Coping Skills for Overwhelm In These Intense Times

“The most significant gifts are the ones most easily overlooked. Small, everyday blessings: woods, health, music, laughter, memories, books, family, friends, second chances, warm fireplaces, and all the footprints scattered throughout our days.”

Sue Monk Kidd

Hey, Lovelies.

Are you doing okay?

It’s a crazy time, isn’t it? So many things that need attending to. Social justice issues, environmental issues, a pandemic, things within our own lives, our own families and communities, our own hearts.

I’m not negating any of those. They are urgent and important. They need our love and care and commitment to bring about true and lasting change. That’s what the energies of 2020 are all about.

I cannot look away. I will not look away. I want to be there and play my part. But honestly, at times I have been overwhelmed with the scale of disaster. My workload is immense and ongoing. My community needs care. My farm and the environment around us needs careful custodianship as we negotiate climate change, drought and bushfires. I have looked at my own little life and how much there is to be done, and have wondered where to put my energies. How do you prioritise when so much feels like an emergency? When so many causes need attention?

Have you felt like this too?

An important realisation for me is that we have to change our thinking and see this as a long-haul gig. It took centuries to get into this mess. We won’t resolve all our issues with the click of our fingers.

So, this is what my coping strategy shall be for 2020 and beyond, to help me maintain the energy and enthusiasm to keep fronting up and contributing for the long term:

1. I shall prioritise rest and self-care. I cannot adequately take care of anyone outside myself if I am exhausted, burned out, ill or in survival mode.
2. I shall regularly unplug from social media, news sources and what’s going on in the world, and bring my focus back to my own back yard, my family, nature, my breath. I will honour the wise and intuitive part of me that knows when I am at my limit with trauma.
3. I shall continue to work on my own passions and projects – even if I can only find small windows of time I will make the commitment to furthering my own dreams because they nurture the best part of me, and help me grow and evolve.
4. I will give the best of myself in service to others and to the planet, and I will keep giving, but I will stop and rest when giving becomes something that breaks me down and destroys me. For a long-haul gig sustainability over the long term is key.
5. I will remind my loved ones to rest and practice self-care too. I will reach out to my friends and community in a circle of care. Now, more than ever, we must look out for each other, and care for each other. Belonging heals us. Inclusion is what is needed. We are all in this together.
6. I will support those in the front line in fields where I care passionately but have little expertise, and be guided by them. I will educate myself. I will donate money to causes and leaders. I will vote with my dollar and with my democratic rights. There are many ways to show support, to make a difference, to act.

Last night I sat by the fireplace with my husband, our two dogs at our feet. We ate a meal in silence, with just the crackle of the flames and the roar of the wind in the trees outside our little shack. The silence soothed us. The fireplace soothed us. We retired early, to catch up on much needed sleep.

This is the beginning of so many changes for our planet and for humanity. I urge you to look after yourselves and each other in these unsettled but necessary times. Be sustainable so you can keep showing up, heart open, and ready for action – however that may look. The world needs you.

Holding you in my prayers and meditations, Nicole xx ❤️🙏