Harvest Life Gracefully, survivors of abuse, follow these tips about self-care, for positive living. Having an Emergency Self-Care Plan is essential to abuse survivors' well-being. All survivors experience periods of depression that are accompanied by loss of self-worth and self-care. This Emergency Self-Care Plan provides a checklist to follow when times are tough.
Abuse survivors, when they are going through rough times, are likely to find self-care difficult. Here is a checklist to guide you through those tough days.
1. Spiritual care. Pray. Read sacred scripture. Be involved in a 12-step program. Whatever your beliefs, spirituality nurtures a person's heart and soul, all that is good within oneself. Begin and end the day with spiritually caring for yourself.
You are worthy of care from your Higher Power. You are a new creation being nurtured by our Beloved Creator.
2. Personal hygiene. Make sure you bathe, shampoo, and brush your teeth. Sounds obvious doesn't it? Yet, these are the things that go by the wayside so easily. This is a good time to treat yourself to a bubble bath or fragrant body wash and shampoo.
A corollary is to wear clean fresh clothing every day. Dress up not down. Sloppy clothing reinforces self-negation. Attractive clothing reinforces good self-esteem.
You are worthy of tender loving care. You are a precious treasure, a rare jewel.
3. Nutrition. Have a "Healthy Emergency Menu Plan" planned and written down for the difficult days, and have foods stocked. Breakfast might consist of yogurt, applesauce, a piece of toast, and a glass of orange juice. For lunch try a garden salad, banana, a bowl of soup or half a sandwich, and a glass of milk. At dinner, make sure you have a piece of good protein, a vegetable, small potato or rice, a fruit, and a glass of milk. Need more calories than this simple menu provides? Add them wisely. Write them down on your emergency menu plan.
Stay away from fast foods, salty foods, and sweetened foods. Don't turn to alcohol. Drink plenty of water, around 8 glasses a day. Mint tea will help soothe the stomach and the nerves.
You are worthy of good health. You are an unfolding, beautiful lily or a cactus flower.
4. Exercise. What is important is to have an ongoing fitness program that you especially rely on during the rough days. Physical activity helps ground you in the present, and it relieves depression. What will work for you on an ongoing basis? Join a fitness program. Take swimming lessons. Play tennis. Are you a runner? Do you ride bicycles?
You are worthy of being fit. You are a frisky colt or perhaps a chestnut stallion.
5. Laugh. I'm not kidding. View humorous DVDs, CDs, old TV programs, or read books that make you laugh. Do you know that author, Norman Cousins, cured his cancer by making sure he laughed every day. The endorphins released by laughing lift depression, and ease both physical and emotional pain.
You are worthy of laughing heartily. You may not be a dancing elephant, but how about a dancing giraffe?
6. Self-Affirmation. Do you value yourself? Survivors have great difficulty in valuing themselves. When I was a teenager and young adult I covered my mirror, and would not look at my reflection in store windows. I hated myself. I had suicidal thoughts at times. It has been a life-long process to learn to believe in myself. Doing self-affirmation breaks open the rock shell of self-hatred and self-negation and lets the light come in.
Start a written list of self-affirmations, even if you don't believe them. Here are some starters: I am worthy of tender-loving care. I am worthy of good health. I am worthy of being fit. I have gifts and talents. I am a child of God. I am worthy of good healthy relationships. Add to your list. Write a hundred affirmations. You are worthy of at least that many.
You are worthy of developing your gifts and yourself. You are a soaring eagle, an unfurled flag.
Having an Emergency Self-Care Plan is essential to abuse survivors' well-being. All survivors experience periods of depression that are accompanied by loss of self-worth and self-care. This Emergency Self-Care Plan provides a checklist to follow when times are tough.
Judy Brutz, Quaker healer and author, writes and leads retreats for abuse survivors. She lives in Idaho with her family. She enjoys being in nature, photography, knitting for peace, and volunteering in the classroom by listening to children read. Visit her web site http://judybrutz.net
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