Guest Blog Post - Sara Campin, Founder of Nourish app
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Top tips for looking after our mental health navigating the emotional roller-coaster during this uncertain and unsettling time
Wow! – the last couple of weeks has been an emotional roller-coaster and a half – today alone I have felt intense anxiety, overwhelm, frustration, anger, exhaustion, joy and love – and we are definitely nowhere near the end of it all! The most prominent emotions I’ve been feelings over the last couple of weeks have definitely been anxiety and overwhelm. I think my anxiety peaked a couple of weeks ago – well before lockdown, when the first cases were being recorded in the UK, but things were already kicking off in Italy. When the government here seemed to think it had a better strategy than the rest of the world….
My anxiety is still very near the surface, especially given the fact that me and my close family have all displayed some of the symptoms of the virus over the last couple of weeks. I have however managed to get my anxiety under much more control – no doubt helped by having even less time on my hands to read all the copious news articles! But I have also been tuning into daily Mindfulness and Yoga Nidra meditations on the Nourish app (www.thenourishapp.com) which have been essential for calming my busy, analytical mind.
The overwhelm is unsurprising given I thought my life was busy before all this kicked off (!), with juggling school pickups and trying to build a new business. But, with the added extra of home schooling of a 5 and a 7 year old on top, I am, like many others, nearing full capacity!
We are all only human and we all only have finite energetic and mental resources to get us through the day. When all those resources are used up, or running close to empty, we end up exhausted, depleted and less resilient in the face of everyday challenges. Personally when my reserves are low, I’ve learned that I get irritable and shouty. I also find it hard to cope with lots of noise and easily spin into downward spirals of shame and self-hatred. That’s why it’s so important that we refill those reserves – this is where self-care becomes essential – taking time to ourselves and implementing practices that nourish our mind, body and soul on a daily basis can top up those mental and energetic reserves and help us find more resilience, balance and calm.
My top tips for navigating this time:
• Give yourself permission to feel – All your feelings are valid. We are all on this rollercoaster of emotion and we will all feel things at different time and at different intensities. Show kindness and empathy to others but also importantly to yourself.
• Check in on your mind and body regularly – Ask yourself how am I feeling? What does my mind and body need right now? – Maybe you need a toilet break to do some deep breathing. Maybe you need a good dance to shake it all out. Maybe you need to turn on the TV for the kids and have a good cry into a pillow. Give yourself permission to meet your needs. Your kids will reap the rewards.
• Give yourself permission to go gently – Some days you will be winning. Some days you will wobble. Notice those days and give yourself a break. It will pass.
• Let go of perfection – We are all only human. No one is acing it all the time. We are all just adjusting to this new life. Do what you can and know that that is more than enough.
• Turn off all the extra noise – Connection is so important during this time. BUT, we need to be careful that all the messages and digital resources and live feeds don’t add to our pressure, our overwhelm and those feelings of failure. It’s so important to notice when you need to take time out and turn off all the external noise even just for a bit.
• Tune into nature – Take every moment you can to savour the beauty of nature all around you – whether it’s the blossom, a tree, bird song, the blue sky (or black clouds) – use all your senses to drink in that nourishment.
• Build your personal self-care toolkit - There’s no one sized fits all approach to self-care and our own needs and preferences change from moment to moment. It pays to have a broad toolkit you can turn to when you need it.
Good luck mammas – you’ve got this! We’re in it together. Keep nourishing you.
With Love & Kindness, Sara (Founder of the Nourish App)
Sara, mum of 2 (a girl aged 7 and a boy aged 5) and Founder of the Nourish app, a new wellbeing app created by mothers for mothers.
The Nourish app is a self-care toolkit and support team in your pocket. It’s jam-packed with practical, bite-sized, relatable and relevant wellbeing tools, all tailored to support mothers and the common emotions and challenges we struggle with. There’s meditations, videos & articles across mindfulness, yoga, yoga nidra, breathing exercises, positive psychology and much more, all from an amazing team of wellbeing experts.
The Nourish app is ‘offline first’ meaning you can turn off all other digital distractions, put your phone in Airplane Mode and still access the calming content.
The Nourish app is available for Android and iPhone. 1 month FREE trial. Cancel anytime. Only £1.50-£2.99/month thereafter.
Download here: www.thenourishapp.com
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