Raising your vibe through the chaos
Updated: May 24, 2020
“Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of chaos, and sometimes in the middle of chaos you find yourself.“ Boonaa Mohammed Life isn’t all rainbows and sunshine, storms are inevitable and even scarier in uncertain times. Loving yourself isn’t some superficial way to get over things, it’s going through the motions, taking deep breaths, acknowledging how you feel whether sad, scared, overwhelmed, happy, curious and sitting with your thoughts and your emotions. If there’s one thing our current situation is teaching us it’s to stop avoiding ourselves and start investing time in ourselves. Social distancing and self-isolation can have a huge impact on our mental health. And there are a lot of people who will have to go through this alone. Now more than ever it’s so vital to stay in touch with how you’re feeling instead of glossing over it to avoid feeling worse at that moment because I can guarantee it will become a much bigger problem later on and can come out explosively. I speak from experience. It takes a little more work for me than most to not get upset with people when they disturb my peace. I’ve worked so hard to reach the level of peace I have but it’s still a work in progress and I’ll be the first to say I still have a lot of work to do. That being said I am a huge advocate of #selfhealing, I remember when I was in my early twenties hoping someone else would come into my life and essentially heal me.
Thats when I would say I started my spiritual journey and along with that dappled with therapy, as I believe every single one of us can benefit from therapy one way or another. And I’m thankful the stigma is finally, slowly but surely, dissipating. None of us come through this thing called life unscathed. And therapy is essential for many of us battling years of mental, emotional or physical abuse. Unfortunately, I found it harder to find people who made me feel personally comfortable, that weren’t dismissive or patronizing. I think there needs to be a lot more resources placed for our mental health and wellbeing and sadly it’s proper and competent availability is not seen as a priority for those not in a position of power. However, that’s a subject for another time. I wouldn’t want to ever discourage anyone from seeking therapy. It does work for many, for me I personally found that at the end of the day only I can essentially heal myself from the inside out, rather than seeking help from the outside in. These are all my personal opinions as there are people that have disorders that require a variety of in depth therapy from professionals and medicine. And that’s also not to be dismissive of those who suffer from other mental health issues which can be just as debilitating. There has to be a balance for each of us that allows us to do what’s best for our wellbeing and for those we love. I genuinely believe we are all here to go on our own individual journeys to find what works best for each of us. As I’ve said before, if you heal yourself you heal the world. Its no easy feat and it can take longer than we hope but it’s not only important for you and those around you it’s part of taking personal responsibility. Stop expecting others to save you and learn to listen and respect yourself and how you feel.
Routines that include some form of self care for each part of us that needs healing: our mental, physical and emotional states are vital. These might sound easier said than done but right now if you’re not an essential worker what else do you have to do with all that time indoors? You have a responsibility to yourself and others by acknowledging that you are important, you do matter and you can take steps to do what will in the long run help time pass faster and make you stronger everyday in every way. Not taking as many things for granted these days but also don’t take for granted little things that can make big impacts such as journaling, meditating, exercising, reading, taking online classes, gardening if you can, learning a new language, listening to music, dancing like no ones watching (bc they really aren’t), watching old movies that make your heart warm and limiting negative self talk and negative comments from others. Limit how much time your scrolling past social media to see what others are doing instead of doing what you need to do. Limit how many updates you need in a day, maybe limit it to once in the afternoon and that’s it. And allow yourself to grow from this into the best version of yourself that you can imagine. The world is essentially placing us all on break and those who can adapt the best will come out better in the end. I wouldn’t every romanticize what I went through in my past but in a strange way what I learned back then is coming in handy today with our current situation. I learned how to survive and push past difficult situations and how to eventually focus on my mental health so that I wouldn’t keep reliving it over and over again in my mind as I would do. I learned to find solutions in situations where most people would become paralyzed with fear or dissociate through other coping mechanisms such as alcohol or drug dependency and there’s nothing wrong with those who do fall into those traps. We all just handle things differently. That’s the point of all of this. It’s gonna teach us that we have to find our OWN WAY through this, as with everything else, but this time without the luxury of being able to avoid it like most of us do on a day to day basis.
Adapting takes a hell of a lot of self-discipline. Without challenging and disciplining ourselves we fall into the same unhealthy patterns and routines that we always had but amplified. If you’re not actively working on doing things that move your body, challenge your mind or bring you joy it becomes a spiral. I have first hand experience on that but it happened to me at a time that we weren’t going through a global pandemic so I have the tools to know what works for me and yet I have to work on them on a daily basis as well. We’re all on this ship together. We will either sink or rise to the occasion. There is no other choice. So choose wisely. For some, they will find joy through their true passions, others it’s finding comfort in keeping their families safe. As a mom I know how hard it can be to carve out time for yourself but in these times we can’t afford to sacrifice our own mental wellbeing, if anything it’s never been more important to be aware of it. This is such a unique time where focusing on bettering yourself can’t be considered being selfish or self-centered by anyone, because we literally need to do that in order to protect others. We can all say it’s not easy or say we do and half ass it and say it doesn’t work or complain about our situation hoping that will somehow make it easier to deal with or just do nothing at all and stay in bed, prolonging the longest Sunday ever, it’s up to you to decide and do what’s best for you. But I do implore you to make a little extra effort day to day, challenge yourself, don’t let this extra time on your hands go to waste, make the best of these crazy times regardless of the stress it causes us all because, come what may, it is you and only you that you’ll have to answer to in the future. Where can you see yourself physically, emotionally and mentally? Not work wise, not fancy titles-wise, just you yourself letting go of all the expectations placed on us by the outside world. Who will you be and who will you become?
For the first time ever, most of us non-essential workers have the privilege to stay at home with no one reprimanding us to work on things or not work on things that can benefit us when the world inevitably goes back to a better normal. It will take a lot of time that much we know but have faith in that we as human beings are resilient. This is a stressful, trying time for ALLLL of us, especially those sacrificing their lives and their overall health for our safety and our wellbeing. So we can at the very least do our best and work on our wellbeing inside and out. Since my husband is an essential worker, we don't see him the majority of the week and to keep us occupied and at ease I've had my daughter's and I make sure at some point throughout the day we make time to stretch, move our bodies for at least 20 minutes, place some coconut oil in our hair while we do that to heat it up, drinking hot water with lemon every day consistently 20 minutes before breakfast, taking echinacea (for 2 wks only) and our vitamins, meditating in addition with breathwork (alternative breathing), do some reading/schoolwork, doing a face steam and mask a couple times a week, doing writing workshops, eating as healthy as possible, drinking tea often, playing games often, getting pranked by my daughter occasionally, and face timing with friends and family.
For a lot of us we will be hit hard with the financial stressors we will inevitably face if not already feeling it. So how will we be able to handle that onslaught of stress if we don’t try to find ways to manage it now? It won’t change anything going on outside of us but it’ll most definitely change how we handle it inside which is where it really matters. If we are able to handle stress a little better we are able to find solutions where others may only see problems. This too shall pass and when it does it will have brought out everyone’s truest colors and that in itself is its greatest gift. Feel free to share what you’re doing to keep your peace and protect your energy below. Stay as thankful as you can every single day, give yourself the time and sacred space for what you are going through and see what you’re made of. With all my love, Anneli #selfhealing #raiseyourvibe #quarantine2020 #familylife #blendedfamily #motherhood #stepmotherhood #alternativebreathing #meditation #womensempowermentblog #protectyourenergy #keepyourpeace #honorthyself #helpyourselfhealothers #doyourpart #staycalm #staySafe #stayhome #staystrong #girlwiththephoenixtattoo #phoenixrising