1. I need to affirm and to validate myself as it’s hard to accept validation from others if, deep down inside, I don’t believe it’s true.
2. My time is valuable as anybody else’s so I need to prioritise what I need to do.
3. I can’t give to others, and help to build them up, if I’m not taking care of my own self first.
4. I need to remember that I’m worthy of love, of success, opportunities, and knowing happiness.
5. My opinions are as valuable as anybody else’s. It’s up to me to decide and to choose my own beliefs.
6. I don’t have to explain why I do what I do (unless you’re the police or have some authority!)
7. My past does not define me – I’m free to change and grow, to try on different “me”s, and to set inspiring goals.
Tag: wellness
Every day…
I have to share the awesome app I use to negate this issue!
it’s called Medisafe and it’s a free app available in the app store or on google play and it allows you to input all your medications and:
-choose the shape, color, and dosage of each medication (including indicating if it’s an injection or a pill or an inhaler)
-notate the dosage and/or # of pills
-each time of day/night it needs to be taken
-add food or other special instructions
-schedule refill reminders
-add a med-friend (someone who will be notified if you forget to take it!)The interface is great and i’ve found it very easy to use. You can also add meds to take “as needed” so you can indicate that you’ve taken an out-of-time painkiller or booster pill etc.
When it’s time to take your pills it uses the text-notifcation noise on your phone to alert you- so it’s lowkey, but (usually) unmissable. When it’s time, you have the option to snooze, dismiss, or take pills. OR you can just shake your phone to indicate that you’ve taken them (I usually either snooze or shake the phone).
It tracks your progress too and you can export yourself an excel spreadsheet of your pill taking to give your physician etc if needed.
You can set the snooze time manually, the maximum number of alarms, all kinds of things- you can set your own alert sound too if you don’t want it to use your text-notification.
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I am TERRRRRRRIBLE about remembering pills (seriously, I forgot for 3 weeks). I haven’t missed a dose since I started using it and it’s fantastic.
S I G N A L B O O S T
I know a lot of folk have trouble with this so this could be super helpful!
I’m awful with remembering whether or not I’ve taken my meds #forgetful totally gonna get this
A lot of tumblr paganism has responded to asks dealing with the difficulties of being good to the Gods by giving spells and charms to deal with depression and anxiety. That has never worked for me, and it sometimes feels really simplistic and…misleading almost. What do you think we can do to actually help each other when dealing with mental illnesses instead of answers that do not work?
Hi anon.
For some people who are going through a rough patch, spells and charms like that are a way to hold onto something that can help. But for many more of those, they don’t help, or they are ineffective bandages.
We each have different ways of dealing with mental illnesses, and we need to make our community more open to the many ways that we approach the issue.
I think a good first step is making room for people to be open and safe about talking about mental illness. We need room for education – and education from people who actually have these illnesses or personality disorders! Without this, we will continue to get ineffective bandages. By opening the road for communication, by reducing shame around admitting illness or the problems we are facing, we open the road for better answers to our problems. So the first step we need is open communication.
And don’t think that’s easy! It’s easy on paper, but it’s hard to achieve in communities. Often, without meaning to, we demonize people by saying they are ‘crazy’ or they ‘have problems’ or ‘need to see a therapist’.
I want you to imagine a community that has people who can actually help people get therapy if that is what they need. (And that sort of thing can never and should never come from anons or someone who do not know. If it does, it’s just more ableism and shaming.)
I don’t want to clog this ask with ways to open up communication, though, so I’m going to try to get back to your question.
The second step in actually helping each other is acknowledging that we have different needs. Some people will be able to use spells to hold them through a tough time. Other people need therapy for a short time period to help them through. Other people need long term therapy, or perhaps lifelong. Others need medication. Some people need friends that they can talk to and be honest and open with. Others will need to pursue herbal healing.
We cannot demonize any of these methods. If we truly want to help people, we can’t demonize therapy or medication – or herbal healing or spiritual healing. We do need to make sure that whatever a person is using is actually helping them.
The third step is communal activism. What this means is:
- we keep an eye on each other to make sure people are doing okay – and this means everyone! We have to look out for each other.
- helping people get the resources they need – when you’re depressed or otherwise sick, getting to those resources can be almost if not actually impossible
- we support those who are dealing with illness – in a way they are comfortable with. This means not forcing people to be public about their experiences, and it also means not silencing people.
- if local, we have to make sure that our community members are being treated fairly by the medical establishment and step in to help them if they are not. We cannot let people be hurt when they are seeking help.
- and, finally, we don’t let people use mental illness as an excuse for abusive behavior. We have to make sure that we do not give a pass to abuse because someone is mentally ill. If we do, we are helping no one.
To give good answers for issues like these, we have to truly understand them. We cannot treat them as ‘just in the mind’ (the mind is powerful!), nor can we dehumanize those that have mental illnesses.
To give good answers, we have to listen to each other’s stories. Which, unfortunately, we’re not there yet. We are, currently, a very fast-paced community. That is great in some cases! But when it comes to getting answers that can help us through tough times, or through tough lives, or through dark nights of the soul – fast-paced is exactly the opposite. If we want to give good answers, provide good support, we have to sit ourselves down and open our ears and hearts up to people.
(Cheesy, I know. But when someone listens to us, truly listens, that opens up paths we would never have expected.)
We can’t know your story; we can’t know what you actually need without listening to what is going on. That is how we get good answers. That is how we get more than spells.
Problem: We have ineffective aid for people struggling with mental illness and spiritual crisis.
Ideal Solution: We need people who will patiently listen to people’s lives and stories and help them work through to useful help – whether that is seeking alternative healing, medication and therapy, or something else. In most religions, this person would be a pastoral counselor. We don’t have many of those in Pagan and polytheist communities.
Suggested Solution: Share your story aloud. Talk about what you are going through, your struggles – make a public sort of diary. Do this anonymously if you do not feel safe. Attempting to network with people who have made safe space may also be helpful.
I will attempt to post links to helpful Pagan and polytheist organizations that provide counseling or support later today (4/24).
Thank you for your question, and feel free to respond back if you want to add more.
Holding the Bowl 