What’s an emotional first aid kit?
It’s a set of practices, behaviors, and creative interventions I’ve cultivated over the years that helps me support my body, mind, heart, and soul when times are particularly tough and I need to ramp up my self-care big time.
All of the tools in my emotional first aid kit are unique (read: quirky) and super, almost inexplicably effective for me.
It’s taken me time to identify these tools and behaviors, to accept that they look different from what’s usually prescribed in women’s magazines (i.e.: yoga, meditation, green juice), and it’s definitely taken even more time to learn when I need to employ them (the most).
But having this set of strategies that I can now lean on when times are particularly tough is a big part of my own ongoing self-care. It’s something I feel passionate about sharing and helping my clients to develop, too.
So today I want to lead you through some inquiries to help you identify what might make it into your emotional first aid kit for those times when life just feels overwhelming.
Emotional First-Aid Kit 101: What It Is and Isn’t:
Just to recap, an emotional first aid kit is totally proverbial (no actual toolboxes required!).
It’s a set of unique practices, behaviors, and creative interventions designed to comfort, support, and bring relief to your body, mind, heart, and soul in particularly challenging times.
These are some tools you can pull out when it seems like everything’s going wrong. And when your standard self-care routines just aren’t cutting it for you anymore.
An emotional first aid kit is an ongoing practice of self-awareness and self-care. It is supporting you in recognizing what you need. And getting curious and creative about how you can meet your needs through life’s many ups and downs.
For the purposes of today’s exercise, I’m going to walk you through the four areas for which we want to develop tools and invite you to identify 2-3 creative interventions for each area.
This will be the foundation of your own ever-evolving emotional first aid kit.
Body: Feel, Nourish, and Soothe.
When life’s tough times hit, we want to have some tools in our toolbox. Tools we can use to help feel, nourish, and soothe our body.
Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean things like exercising for 20 minutes. Or drinking a daily green smoothie. (Though if that sounds like just what you need in tough times, rock on.)
Instead, what I want you to start identifying are activities or practices you know that would help you get into your body and engage your five senses – smell, taste, touch, sight, and hearing. In a way that feels appropriate and helpful for you and you alone.
