Short Everyday Wellbeing Practices
In this blog post I share ways that you can integrate wellbeing practices into your everyday life.
These practices can help reduce your stress levels and overwhelm while supporting your neurodiverse children.
During your weekly schedule of juggling different activities, appointments and everything in between, have you remembered to include something only for you?
I'm guessing you might have placed yourself near the bottom of your list.
Supporting your family will bring moments of joy and moments of stress.
You'll have unpredictable moments when your child becomes overstimulated and requires extra support for you to help co-regulate.
This can feel exhausting and overwhelming.
To help support you in feeling less stressed during these periods, I have five suggestions on ways to look after your wellbeing:
Deep breathing
Connect to nature
Notice your senses
Tap into creativity
Movement
I share more on each of these below.
Deep breathing
You can practice this anytime and anywhere. Stop what you are doing. Close your eyes or keep them open with your gaze near the floor.
Then take 3 slow deep breaths.
Notice the full expansion of your inhale and exhale.
How do you feel now?
Connect to Nature
If you are able to, take a walk outside and get some fresh air in nature.
Changing your physical environment and going outdoors can bring a feeling of calm to your mind.
Even a short amount of time outside will help bring some calm into your day.
Notice your Senses
Slow down what you are doing and notice what you can see, hear, taste, touch and feel.
Use the senses that are available to you.
You can practice this anytime inside or outside.
You might feel more grounded and relaxed after taking time to notice your surroundings.
Tap into your Creativity
When you do have time to yourself how often do you do a creative activity?
Creative activities can help reduce stress and improve your mood.
Grab a notebook or piece of paper and doodle or write down anything that comes to mind to bring your attention into the present moment.
This could be relating to a specific prompt such as “how are you feeling today?”
Or you could freely write or doodle whatever comes into your mind.
Movement
Do any form of movement that feels good for you whether it's a short walk, dancing, stretching or anything else.
Gentle movement helps to bring your awareness to how you feel in your body and mind.
You might notice there are areas that feel tight and tense. I invite you to meet yourself with kindness and compassion rather than judging how your body feels.
An Invitation
I invite you to choose one of the practices above to try this week.
See if you can practice it at least two times during the week. And reflect on how you feel after each time.
Remember that when you create time to look after your energy you will increase your energy to best support your child.
If you know another parent to a neurodiverse child who would find these practices useful, share this blog post with them to spread the word.