Resilience & Calm
The Beginning
This book is about cultivating a resilient mindset and a calm nervous system, using a few simple tools that are easy to remember.
First tool: Be like a ball. Resilience bounces back! No matter what life throws at you, there are ways to help yourself bounce back.
This book contains the tools that worked for me. I had to come up with them in order to survive. After the good fortune of not doing year after year of consecutive 40-hour work weeks, I found myself three years into full-time work and already starting to burn out. I work as a school-based clinician and a mental health therapist for children and families. It is intense work. I am also the mother of a young child. All this can be stressful, overwhelming, and very, very tiring. I had to find a way to make it through the week, something that would work.
Easing into Monday
Driving to work one Monday morning, I felt half-asleep at the wheel and wondered how I was going to make it through the day, let alone the week. "It's only Monday!" I remember thinking. "And I'm already fried." Mind you, I usually stay home and rest as much as possible on weekends, so this was unnerving.
I was listening to the Beatles channel on Sirius XM radio. Chris Carter, the lovely DJ for Breakfast with the Beatles, was on. He was advising his listeners to "Ease into Monday," and promised to play only the slow, relaxing songs. This helped so much! What's more, it inspired me to take that slow and easy approach to the rest of my day.
Why rush? After all, on a Monday morning, everyone else is also trying to shift gears from the weekend to the work or school week. If I went in guns blazing on a Monday morning, it would only turn people off and startle their sleepy heads. I needed to let go of the need to appear quick-witted and perfect. I could relax and just ease slowly into the day, gradually shifting gears until I got into the flow of things. I had to remember to breathe.
This mindset helped so much that I decided to carry it into the whole week, and that is how the inspiration for this book was born. Thank you, Chris Carter. This one is dedicated to you, and to everyone who wants to have a peaceful, relaxed work week.
How to Use This Book
If you work Monday through Friday, try reading one chapter per day. They are super short!
If you do not work Monday through Friday, there are a few different ways you can approach this book. You could read it on Sunday, or on your last day off of the week. Or you could simply read the chapter for the day you are on, knowing that each chapter holds helpful ideas for having less stress, any day of the week.
Be like a ball. Resilience bounces back.
Willow Soul Healing · Counseling & Hypnotherapy