Finding Calmness during a storm
Mental health is a hot topic at this time: or at least it should be. We are being bombarded with information from all directions, scary social media posts, and news headlines. There are many of us also dealing with internal stresses from our current situation surrounding this COVID-19 crisis. This could be stress from our finances or our health to name a couple. Finding some calmness when surrounded by all of this chaos and unknown is a challenging task. Yet we all need to find ways to achieve it. Our mental health depends on it.
Mental Health and Nature
Connecting with nature is one way to do so. Nature has this magical way of absorbing our negative energy or unpleasant thoughts and feelings. So I encourage you to get out and spend some time in nature while observing social distancing. While you are enjoying your nature time, try and notice the 10 different sounds. See if you can identify where that noise is coming from and what is creating that noise. If you decide to talk a walk, I encourage you to try a grateful walk. This involves noticing 10 things that make you happy, finding 10 items that are of your favourite colour, 10 items that remind you of how awesome you are (skills, traits and characteristics), and lastly think about 10 ways you want others to see how you are handling this situation – what values do you want others to see you use to guide you behaviour.
There are so many ways we can achieve calmness when we are in the middle of a storm, try different ways and let me know what difference it is making to you.
Written by Stacey Van Wart MSW CSW
Stacey works part-time at Rehab1 and a valued member of the Team. She continues to see clients via virtual video sessions or over telephone.
