HALTT-Taking Care of My Vulnerabilities During Christmas

December 30, 2014

God knows us from the inside out. (Monica A Coleman, Making A Way Out of No Way: A Womanist Theology, 116) But it is helpful if we start to know ourselves well too. Mindfulness is important. (Myself)

I am back from my Christmas vacation and I am glad. Today, as I took a bath to warm myself up, I reflected on how well I took care of myself on my trip. I went on several walks where I noticed how the rainy northwestern weather created lush, green ferns and moss. So beautiful!

 I also took some cool pictures of boats:
 In one of the marinas, a boat was sunk years ago to provide a break for the water and now there are trees growing out of it!  It is really neat looking, although it was hard to get a good picture because of the cloudy weather.
The best thing about the trip was that I finally got to meet my brother's dog, Bee, who is just the cutest!
Like Bee, in the picture, I had to take care of my body and mind while on the trip.  Sometimes, after being inside all day with the same people, I would find myself starting to get really annoyed.  I didn't show it, but I did know that there was probably a reason why I was starting to feel not my best and that I needed to figure out why and how to deal with it, since I could not leave.  That brings me to HALT, which stands for Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired and I am going to add an extra T for Temperature.  When thinking about it today, I realized that the main ones to watch out for are the physical, because it is being too hungry, too tired, or too hot or cold that influences how susceptible we are to becoming extra angry or lonely.  When in any of these states, we are extra vulnerable to becoming more emotional than usual and not being able to stay in our wise mind.  It is not a bad thing-it just means that we need to stop and take care of that vulnerability.  Many times when I started to feel myself begin to get irritable, I realized that I was either very tired or very hungry and once I had some more rest or ate some food, I was back to my amiable self.  One time when we spent a lot of the day outside, the temperature dropped drastically and I was not prepared for the colder weather-by the time we got home that day, I was freezing and miserable.  Fortunately, I got out my travel self-soothe kit and took out a packet of bath salts.  After a soak in the tub, I felt so much better.  By taking breaks during the day, I was able to keep my levels of irritation down and I am very proud of myself-in years past, I might not have been able to analyze my moods and find a solution before getting upset, possibly resulting in a meltdown.
During the new year, practice taking care of yourself-your body, your mind, and your friends will thank you!
Link Love:
Suicide rates in the transgender community are exceptionally high, with more than 50 percent of transgender teens reporting at least one suicide attempt by their 20th birthday, according to theYouth Suicide Prevention Program.
Transgender people who need someone to talk to can call the Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860 or the Trevor Project at 866-488-7386.

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