Self Care Plan

If you know someone going through a bad breakup, someone grieving a loss, someone who lives with mental illness, or someone going through a new or ongoing health crisis, share this image with them to save on their phone or computer.

If you’re going through a tough season and *need* to ask for help, I pray you have the courage to do so, and a compassionate soul who will answer that call.

Sometimes what we need wins over what we want. Our pride never wants to concede in that battle of wills.

There’s no shame or guilt in doing the right thing for your survival. Don’t let those ugly whispers (of guilt or shame) predict how you should live ♡

If you are struggling today, please call your State Behavioral Health Crisis Line. They are professionals and are trained to listen.

What are your basics?

If you made a list, what would be on it?

What helps you feel like a human being again?

Maybe you like to brush your hair, or maybe drinking coffee in the morning does the trick. Some people must first put on lipstick, and for others, it’s saying hello to their furry friends that begins to restore their equalibrium.

Core Basics:

-Drink Water

-Eat Something

-Take your Pills

-Brush your Teeth

-Wash up

-Change Clothes

Secondary Basics:

-Move your body/Stretch

-Read something inspiring

-Call/contact a loved one

-Pray, Rest, Meditate

-Do something fun/hobby

You’ll notice, I didn’t add “Eat something healthy” because sometimes the best we can do is eat anything at all. After you have fed your stomach, hydrated thoroughly, and you’ve taken your meds and/or vitamins, make sure to feed your soul.

Feeding my soul is just as nourishing as feeding my body. If all I set my eyes and heart on is social media and television for a week, I can’t be surprised if I’m feeling nervous and low by the end of the week. I love the term “Inspirationalizing” as an active verb. We have to go out of our way to find uplifting articles for hope, books and quotes by our role models for wisdom, seeking out words of wisdom from your faith for guidance.

What ways do you like to feed your soul?

Since my divorce, I have overhauled my self care. In a relationship, you each have a schedule and you’re attuned to the other person’s needs. They know you, and are able to remind you of your needs- you lean on one another, and develop patterns. These habits and patterns had become  engrained over 15 years. But patterns can be changed- and self care is a pattern that we all have to develop.

As I continue adjusting to my single life, in time, I’ve learned to check in with myself with as much effort as I would have my spouse. Having a schedule of sorts helps, and prioritising is especially important for me. In the beginning, the transition was especially difficult. It took time. If you are facing a transition, give yourself time… Things will find their place again. Please don’t neglect your well being in the mean time.

Whichever self care step you’re struggling with, find a way to make it easier on you to accomplish. For instance, if washing your hair has become your arch nemesis, then get creative. Maybe it’s due to chronic pain in your arm, or a slow healing back surgery. In that case, keep a bottle of no-rinse shampoo handy. Keep it with you at all times so you can do your hair washing at the times you feel able.

Similarly, if it’s tooth brushing that you can’t seem to fit in twice each day, know that you’re not alone and don’t be ashamed. Get creative.

There are plenty of solutions to make your personal care work for your special needs and your unique schedule.

What are some goals you have on your self care list?

What self care would you like to set as a priority for yourself this year?

This Day doesn’t belong to This Pain

You have every right to say that your days are bad from diagnosis onward. Pain roars and screams and spreads and bites down. It truly touches every part of our lives, and tries to destroy all that it touches.

But you are not your body. You are more than flesh and bone.

You have the power to tell your story the way you want it heard.

You don’t have to choose whether your days are black or white, either good or bad. This isn’t a multiple choice test between succeeding or failing.

We are all striving to find balance every day, moving forward despite our circumstances, seeking our best selves.

That is a victory.

Inspirational quote by Marianne Williamson

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Full quote:

“We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

-Marianne Williamson 

No Spoon for you! Graphic

It’s “Wordless Wednesday” again, and here I am cheating (how can I resist you, words?).

If you’re confused about the spoon reference, those of us with chronic illness measure our energy with “spoons” ( See more here on: 10,000 Spoons, If Only: Why the chronically ill love Spoons). If life were the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld, this month, he would be yelling out his classic line at me, chronic illness style: “No Spoon for you!”

Not even one??

Harsh man!

I hope you’ll have better luck.

“NEXT!”

 

How to Create a Simple Word Poster

Since sharing my original posters, I’ve been asked how I created them. I know many talented artists and writers who would benefit from adding their own quotes or artwork to a “meme,” so maybe I can help with a basic poster-creating tutorial using a free online editor.

