Oooh, yesterday was tough. It was the culmination of the ongoing frustration we’ve had with trying to get care and treatment for our son. The news of yet another delay put me on edge. As proud as I have been about my progress, I could feel just how delicate the layers of my progress actually are. Maybe you can relate.
My depressive episode earlier this year taught me many things. One was to pay attention. Really pay attention. Pay attention what my body was signaling to me through my feelings and emotions. You know, kind of practice what I just preached in my post https://reclaimingmyspirit.com/from-blackgirlmagic-to-blackgirlanxiety-how-to-get-your-magic-back/
After the initial update I had a pure gut reaction that stirred me up so much I caught myself falling into my typical pattern, getting busy so I wouldn’t have to feel or deal with my emotions.
When I’m really stressed, I like to organize. I wish I had taken a picture of my bed because I had pulled out all of these clothes from the drawers they were in so I could re-sort and re-organize them into different color coded, themed piles before I put them away again. (Hey, I already told you, I’m Type A+, lol).
It was after the third pile when I had to laugh because I realized I was avoiding dealing with my emotions. So, I took my own advice and started letting the emotions flow so I could figure out what do with them.
In letting my emotions flow, I realized I was beginning to feel the now familiar dark cloud of depression hovering near. I suddenly realized, if I weren’t careful, the cloud would come ever closer until it was close enough to envelope me again. It was in that moment, I realized the importance of having a Happiness Emergency Kit.
I know what you’re thinking, Happiness Emergency Kit, if only there were really such a thing. I’m here to tell you, we all have the ability to have our own personal one if we take the time to identify who and what our kit should contain.
Here are the three elements in my Happiness Emergency Kit. They’re still fresh since I had to put my kit into use yesterday.
Someone you trust to listen – when I felt the dark cloud coming closer, I immediately asked my husband to come talk to me. I shared with him how I was feeling and that I was feeling kind of fragile. Just telling him was helpful because I didn’t keep it inside to deal with on my own. Having someone I trusted was important so I could feel free to say how I was actually feeling without being concerned about judgement.
I’m fortunate to have a strong support network so I don’t have to always burden Michael since we’re both dealing with the same issues.
Someone you trust can be a family member, a friend or even someone you pay to listen to you, like a therapist. Who doesn’t matter; as long as it’s someone you can trust who will stop and listen to you.
Something to shift your mood – I think we all should have at the ready 1-2 things we can tap into that will bring a smile to our faces.
When I use to travel a lot for business, I would miss my family a lot; especially on back to back travel weeks. In those times, I would always have pictures of our most recent family vacation ready to review. I had a special folder on my phone for these occasions. Those pictures always put me in a good mood. They reminded me some of the reasons I was out there hustling and grinding.
Yesterday was one of those days when I needed more than pictures. I needed laughter. I keep a series of sitcoms and comedies on tap for these occasions. Today, I needed the laughter of Mitch and Cam from Modern Family.
Modern Family is one of my standby mood shifters along with other comedies like Blackish and SNL.
Something to look forward to – as a Corporate Executive, I knew the importance of always giving my team something to look forward to. Every year, we would rally around our HR Initiatives so we could crush them and have a big Kickoff meeting in the new year with a celebration of our hard work from the previous year. Here are some pics from our Kickoff meeting earlier this year.
I knew, I needed to apply this same theory to myself to help me not get stuck in my negative feelings. Since we’ve been dipping our toes in the leisure travel space again, this one was easy. Michael planned to take me to an Antiques Fair this weekend. That means, I can start thinking about places to stay, restaurants to try and places to visit in the area.
Just making a list of things to think about to prepare for this weekend was enough to ignite a spark of excitement. Since I love to match Michael and my outfits when we’re out together, as shown below,
(yes, I’m one of those people) the thought of coordinating outfits and the fact retail therapy will be involved really helped lift my moods. (Don’t judge me, therapy, is therapy!)
Now, I’m not saying having something to look forward to always involves something big. Sometimes for me, planning out a creative Pinterest worthy dinner is just enough of a something different to give me something positive to look forward to. The key is to have something, no matter how small, that pulls you out of the doldrums.
Yesterday was tough but I’m happy to say, I was able to use the resources in my Happiness Emergency Kit to keep the dark cloud at bay. That left more space for things to get better bit by bit.
Today, I feel a little better, a little more helpful and a lot more appreciative I had resources already identified for my Happiness Emergency Kit. They’re three easy things.
- Someone you trust to listen
- Something to shift your mood
- Something to look forward to
You probably have access to all of three of these simple things, so what will you include in your Happiness Emergency Kit?
If this was helpful to you and/or if you have suggestions for a Happiness Emergency Kit, please make sure to comment below.
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