My Happiness Coach

Have you heard the story about your spoons?

You wake up each day with a certain number of spoons each day. It takes a certain number of spoons to do each activities that you do during the day. The important part is that you can run out of spoons & that spells trouble.

Maybe you call them executive function points or your daily f*cks. But, it’s all the same basic thing; it is all about the ability that you have to tackle your daily activities.

Self-care & making more spoons

Now let’s talk about how we make spoons. Each day we have a certain amount of spoons… those spoons depend on your physical, mental, & emotional state. Low spoons come from a variety of struggles: depression, anxiety, pain, loss, or simply waking up on the wrong side of the bed.

But where do these spoons come from? Your daily allotment of spoons do not come from magic fairies. (But wouldn’t that be cool!) Your spoons or executive function points come from acts of self-care.

So you want to rebuild your cache of spoons… it won’t be easy, unless you make time to take care of yourself. You are the only one that can rebuild your spoons & when you run out, your body forces you to stop and rebuild.

Physical rest. Since you get these magical beans, I mean spoons, each morning it is safe to say that one action gives you new spoons – sleep! Close your eyes and drift off to your spoon factory. Getting enough sleep isn’t just basic self-care, but an essential activity for your health and wellbeing. Can’t sleep? Just taking some time to rest and recover is a fine way to bring back a spoon.

Om! When you need a quick spoon or two, meditation is your answer. Close your eye (yet, again) but this time don’t drift off to sleep. Clear your mind. Oof! This is easier said than done. But with practice you can do it, even with the busiest minds. It is all about finding out how you mediate & what works for you. Meditation is big in replenishing spoons, when your low spoon count is due to mental or emotional reasons.

Creativity. Unleash your inner child & get messy… I mean creative! There are many therapeutic forms of creative spoon building. Art therapy is a huge one for spoon building. Tap into your inner child (remember when it seemed like you had a never ending supply of spoons?) & bring some color in your life. Art therapy can take the form of many things from crafting to coloring, or painting to creative writing.

Express yourself. Okay, so how is this different from being creative? Expressive forms of self-care are where you can dig deep & deal with the mental drain on your spoons (creative forms of self-care tend to be more emotional). Express yourself through loving movement like dancing or loving self-talk like journalling.

Advance self-care. Here in the world that we live in the word self-care has gotten watered down & warped into meaning either basic care or pampering. When the truth is all of these spoon-building activities are self-care activities. If you don’t take vital me-time you fall into a trap. The less time you take for yourself, the less spoons that you have & the less you can get done with all the time that you saved from skipping crucial time with you!

Basic Spoon building activities:

1. Sleep/take a nap
2. Meditation
3. Do something creative (color, draw, craft, or write)
4. Do something expressive (sing, dance, journal, or talk to a support person)
5. Self-care (read, watch an uplifting show, listen to your favorite podcast, or treat yourself to some me-time)

*Please note that I am not a doctor or therapist. You should always check in with your healthcare professional before starting a new program*