I hope you are all enjoying your spring season. You may have been busy with spring
cleaning or preparations for the
upcoming summer. In the midst of your
attempts to remain organized and structured, have you continued to take time
for self-care? I want to bring to your attention
that May is the National Mental Health Awareness Month. What better time to take care of you, your
well-being, and personal growth?
Have you ever cleaned out your closet or a junk drawer and
discovered a lost and forgotten treasured item beneath the mess? Women often lose sight of their own treasured
qualities when they become buried in daily responsibilities including jobs,
marriage, children, etc. At some point
in life this leads to a feeling of being “lost” or “not knowing who I am”. I often ask women in these circumstances “who
are you”, “what do you like to do” and they respond with a blank look on their
face.
These are two questions I recommend you ask yourself on a
regular basis. A healthy response should
include multiple layers that include others (ex: I’m a wife, I’m a mother) as
well as responses that are strictly individual (ex: I’m athletic, I have a good
sense of humor).
Often woman do not realize they have lost sight of
themselves until they are faced with drastic changes in their lives such as
divorce, children moving out, death, etc.
A woman who becomes so enmeshed with the role of a wife that she loses
her individuality would most certainly find it extra challenging to cope should
she unfortunately experience a divorce.
A mother that neglects her marriage or time to herself will usually find
herself experiencing negative feelings due to the imbalance in her life.
Doing some personal reflection on a regular basis will
prevent you from finding yourself in these circumstances. However, if you feel you are already
struggling with this issues ask yourself these questions:
- What did I use to enjoy doing?
- What is preventing me from doing these things that I enjoy?
- Can I find ways to experience this joy again?
Another powerful reflective exercise I recommend is to find
a picture of yourself when you last felt happy and fulfilled with life. Look at that picture and describe who you
were at that time. Consider what was
making your life fulfilling. In what
ways can you reconnect with that person?
Keep in mind that life changes as we grow. The idea is not to relive the life you were
living in that picture, but to take pieces of that life and find a way to make
it fit into your current life.
For example, a women in her 40’s is married and has two
children. She finds herself lately
feeling depressed and unfulfilled. She
is unable to identify “who she is”. This
woman finds a picture of herself in her 20’s during a time she was very happy
and enjoying life. She described herself
as being outgoing, social, and eager to explore the world. The picture was taken in Italy during a trip
with college friends. The client was
able to recognize that over the past 10 years her social life had completely
diminished and she couldn’t remember the last time she traveled. Although it was not possible for the client
to socialize or travel as frequently as she was able to in her 20’s she was
able to recognize ways she could incorporate socializing and traveling in her
life on a smaller scale. This tapped
into some of her personal passions and immediately triggered some excitement
she had desperately been needing.
So I leave you with this thought for the month. Who are you and are you still connected with
that person?
In addition, I want to take this opportunity to commit to my
readers a much more active blog site this month and for months to follow. I plan to provide an article at the beginning
of each month related to an identified theme and have related inspirational
quotes, poems, reflection tools, and resources prepared to share with you
throughout the remaining days of the month.
For your convenience, I welcome you to take a minute to
submit your email on the left of your screen for regular updates sent directly to your inbox.
No comments:
Post a Comment