Self-Care In The Midst of A Crisis

My father is on hospice. He is dying. It has been a troubling and trying month. My self-care has suffered as I try to wrap my head around my father’s condition and needs. We have spent time speaking with physicians, being in the hospital and figuring out basic logistics. I will be honest, I have not felt like taking care of myself. I have wanted to hide and hope it all goes away.

We all have crises that come into our lives. You might be facing your own crisis as we speak. Crises will come and go. You may not be in a crisis now, but the next one might be just around the corner. Self-care in the midst of crises is vital. In many ways it is the one thing that will keep you grounded.

Self-Care Helps Us Regulate Our Emotions

Self-care is the primary tool at our disposal to help us respond to the events going on in our lives. It can be the bedrock to stand upon to weather the storms of life.

Often our emotions are out of control when a crisis comes and we begin to react to what is going rather than responding. We can feel like the world is spinning and we do not know how to stop it. Self-care will help you regulate your emotions and your reactions. Self-care will help the world stop spinning and the ship to right itself.

What Self-Care Looks Like in A Crisis

I have been practicing self-care for years and so I have a fairly consistent morning practice. I have written about the value of a morning ritual. In a crisis, when you are exhausted physically and emotionally, we think we do not have the time or energy for our morning self-care routine. That is understandable, so be easy on yourself and modify what you do and how long you give yourself.

Give yourself permission to take a little bit of time for yourself daily to practice self-care in order to be able to weather the storm. It does not have to be a long time. Give yourself 15 minutes to do any or some of the following:

1. Meditate
2. Journal on how you are feeling
3. Go for a walk
4. Practice deep breathing
5. Sit and watch nature
6. Do nothing!

Allow yourself time to stop and focus on yourself. It is okay. If you are functioning as a caregiver during your crisis, remember you cannot care for others if you are not caring for yourself. So, give yourself that 15 minutes each day.

Self-Care Helps Us Regulate our Thoughts

Self-care is vital during this time. As a whole, we are negative and our minds wander to the worst. Our thoughts become rampant about all that needs to be done during a crisis. Our thoughts become frantic on how to fix the crisis.

Your self-care practice gives you the space and time to regulate your thoughts. It gives you time to slow down and refocus and recenter in order to pick out the thoughts that need addressing and the thoughts to let go.

For me, I practice meditation and prayer daily. I use this time to filter through my thoughts and figure out which ones are limiting beliefs. I then will insert liberating truths to counter so those limiting beliefs. For example, my mind might be telling me that I do not have the energy to do everything that needs to get done. I will filter through that thought and tell myself that not everything has to be done right now. I will then allow myself to prioritize what needs to be done.

Closing Thoughts

We all go through crises in our lives. We all face challenges that knock us down. It is sometimes hard to get back up, but we can get up and move forward by re-prioritizing our self-care. You may need to modify what your daily self-care looks like. If you do not have a self-care routine, then adopt one to make it through your current crisis.

The most important thing to remember is that you can and will make it through this crisis and self-care is one of the tools to help you remain strong and resilient in the midst of it. Give yourself time daily to refocus and recenter. It may only be 5 minutes to sit and meditate. Or it may be a short walk through your neighborhood to burn off some pent up frustrations. The key is to take time for yourself and do it!

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed this and came away with some action steps to help you on your journey. If you are in need of assistance, please contact me through my website www.soaringmindset.com.