You can never have too many Wellness Tools! With the holiday season upon us, take a moment to review your Toolbox and add some helpful Wellness Tools to help manage this fast-paced time of year.
The holiday season is here and it can be common for our lives get busier and busier. Task lists grow longer and added stressors can contribute to days blurring together without allowing us time to step back and enjoy the season. For some, the holidays might not bring with them feelings of joy, but rather those of pressure and aggravation. Whichever way the emerging holiday season makes you feel, you might find it helpful to review your Wellness Toolbox and develop a special schedule that you can stick to when circumstances in your life feel chaotic.
Try outlining a wellness schedule of what to do each day to help give you some direction and keep you from losing your way. This type of nurturing schedule can be an effective Wellness Tool to use as needed. Perhaps adding 10 minutes of stretching and relaxation exercises to your morning routine might be a good way to help set the tone for your day. Or maybe working on a creative project in the afternoon and holding evening chats with friends will help ease any anxiety you might be feeling through this busy time. Prioritize your responsibilities so that they become manageable instead of waiting to handle all of the big, daunting tasks that might be weighing you down. You can find specific guidance for your Wellness Tools in Building Your WRAP Wellness Toolbox with Mary Ellen Copeland and many other available WRAP resources.
Following are some Holiday Wellness Tools that might work for you:
- Use positive self-talk
- Do something nice for yourself
- Volunteer your time and/or services
- Se time limits to prevent situations from becoming overwhelming
- Know that it’s OK to say “no, thank you”
My own Wellness Toolbox contains literally hundreds of options of things I have discovered I need to do or can do to help myself feel better and enjoy life. It has had a wonderful and powerful effect on my life. I add new tools to my Toolbox whenever I discover them and have used these tools to develop Action Plans for every section of my WRAP. In addition, I refer to my list of Wellness Tools whenever I want ideas on things that feel good to do or that are good for me. Using my Wellness Tools has pulled me out of despair in even the worst of times.
Everyone’s list of Wellness Tools is different. There is no “one size fits all.” Tools that work well for me may not work well for you; and tools that work well for you, may not be at all helpful to me. You may have some things on your list that others would want to avoid and things that others may not approve of. You need to trust yourself and your own self-knowledge to know what is best for you. You know more, much more, about yourself than anyone else does. Do everything you can to keep yourself well. Make your wellness and yourself a priority, especially through this time that may be stressful for you.
Wanting to Learn More About the Wellness Toolbox?
Explore these Great WRAP Resources:
Mary Ellen Copeland, PhD, developed Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) with a group of people with lived experience who were attending a mental health recovery workshop in 1997. She is the original author of the WRAP Red Book, as well as dozens of other WRAP books and materials. She has dedicated the last 30 years of her life to learning from people who have mental health issues; discovering the simple, safe, non-invasive ways they get well, stay well, and move forward in their lives; and then sharing what she has learned with others through keynote addresses, trainings, and the development of books, curriculums, and other resources. Now that she is retired, and that, as she intended, others are continuing to share what she has learned, she continues to learn from those who have mental health issues and those who support them. She is a frequent contributor to this site.
