Simple Self Care for Sensitive Souls During the Pandemic
At times during this Pandemic I have felt a rush of energy for creative work. But very often in a snap I feel adrift, like a lone raft in an open ocean, un-moored and listless.
It's hard to be a sensitive soul through this time. So much fear in the air. Social media has gotten even more overwhelming. Grocery runs are like an obstacle course of avoiding other peoples emotion bombs (*dear baby jeebus please don't let the dum dums project their desperation all over me k thanks amen*).
Sensitives in particular are nature's living antennae, designed to "feel it all" and transmit our knowings to the collective. In ancient societies, sensitives were (likely) scouts, healers, foragers, knowledge-keepers, shamans. We are designed to live tapped into the energy of nature.
But when nature is removed from our lives we become hyper-attuned to our "electric forests" -- cities, computers, society, media and the emotions of the larger collective.
Not surprisingly this is not very healthy for us.
So when I'm feeling adrift and far away from myself, I like to do a few things:
Turn off my screens.
Deep breaths.
Plant bare feet on the earth.
Thump my chest and ribcage with closed fists.
Journal out all of my feelings (positive + negative) on 3 full pages, then burn them.
Dance. Get suuuuuuper weird with it.
Take a long walk or run in nature.
Salt bath.
Hum (relaxes the nervous system and connects to earth energy).
Lay in the yard in the sun and do nothing.
Uncluttered moments of free self-care... that's how I find the gold flecks in the mud. Literally doing nothing in the yard, listening to birds, watching clouds has been such potent medicine.
How about you? What's helping you come back to yourself when it all becomes too much?