SEPTEMBER 2024
LIFE | LOVE | LOSS
“Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”
– Will Rogers
MENTAL WELLBEING
“Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage.
Truth and courage aren’t always comfortable, but they’re never weakness.”
– Brene Brown
September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness month. I love that we have a month dedicated to focusing on this hard and important topic. Do you make time to take care of your mind? No one else knows if you are struggling, if you are sad, angry, feeling alone or depressed unless you tell them. Many people can hide their pain well. They can wear a mask of social appropriateness, act the act, walk the walk of being ‘ok’. When inside their minds they are in turmoil, living with deep even dark thoughts.
Are you aware of the things that cause you angst, stress and compromise your mental wellbeing? It is vital to your overall wellness that you are both aware of the things you can do to restore peace of mind as you are of the things that disrupt it. Do you entertain negative things and circumstances more than positive? My favorite author Louise L Hay says, “What you put your attention on grows.” What does your mind fixate on? The good or the hard?
I think I am better at some of the bigger life issues at times than I am with the smaller things that set me off. I have OCD and I can manage it mostly. At times when my stress is high it feels like it is running me. One of the ways my OCD shows up strongest is in the need for order, for things to be organized, clean and straight. When they are not, I feel anxious. For example, if you were at the grocery store with me when we got to the checkout line, I would be putting things up in the order I want them bagged. Cans and boxed goods first, then frozen foods, then firm fruits/vegies, then last eggs, bread or chips. If this order is disrupted, I start twitching. HARD….
My husband finds this endlessly amusing. He is NOT afflicted with OCD or the need for endless organization. He will often throw bread up on top of the canned goods. If you took my blood pressure during his tossing of soft things in front of hard boxed things, then I would likely be hospitalized for stroke watch. This is real and causes me intense if not brief mental angst. What small things set you overboard? Being rushed also sets me into overdrive. I do best having things planned and prepared well in advance.
Being aware of our triggers as well as knowing how to manage them can help us work through situations when they arise. My grocery OCD issues resolve themselves quickly or I just keep moving items to where my mind needs them for peace! What coping techniques or daily rituals do you have to help keep your mind right?
Stopping and taking a few deep breaths can always help calm our bodies and minds. Grounding with our feet on the earth is another wonderful calming practice. Any mindful exercise like quiet or guided meditations, journaling, going for a walk, talking with a friend, coloring, playing with playdough (non-toxic of course)!
There are lots of simple easy ways we can intentionally quiet our minds, lower stress inside us, bringing ourselves back to balance. The key is to do a little bit all the time! It only works when we DO IT!!
I invite you to create time for your mental wellbeing each day this month. Like personal hygiene that we participate in daily please engage in mental wellbeing exercises to help you strengthen your mental wellness.
Take care of your mind, you are the only one who can!
FORWARD AS A CHOICE
“It’s funny how we outgrow what we once thought we couldn’t live without, and then we fall in love with what we didn’t even know we wanted.
Life keeps leading us on journeys we would never go on if it were up to us.
Don’t be afraid. Have faith. Find the lessons.”
- Movemequotes
My youngest son Joey, my pup took his life seven years ago this month on World Suicide Awareness Day, September 10, 2017. It was quite the way to be introduced to the stage of suicide. I have learned so much these past years. It was a journey I never thought I would go on. I have met and made amazing friends through his death. I am grateful for that.
I have learned to create peace inside chaos. I have learned how to choose acceptance in not understanding knowing I will never understand. This has been one of the hardest for me. I have an overactive analytical mind that wants things to make sense. I cannot make Joey’s death make sense. So, in time I had to declare acceptance and peace that I could not make it make sense.
He is and was a beautiful fifteen-year-old boy who had every reason to make it to his tomorrows. I learned that moving forward is all there is to do. I truly believe time is passive, it does nothing but pass. It does not heal wounds. Effort, love, and intention does that. I believe I do NOT have to let go of Joey. I NEVER have to let go of my beautiful boy, his memory, the love I hold in my heart for him. I do believe what there is to do is to move forward. To choose forward motion in our minds, hearts and lives for ourselves, those who are still here and to honor those we have lost. I recently read this passage below from the wise words of Bruce Lee.
“Be like water. Be a river. Flow forward, ever forward, and make your way across the land. If something blocks you, trickle through, shatter it completely, or eat away at it until the whole thing gives. But never stop. The river doesn’t flow backwards, does it?”
So, this month, on this anniversary of Joey’s passing I will do as I have done on all the others. I will tell myself I have made it through them, I will make it through this. One breath, one day, one step forward at a time. I will share his story, live with his light in mine, speak out about suicide, invite others to fight for their tomorrows. Stay. Never stop moving forward. Death needs no help.
Self-Care Tip:
“Sometimes wellness looks like NOT adding in yet another healing practice, but staying consistent with the simple things:
Gratitude
Slow Walks
Deep Breaths
A good cleansing cry
JOMO (Joy of Missing Out)
Foods that love you back
Showing yourself some grace
Taking in nature with all your senses.”
Dr. Will Cole
I am excited to see what created mental wellbeing and moving forward looks and feels like for you in September and beyond!
All my best,
Genna
P.S.
I will be doing a Facebook live at 8 pm MST on September 10th in honor of World Suicide Awareness Day and Joey’s 7th Passing Anniversary. If you are interested in participating, please jump on!
It will be real, raw, open and honest about life, love, loss from suicide, where I am now and where I go from here.
My FB name is Genna Boone Thomsen.
RESOURCES
988 – National Mental Health Hotline
National Alliance on Mental Illness – NAMI www.mani.org/Home
https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/988
Crisis Hotlines: Common Hotline Phone Numbers | Eluna Network
Mental Health App’s
Talkspace – Best Overall Therapy App
Calm – Best Mindfulness App
My3 – Three People / Three Distractions / Safety Plan App
Chopra App – Great mindfulness and free meditations
Pride Counseling – Best Queer Mental Health App
Youper – Best Self-Guided Therapy App
Headspace – Best Anxiety App
The Next Adventure 