Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hello everyone and welcome to Glow in the Chaos episode five. Thank you so much. If you are a returning listener for continuing to listen to me ramble, it means a lot to me.
[00:00:13] I hope that what I'm saying truly resonates with you. I hope it just hits home for somebody and I just truly hope that you can find peace and maybe knowledge and feel friendship, a sense of community. Listening to this podcast, I truly want it to be something that you listen to and you are like, yep, that's exactly how I feel.
[00:00:38] Just so you know that you are seen and heard and understood. You are not alone. We understand.
[00:00:47] We get it. And that is what I am here to hopefully provide.
[00:00:53] Today. I want to talk about five things that help me Glow in the Chaos.
[00:01:00] I wanted to talk to you about five things that I feel like help me get through tough days.
[00:01:07] They are.
[00:01:09] They might just be little things here and there, but I feel like we all have to have our go to. Like we have to have our toolkit of things that we need and have for when we are in a flare day or when we are over stimulated or when we are just not feeling good. So let's go.
[00:01:30] My first thing is going to be, I would say number one is going to be gentle creativity. So for me, coloring pages are a lifesaver. It's low energy but still creative and it gives me something to focus on that's calming instead of draining.
[00:02:00] Even just like 10 minutes with a coloring page or doodling can change my entire mood. I really like color by number simply because I. I do not have to think. There is no thinking required. I can get a coloring page, look at the numbers, grab the color that it tells me and something about just coloring and seeing the picture come to life. It just suits me. It just relax me. So relaxes me. So I recommend finding a good coloring book or a good color by number and guess what? Your girl knows where you can get some.
[00:02:43] I actually create some of my own coloring pages. I also have a monthly coloring club where I design a new mystery coloring package every month. So every month you'll get a new coloring package with a coloring page or pages of affirmation, affirmation cards, maybe a planner page. It's a mystery. So the kit that you would get every Monday is random or I'm sorry, not every Monday. Every month is random. So definitely I will drop the link in the description of this post so you can go to my Beacons page and take a look at my coloring club.
[00:03:28] Number two is going to be also something that I create that you can download super simple. But it is, it's big. I feel like it's my self care bingo card.
[00:03:41] So with the self care bingo card you set, it's.
[00:03:50] It just reminds you to take care of yourself.
[00:03:55] So when you start your bingo card, you want to start with giving yourself something that you can be rewarded with or like a little prize, a little treat that you can have after you finish your bingo card. Because I feel like this really is going to give you motivation to want to get a bingo.
[00:04:12] And the bingo is they're just super simple things like drinking water or stretching or brushing your hair or taking a shot. Like an everything shower. If you have a chronic illness, you know what an everything shower is, that is definitely something that should be marked off the bingo card. But this focuses on positive things that we can do for ourselves that make us feel good. And then I feel like that little push of feeling like I have a reward coming at the end helps me to achieve these tasks.
[00:04:44] My tip number three is going to be resting without guilt.
[00:04:48] Learning to rest has been huge.
[00:04:51] Instead of just pushing, pushing, pushing until I crash, I actually let myself lay down and nap or do absolutely nothing without shame. Rest is not weakness, it's medicine. And giving ourselves permissions to stop is powerful. We've got to set those boundaries. If you are constantly pushing your body to the breaking point, you are never going to, you're never going to have any good days. You're going to be stuck in a constant flare and friendship that is miserable. So please, please, please give yourself permission to rest.
[00:05:27] It does not mean that you are being lazy. It means that you are listening to your body. So in my opinion, that is making you so strong. You are in tune with your body.
[00:05:38] You are choosing to make yourself better to improve yourself, right? We cannot help others or help our family or be there for other people if we are drained and hurting and feeling sick. That's also not fair to them because they're not getting the best versions of us. So think of it. If you're somebody who doesn't like to feel like you're doing something simply for yourself, think of it that way. Your family deserves the best version of you. So if you need to take a break and rest to make yourself that best version, please do it. Friends, tip number four is a doctor health planner page. I also have this in my Beacons website or on my Etsy page that you can download.
[00:06:26] Whenever I get to the doctor, I just draw a complete blank. And not only like, am I drawing a blank But I'm kind of just like chickening out on telling them things that I have been planning to tell them for like months. I mean, sometimes we know with specialists it takes so long to get into our appointments. When we get there, we need to make sure that we are prepared to tell them everything. Because you do not want to get there. You've waited six months for this appointment. Get there and have nothing to tell them because you either A, chickened out or B, just had complete brain fog and you're put on the spot and you can't think about anything and you can't remember what it is that you wanted to talk to them, to them about. So with this appointment planner, it's got space to write down questions that you want to ask your doctor, it's got a place to write down appointment reminders, your appointment date, if they schedule any labs or, sorry, you can see the brain fog is a little thick today. If they schedule any labs or schedule any follow up appointments, it's got room for that.
[00:07:34] But it also has room to write down what they tell you as well. Because sometimes I will be an appointment in an appointment and I'm listening and I am absorbing what they're telling me. But then I'll like go home to tell my husband what they said and I just, it's gone, just completely gone. I can like name one thing, but it's usually not the most important thing that they told me and the thing that I wanted to get across to him. So with this planner, I feel like you are going to be able to go into your appointment prepared, strong and ready and also leave your appointment with the tools and knowledge that they gave you. So I think that this is a very, very good tool to have in your arsenal. Number five, I'm gonna say is a support circle. This is so, so, so, so important for me. That's my husband, my mom, my son and my best friend, my sister.
[00:08:33] It is so important to have people that you can talk to that you do not feel like are judging you.
[00:08:39] Now, they might not completely understand what you're going through because they don't.
[00:08:45] They haven't experienced it themselves, but that's okay. Just having people around you that love you and care about you and can listen to you whine and cry. Like, I cannot tell you how many times I have just whined to my husband telling him how much I am hurting.
[00:09:01] And that's important.
[00:09:02] It is so, so important to have that person that you can do that with and feel like they're not judging you.
[00:09:09] So if you do not have that support circle, please feel free to reach out. Make this podcast your support circle. I want to hear from you. I want to know what you want to talk about. If you want to come interview and talk out loud and get some of your frustrations out on this podcast, please do. Please reach out to me. I want this podcast to be your support circle. Especially if you don't have one. But add this podcast to your arsenal. I want Glow in the Chaos to be part of your toolkit. We are going to get through this together.
[00:09:48] Chronic illness is so life altering and it's just so so important that we can learn how to manage and cope in a healthy way and still remain true to ourselves.
[00:10:02] So those are my five things that help me glow through the hard days. Creativity, self care wins, guilt free, Rest, staying organized and leaning on support. I would love to hear what helps you. So send me a message, share your tips or tag me so we can keep inspiring each other. Because that is what all of this is about.
[00:10:23] Thank you again so much for listening to Glow in the Chaos. And remember, even on our hardest days, you're still glowing just by showing up. I will see you next time friends and keep glowing in the Chaos.
