As the calendar strikes September, I notice my mind is wandering to flashbacks of getting ready for the “back to school season”–picking out new outfits, getting my notebooks and supplies ready, feeling the anxious flutters of butterflies in my belly, and anticipating the familiar yet unknown of the year ahead.
This September is obviously very different. There isn’t the same “back to school” cultural transition we are all accustomed to. Instead, we are navigating through a new chapter of 2020. A new literal and figurative season of this pandemic year--one filled with more grief, wild fires, violence, racism and political tension. Amid the chaos, I notice the same instinct in myself to want to get organized, but this time instead of buying new school supplies and fall sweaters, I am passionate about developing my mental health plan.
Living in the Pacific Northwest, the gray and rainy fall/winter days are inevitably coming. I don’t know how many days, how dark or how rainy, but it’s coming. Instead of catastrophizing the future or staying in the what if thought patterns, I am taking a proactive approach to my wellbeing. I am developing my mental health plan by asking myself these 4 questions.
Creating a mental health plan for me feels like a strategy to keep my seatbelt buckled in for the bumpy ride of 2020. I get to know this plan isn’t written in stone, but creating a strategy supports me being more intentional about how I spend my time and energy.
