You Gotta Nourish to Flourish

I just want you to know that I am writing this with a pile of Roses chocolates next to me.

I recently had a wee mental breakdown (wahoo!) and was signed off work for five weeks. I’m fairly sure it was the last three years catching up with me, and my body, mind, soul, brain, whatever is now in a different place, one where it all felt safe enough to collapse and come to a grinding brain foggy black dog themed halt.

I am feeling a lot better now, but my recovery this time was helped by a) private health insurance through work, and b) the NHS. I was told that the NHS waiting time would be MONTHS, if not closer to two YEARS, but as luck would have it, there was a CBT course starting in October and I was more than welcome to join. A wait time of about 5 weeks! Hurrah!

So in August, September, October and November, I did two lots of CBT therapy back to back, 12 weeks in total. I wrote notes, I enjoyed pouring my heart out to the private lady (the NHS one was group therapy so I hardly said anything), and I think it did actually help. Any CBT I’ve done previously most certainly did not help, so this was a relief.

One of the things I took away from it all is this statement – “You’ve got to nourish to flourish”.

You can’t give give give give if you don’t look after your own reserves. You can only give so much before the tank needs replenishing.

So my motto for this festive holiday, and for 2023 will be exactly this. I am going nourish, I am going to feed myself, I am going to look after myself, I am going to nurture, I am going to CARE. Self care. May be selfish, may be proactive, may be a good thing. It starts with small steps like eating an entire tub of Roses chocolates to myself, but it also involves bigger things like being more active, going for a walk, stepping out of my comfort zone and setting up a social crafting group, making more things and more blankets even though we really don’t need any more in this house.

Basically, I am giving myself permission to be kind to myself, for a change.

 

This festive break I am going to do my usual stuff – eating, Netflixing, crocheting, but also my annual digital decluttering. I am also intending to get out once a day, and not just to bring in firewood or feed the birds. I want to walk around the fields and watch the river. I want to tromp around the woods and I want to eat healthily and I want to exercise more.

So tomorrow is Monday and as we all know, these sorts of things can only be started on a Monday. We are hopefully rehoming a cat tomorrow so it will be a very cat-centric sort of day, but I am also going to hula hoop. I am, I am, I am.

I have also started journalling again, and my crochet mojo is back with a vengeance. I can’t stop making stuff at the moment, I don’t have enough hands and I can’t crochet quick enough.

I want to return to work in two weeks time, feeling healthier and better and more relaxed and ready to face the year as we close down two big projects. I want to feel like I’ve had a restorative holiday break and not just slobbed out.

 

So yeh. You’ve got to nourish to flourish, and it starts with a tub of Roses.