It can be easy to forget to stop sometimes; when I am up against a deadline at work, when I am trying to juggle my family and my chronic pain, when a hundred and one thoughts are racing through my head and my anxiety kicks in. A more mindful approach by paying more attention to the present moment, acknowledging my own thoughts and feelings and recognising the world around me, improves my mental well being and makes me more positive and productive.
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I have been feeling increasingly frustrated of late. Frustrated by my limitations. I mean I am trying to keep active, I am trying to go to the gym regularly, I am trying to walk regularly and I am trying to do as much as I can physically, and yet it never seems to get easier. It hurts as much as it ever did and I never seem to be making progress. I recently came across the Blurt Foundation; an organisation that aims to increase the awareness and understanding of depression. They offer a number of resources and services, but the one that stood out for me was the Buddybox. Subscription boxes have gained popularity over the last few years, but they tend to focus on the beauty products which is something that doesn't really interest me. The Buddybox is designed for people who need to practice self-care, packed full of thoughtful, mood-lifting treats to make you feel good: helping you de-stress, find calm, feel pampered, relax, get creative, or simply have fun. It sounded like something I needed in my life.
At £21.50 a box thought it might be a little steep for my budget, however I decided to order a one-off box and see if what came was worth the investment. Today my May Buddybox arrived. Last year I was at an ultimate low point. I was incredibly overweight, constantly in pain and struggling to get by each day. It all came to a head while on holiday with the children in August 2015. I was out of breath, I looked like a beached whale in all of the photos, I struggled to walk to the beach from the caravan and more importantly I couldn't participate in all the fun stuff the children wanted to do. When I got back from that holiday I knew that I needed to get in control of my condition. I had long suspected that food and exercise were the key to my improved health and I had been doing more exercise through walking, but I had not changed anything about what I was eating. Relaxation techniques have often been advocated for Fibromyalgia treatment, due to the conditions association with stress and depression. Meditation has been shown to reduce symptom severity, reduce stress and sleep disturbances in Fibromyalgia patients and is certainly a technique that can help you to slow down, to rest and to relax. [Source: Natural Health Advisory] I know that mediation is a powerful tool in assisting with relaxation, but I struggle to get into the right mindset without some form of assistance - or rather guidance. Guided meditation is my solution and although I still find it difficult to ‘get into’, once I allow the guidance to transport me, I find meditation incredibly helpful. I spent my entire life with a dog in the house until 7 years ago. Due to various personal reasons, I ended up living in a rental property where I was not allowed a pet of any kind. As I discussed in my post Walking With Fibromyalgia, I started volunteering as a dog walker to help me get out and about again and improve my fitness, but what I also discovered was how much I missed having a dog in my life and how happy being with Sadie made me. As I have previously discussed in my post Taking Time Out When You're Super Busy, to get through a busy day I need to take regular rest breaks. One of the activities I like to do while resting is colouring. There is a boom at the moment for adult colouring books and everyone who is anyone is reaching for the colouring pencils and a stress busting colouring book. Colouring in a beautiful picture really is a therapeutic exercise. It helps me to concentrate on a simple activity, rather than worrying about what I feel I should be doing instead of resting. It gives me an escape from the pain and allows me to focus my thoughts and feelings. Colouring has been proven to reduce symptoms of stress and anxiety [Source: Medical Daily] and I can verify this really is a benefit to me. Every day there is pain, I can’t remember the last time I had a completely pain free day. I have good days, bad days and terrible days, but every day involves some level of pain. Most of my pain is in my leg, knees, lower back, shoulders, neck and hands. Sometimes it is a headache, other times stomach cramps and every now and then somewhere totally new and unexpected. I learnt very early on that I didn’t have time to wallow and moan about my pain. Fact was, I was going to be in pain all of the time and so I had to make the decision to be in pain and miss out on life or be in pain and get on with it. I chose the latter. I deal with pain in a number of ways but these are the 3 strategies I use when I am having a really terrible day and I need some relief. After toying with the idea of setting up a Fibro blog for years, 9 days ago I finally did it! To kick the blog off with some serious momentum, I decided to take part in a 30 day blogging challenge; posting 1 article each day for 30 days. So how am I getting on? Well I have successfully posted 8 articles so far, I have connected with other bloggers, was approached about turning one post into an article for a charity newsletter and am really becoming comfortable with not only writing for the blog, but also sharing my experiences. It’s been a great week. The main ethos of the blog is positive, uplifting and supportive posts about my life with Fibromyalgia while living in Sheffield. Only just joining me? Here’s what you missed from the first week of A Sheffield Fibromite. Today I took delivery of The Emergency Poet, An Anti-Stress Poetry Anthology edited by Deborah Alma. I had been looking for another activity I could do during rest breaks and reading uplifting poetry seemed to be a good fit. Deborah Alma is the Emergency Poet, who travels in her 1970s ambulance to schools, libraries and festivals to offer poetic remedies to comfort those in need of a pick-me-up. She is the one responsible for editing this collection. Reading poetry is a great way to relax and revive yourself both mentally and physically, so this book should fit into my daily resting plans easily. I am really looking forward to diving into it. Right now though I want to share a couple of the poems that jumped out of the pages when I had a peek through the book this evening. These are two poems that really resonated with me immediately: Every day is a new day to cease and opening the door to the unknown, the frightening or maybe literally to the outside, being brave and taking that step because what's the worst that could happen? |
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