Eventually (1) my daughter began getting the treatments she so desperately needed, and (2) I noticed that so far, I wasn't homeless. Plus my survival strategy had included stocking up on a whole lot of various dried beans. So I wasn't going to starve either. And I discovered I had an inborn ability to hunker down.
But it took several more months to admit that the remaining high stress was still bad for my health. I was too work-driven to take time out for renewing daily walks, but I would sporadically treat myself to a 30-minutes meditation time (more or less) between the end of my work day and beginning of Brian Williams. Not that I was able to stick to a regular schedule. My free-style meditation times would come in three or four-day chunks, then be superseded by business networking or grandkids' visits. I now know that an erratic relaxation schedule is far better than none. (At the time, of course, I beat up on myself for not sticking to A Plan.)
I've now added another thrifty stress-relief remedy to my repertoire and have vowed to do one or more of the three every day. So far, so good. They are:
- A walk outdoors. Even 15 minutes lifts my spirits and turns my focus from anxious enterprise to bird-watching.
- Meditation time. I don't follow a formal method, often simply doing a self-guided meditation to a place in nature, real or imagined.
- A long Epsom salts bath. My personal rule is 20 minutes or longer. (I warm up the water after a while.) The package says to use 2 cups per tubful, but 1 to 1 1/2 seems to work fine. Making a gentle effort to stop thinking, I try to get to a floatie-zone mentally as my hands float in the water.
If I weren't still budget-watching, I would add an occasional massage and a Reiki treatment. (Hey, even a seasoned Reiki Master appreciates being a receiver sometimes!)
Happy relaxing ~
Linda
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