What I’ve been doing to feel better… by Claire Morton

As some of you may know, I’ve had a bit of a tricky time recently, resulting in a fractured 6th rib and broken toe. I was doing ok mentally until last week I caught a cold. It was like the straw that broke the camel’s back! I was sore, miserable, tired and in pain and to be honest feeling really sorry for myself and down in the dumps. Almost immediately I felt my mood drop lower and lower. This is a totally natural thing but given my history of anxiety and depression, it was definitely a concern. I very quickly started over analysing things and started worrying about things which resulted in my spending a lot of time in bed. This was not a comfortable place to be as I couldn’t lie down very easily without pain. I felt like I was being punished for something.
All this time in “the pit” as we call our bedrooms in our house, gave me plenty of time for thinking and self reflection. What do I normally do to keep myself steady and balanced? Yoga, meditation, friends, exercise, work. I couldn’t do these things right now,I had to look deeper. There must be other things that I subconsciously do that keeps my mood up.
So Sunday came along and I had slept marginally better the night before. I think this gave me a bit of clarity and the gumption to want to do something about how I was feeling. Once again I tried meditating , but the deep slow expansive breaths I use are still beyond me right now. What else can I do?
Here’s what I’ve come up with and I really think they’ve helped.
  1. Upped my water consumption – but in a really nice way. Chosen a beautiful jar, filled with lovely ice and mixed either some cucumber or some lemon or lime. I also used a bit of reiki intention to put in the water. Every time I drank I imagined it was a healing elixir. Could have all been a placebo but it felt and tasted delicious.
  2. Concentrated on a healthy diet. Because I’ve been unable to bend, lift, reach or twist in any way, I’ve not been cooking much. So we’ve been relying a lot on takeaways, sandwiches and oven meals. This has left me feeling bloated (not helped by the pain killers) and heavy and a bit sad really. So I’ve moved back to my fruit and veggie platters. Once the pain killers kicked in, I spent 30 mins chopping and slicing loads of veggies so that I can grab them either as a snack or as a meal. This way even if its only a sandwich for lunch, I know I’ve also had some carrots, snow peas, celery, capsicum, cucumber and tomatoes.
  3. Put my feet in the ocean. The beach is my happy place but I’ve not been for ages. Been too busy and distracted I guess. Although at first the thought of trying to walk over loose sand filled me with dread. I sucked it up. Oh my goodness it felt awesome. As well as the lovely grounding and mental health benefits, the cool water flowing over my broken toe felt amazing. The next day the swelling was reduced significantly and didn’t look anywhere near so black and sore.

    Not me, but a nice capture none-the-less!

  4. Used my time to learn. Happily these unfortunate injuries have coincided with the latest courses I am doing, (Modern pregnancy exercise and wellness, and Post natal exercise and wellness). Both required a significant amount of pre learning, so instead of panicking over lack of time and rushing through, I’ve been able to totally immerse myself in the learning. I’ve loved this as I will forever be the eternal student, consuming knowledge and learning from others, till the day I die.
So 4 little things, nothing major but boy have they made me feel better.
You don’t need a broken rib or toe to feel the benefit of them. Let me know if you give them a try.
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