Good Riddance 2020

Self-Care

We all lead busy, hectic, time-pressured lives these days. Many of our clients admit to feeling as though they are dropping the ball in their marriage, with their kids, with family, and at work. There simply don’t seem to be enough hours in the day to be everything to everyone who needs something from us.

This is especially true for those who identify caregiving as a primary function in their relationships. For these folks, it is critical to recognize and honor your personal limits, and know when to step back and exercise healthy self-care.

Recognizing the value of taking good care of yourself and learning how to set boundaries in your life are just a couple of the tasks of appropriate self-care. If the idea of taking good care of yourself seems foreign to you, a caring professional counselor can help you to become aware of—and honor—those needs.

Good Riddance 2020

12/27/2020

by Kathy Cap, LLPC, NCC

Kathy Cap is a Limited Licensed Professional Counselor (LLPC) in private practice at Trinity Family Counseling Center. She is a graduate of Oakland University with a Masters in Counseling and joins Trinity after a number of years in a solo practice. Kathy enjoys working with couples, and adults of all ages, including those older adults facing an array of life transitions related to health changes, loss, and caregiving.

This year has been unlike any we have ever experienced.

At this point, after more than nine months of living with a pandemic, I think it’s safe to say we are ready for 2020 to be a distant memory. Between the loss of celebrations, isolation, shorter days, and longer nights many of us find ourselves stuck. Our anxiety has been increasing along with the grief that comes with having lost so much this year.

While these feelings are valid, it’s essential to not allow yourself to become stuck but instead to find hope. As uncomfortable as it may feel, pushing ourselves to imagine a better future is critical to our well-being. There are a few things we can do to foster hope no matter how hopeless things might seem.

First, begin with giving yourself permission to feel what you’re feeling. It’s ok to not be ok. Next, implement some self-care. This can be a walk, listening to music, or taking a relaxing bath. Then begin to identify and reframe your negative thinking pattern. For example, instead of saying “This year has been terrible and everything I was hoping to accomplish has been canceled, nothing is going my way.” Dispute and reframe this thought by saying: “Maybe everything has been pushed back a year but that doesn’t mean all is lost it just means it will take me a little longer to accomplish my goals.”

Lastly, remember that now, more than ever, a new year brings with it, new possibilities.