be as big as the world or as small as a cold drop of rain, but when you’re facing that same feeling every day, the stagnation wears on you all the same. Sometimes the cure to feeling stuck isn’t to hide from the world, but to see the world in a new light. Percy Bysshe Shelley said, “poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar.” Here are five poems to help you see something new in the world around you.
10. What to Do During a Global Crisis
War - even from afar - has a huge impact on the way we view our future, safety, and humanity as a whole. In this, or in any, crisis, it may feel like you are completely powerless. Though many things aren’t in your control, it’s important to focus on what IS, and do what you can to cope internally, support others, and seek support for yourself.