Managing Your Wellbeing with a World in Crisis

culture praticaltools society Aug 16, 2021

There is a lot happening in our world right now. Our brothers and sisters in Haiti and Afghanistan are in crisis. Likely your social feeds are filled with triggering images and stories that can leave you feeling helpless, scared and angry. You may sense a fluttering in your chest or a desire to completely withdraw from relationships because everything feels panicked and/or overwhelming.

You are not alone. During times of crisis, especially globally, you may notice your mind and body start to act differently.

We are here to help in the ways we know how: guiding you to become more aware of the emotional responses and sensations you’re feeling, and then helping you to process them with the tools you already have in your vicinity.

 

START WITH A SELF-SCAN (IDENTIFY)

  1. Take deep slow breaths as you allow yourself to answer the two questions:
    • How am I feeling today?
    • What is taking up most of my head space? 
  2. Speak your responses out loud or write them on paper. This externalizes the situation giving you more power to deconstruct them…and often making the situation or emotional feel less powerful.

 

REMOVE YOURSELF FROM ENVIRONMENTS THAT TRIGGER YOU (SET BOUNDARIES)

  1. If you’re tempted to jump on Instagram all day, and Instagram is what is triggering you… try moving your app to a different part of your phone. Sometimes we click to an app out of habit not because we want/need to be there.
  2. If you’re getting push notifications from your news app that ultimately trigger you right now, turn the notifications off.
  3. If friends are triggering you, it’s okay to tell people “I am doing a self care week and giving myself permission to not immediately respond to folks while I care for my wellbeing”. Copy and paste that as a response to if someone has reached out and is triggering you.

 

MOVE YOUR BODY (PROCESS)

  1. Choose a type of movement (rocking, stretching your arms or walking around the room).
  2. Set a friendly timer for 5 minutes and start practicing that movement of choice.
  3. Focus your attention on your physical sensations while doing the movement you’ve chosen. If your mind starts to wander, gently refocus attention to the sensations in your body.
  4. Let go of the judgment or criticism of challenges to completing the movement session.

 

We hope that “right now” feels more manageable than life did 10 minutes ago. Increasing your awareness to your emotions and situation, helps to manage your response to the situation. It also increases your ability to support others if you have the capacity and desire. 

Save this page and come back to it as many times as you need.

You matter.

Xx,

MG Team

 

Note: We do not take the global events lightly and have invested in supporting humanitarian efforts abroad. This post is a practical resource to help people stay mentally well, which is needed as we determine how to positively impact the crisis.  

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