Self-Care and painting amidst the "Everything"

Good tidings to you all fellow wargamers and welcome.  It's been a rough year so far for the world with everything that has been going on here in the US and globally and it's been challenging for many to cope.  So I wanted to take this post in a slightly different direction than I usually do because of what's been going on and while I could write as if nothing is going on it would not be fair for you dear reader to not acknowledge the reality of where we are as a people.  So without focusing on doom and gloom here, we go!

When I originally wrote some form of below it was during a time when the "biggest issue" was the outbreak and spread of the COVID19 virus.  Since then we have been through A LOT of other things here in the US.  It's been a really tense and stressful time for many people.  Myself being a counselor in the mental health field, have been working with folks dealing with new stressors and their own mental health pieces.  It's been challenging for many, and myself with my own mental health challenges have been figuring out how to navigate everything so that I can help those who need it.  That's partly why I've not kept up with this blog as I would have liked, but here we are in hopefully what is a moment of calm to shelter from the storm at large.

As wargamers, I would dare say that there are many of us who are struggling with some of these issues right now.  Therefore I want to help encourage you in this time and offer some insight into parts of our hobby that may not have been considered therapeutic before.  With that, I have to throw out the caveat (thanks to our litigation-happy nation) that this is not intended to diagnose/treat/provide any services to anyone who is suffering from mental health conditions.  If you suspect that you suffer from mental health concerns and need additional assistance please consult your local provider for referrals to services as available in your local area.  This article is not to be taken as mental health advice/research/treatment/etc but a source of encouragement and some considerations to be taken.

A big thing that I am going to advocate for in this time is the concept and practice of self-care.  It's a pretty common buzzword I hear a lot online that for many translates to "treat yourself" or "spend money on spa days/chocolate/whatever."  Self-care is simply making sure you take care of yourself and get the things that you need to keep going.  There is a lot of stress/anxiety/depression going around and that has an impact on interfering with self-care practices. We can easily forget at the moment when folks are faced with new challenges, old stressors, and the events continuing to take place in our world, that part of regular mental health care includes practicing self-care.

Self-care as we clinicians help clients with often incorporate things like making sure you're eating well, getting good sleep as much as possible, getting some exercises in, socializing to some degree, engaging in activities, etc.  It's about taking care of yourself in these trying times and not some sort of fantasy that society thinks you need to do.  Self-care is a personal/individual thing and while these are some suggestions for you feel free to adapt things as you need to for your routine.  I want to caution that doing self-care isn't the same as getting actual treatment or help.  This won't treat depression quite like a counseling session would, or get to the root cause of issues.  What this will do is help the foundation of "you" being at a stronger place so when those things do hit then you're hopefully in a better spot to handle them.  These things are bad enough as it is, but it's even worse when you don't feel great in general already and then it hits you.

So I've found in my experience hobbying, specifically painting, has an interesting effect on anxiety. Now I preface this with: it works for me, and I hope it helps you but if not then that doesn't mean something is wrong with you.  I've noticed that for me painting has a grounding effect on my anxiety. What I mean by it being grounding is that anxiety has a tendency to push people into this zone of "what ifs."  You know it's like you start going "what if X happens, and then what if Y happens, what if I do Z," and so on.  Grounding techniques can help bring you back down from that zone and back to your 'normal' sort of state.  You have to focus on the here and now instead of the "what ifs," so things like the colors/textures/shapes/painting can help manage some of these anxious feelings.  Personally, I found that painting plus some audio medium like a podcast has done wonders for my stress and anxiety.  It's helped bring it from some pretty high levels to something more manageable, and that's truly the goal of self-care is to make all the stuff more manageable.

Like I said it may not work for you, but if it's something you're able to do and need something to help focus on something then give it a shot.  You might find something new to help out in times of great stress you never thought of before.  It's a wild time right now with a lot of uncertainty, fear, confusion, stress, and so on so please take care of yourselves.  Do the self-care and be safe out there.  If you are reading this and you feel like you need additional help then I encourage you to go talk to someone whether it's a local counselor, crisis worker, or whatever it is you have in the area.

Well, folks, that's all I got for now.  Take care of yourselves out there, it's a crazy time and my hope is that we get through this with our health (mental and physical) intact.  Hopefully, some of this stuff helps you out, if you're already practicing it then great!  If not then I hope that it encourages you towards keeping yourself sane and floating in these times.  Next time I'll go back to the usual hobby posting and help give a break from the real world.  Until then folks stay safe out there and take care of yourselves.