Both Pizap.com and Picmonkey.com are good examples of free editors that give the option to edit an existing photo or to create a blank poster from scratch. Depending on which online editor you are using, the technique is often quite similar. Here I will show you how to create a simple poster using Pizap.com since it is the most basic free online photo editor I like to use.

How To:

-After choosing whether you are editing an existing photo or creating a new poster, make your selection of size.

-Then, you will select a color from the palette. When choosing a background color, remember that your text will overlay whatever color you choose, so you likely want to go with either a light or dark color. You can always experiment, so don’t stress. Have fun with it!

-I then chose a frame for my poster image by selecting the square frame icon at the top of the screen. Pizap has a wide variety of frames to choose from- especially in their “Simple” category. Here you can see I chose soft white scrolls to frame this image.

Slide 1: This is the first screen you will come to. Click on the box where it says “Canvas Color” and a color palette will allow you to choose your background color.

Slide 2: Notice the square frame icon is selected above to display the frames. Then I chose the “Simple” frames collection.

–Now I will choose Text by clicking the “T” at the top of the screen. Write your text in the white box and it will appear in the text box on your poster where you can move it around by clicking and dragging. When writing text for posters, I recommend using several text boxes so you can arrange your words easily inside of your poster. With longer quotes, you may also want to use a couple different fonts, so getting used to typing only a few words in each text box will help in your designs. I encourage you to play with your fonts and sizes, but **make sure you click “OK” each time you are done editing each individual text box.** I tend to spend most of my time on a poster arranging text and experimenting with fonts.

-On the bottom of the screen, you will see 3 boxes. One is your text color, one is “Glow” or backlight, and the other adds color inside your textbox. In Pizap, it automatically backlights the text for you. It’s a good idea to un-check the “Glow” box to experiment with the way it looks or view your text with different colors backlit. My image I am creating is without any backlight or “glow” added.

-To add a Filter or Overlay, select the wand icon at the top of the screen. There are several to choose from, and each filter will make the image look completely different. You will enjoy layering filters over your photos also. Just remember that they do layer over top of one another, so make sure to remove each one after viewing it on your image. There are filters in the frames section as well.

Slide 1: Notice where the text box is, the font selection of Chantilli, and the font size. Below, I can change color of my text, and when I’m done typing each section of text, I click the blue “OK” button.

Slide 2: I added an “Overlay” or Filter I found in the frames section (see frames icon selected above?). You can also access more Filters by selecting the wand icon. As you can see, Filters change the whole look of an image.

Slide 1: Here, you can see I changed my font as well as added 2 butterflies from the “Stickers” section. I clicked on the Stickers or embellishments I wanted, then clicked to drag, and used the prongs surrounding the butterfly to make it larger, smaller, or turn in any direction. Notice above, the Heart icon is highlighted to access Pizap’s stickers.

Slide 2: All done! I finished editing my poster, clicked “Save” at the top of the screen, and was sure to choose the “download to my computer” option during the saving process. It also asks if I wanted to share on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites.

Completed Poster using Pizap

I suggest getting acclimated to a simple editor like Pizap if you are interested in making posters with more sophisticated software later on. You can do so many things with free photo editors when you allow yourself to play around freely and experiment. At first, an editor might seem to be limited in options, but if you look with a discerning creative eye, you realize how much you can do with your images.

Pizap has a great frames selection, especially in their “simple” frames set that other editors might ask you to pay for. And Pizap also allows you to cut images out of other photos and insert them into your poster. I also like their large selection of filters, and I’ve noticed they’ve recently added more since reconstructing their page. When you connect your facebook or Twitter account with Pizap, your friends who create with Pizap can also like and comment on the images you create.

If you have been interested in creating a poster or editing an image of your own, I hope you try playing around with a simple editor like this one. I’d encourage you to first “Edit” a photo and play around with all of the tools available to you, lay text over top of it, try filters, etc. And then, try creating a poster from scratch with your favorite short quote. If you do, make sure to download your image to your computer and email it to me at abodyofhope@inbox.com. I’d love to see your creation!

If this tutorial helped you, let me know in comments and I will do a second one on how to edit in Picmonkey.com

Photo edited using Pizap

10000 Spoons Poster Made on Pizap