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Sunshine Revival challenge #4
Jul. 16th, 2025 11:37 amA few days late! Oops...
A bit of a looser interpretation of the prompt, but, ten things that I've discovered help me calm down and feel better when I'm worked up/anxious/super in my head.
1.) Sit down, few deep breaths, put my hands on the top of my head. Say, "This is my head." Move on to my forehead, eyes, nose, etc., working my way all the way down my body. Touch each part of my body in a way that feels good. Tell myself "This is my __." I really like doing this, and sometimes I get kind of emotional when I do. :)
2.) Sit down, take a few deep breaths. Look at what's directly in front of me. Like, spend a good few moments just looking at it. Then slowly turn my gaze to something else. Keep doing that for a while.
3.) Dance. Find music that matches my mood and let my body move however it wants. Don't over-think it, but slowly try making movements that I feel somewhat unaccustomed to. See what happens. Sometimes I laugh a little at myself, but more often I'm like, ooh, that's interesting.
4.) Put on some music (or not) and color in one of those grown-up coloring books.
5.) Write in my paper journal. Honestly sometimes this backfires and turns into rumination and spiraling, but sometimes it's a nice way to vent. I write in pencil, messily, in a cheap notebook or on the backs of old papers, and erase/rip it up after a while. It's not for posterity, just for getting stuff out.
6.) Talk to my partner or a friend/family member. This sounds super obvious and basic, but it's honestly taken me a long time to figure out how helpful it is for me to try articulating some messy thought/feeling in language that another person can understand. Often it makes the thought/feeling seem much smaller than it does when it's just in my head, or even when I try writing about it.
7.) Go for a walk. Observe things outside.
8.) Do some tiny chore I've been neglecting.
9.) Avoid doing things I know are going to exacerbate the feeling: drinking caffeine/having sugar, reading/listening to/watching content that I know gets me in my head.
10.) I've never done formal IFS therapy, and only know a little bit about it, but I've found it to be really helpful to imagine that it isn't *me* (whatever that means) that's feeling the thing, it's a *part* of me, if that makes sense. It's fun thinking of these parts as like little characters in my head. And if I can visualize them and imagine talking with them, it usually helps me get some distance from the feeling and generate a more compassionate feeling about it.
A bit of a looser interpretation of the prompt, but, ten things that I've discovered help me calm down and feel better when I'm worked up/anxious/super in my head.
1.) Sit down, few deep breaths, put my hands on the top of my head. Say, "This is my head." Move on to my forehead, eyes, nose, etc., working my way all the way down my body. Touch each part of my body in a way that feels good. Tell myself "This is my __." I really like doing this, and sometimes I get kind of emotional when I do. :)
2.) Sit down, take a few deep breaths. Look at what's directly in front of me. Like, spend a good few moments just looking at it. Then slowly turn my gaze to something else. Keep doing that for a while.
3.) Dance. Find music that matches my mood and let my body move however it wants. Don't over-think it, but slowly try making movements that I feel somewhat unaccustomed to. See what happens. Sometimes I laugh a little at myself, but more often I'm like, ooh, that's interesting.
4.) Put on some music (or not) and color in one of those grown-up coloring books.
5.) Write in my paper journal. Honestly sometimes this backfires and turns into rumination and spiraling, but sometimes it's a nice way to vent. I write in pencil, messily, in a cheap notebook or on the backs of old papers, and erase/rip it up after a while. It's not for posterity, just for getting stuff out.
6.) Talk to my partner or a friend/family member. This sounds super obvious and basic, but it's honestly taken me a long time to figure out how helpful it is for me to try articulating some messy thought/feeling in language that another person can understand. Often it makes the thought/feeling seem much smaller than it does when it's just in my head, or even when I try writing about it.
7.) Go for a walk. Observe things outside.
8.) Do some tiny chore I've been neglecting.
9.) Avoid doing things I know are going to exacerbate the feeling: drinking caffeine/having sugar, reading/listening to/watching content that I know gets me in my head.
10.) I've never done formal IFS therapy, and only know a little bit about it, but I've found it to be really helpful to imagine that it isn't *me* (whatever that means) that's feeling the thing, it's a *part* of me, if that makes sense. It's fun thinking of these parts as like little characters in my head. And if I can visualize them and imagine talking with them, it usually helps me get some distance from the feeling and generate a more compassionate feeling about it.
