Self-Soothing the Sadness Away

"Freedom isn't an anomaly.  Let go."  A picture from my Color Me Calm coloring book.  The person in this picture is freeing herself by letting go of some of her emotions?  Preconceived notions? Anger, greed, desire?  The picture is up to interpretation.  I have been struggling with some sadness and exhaustion lately and I have been trying to free myself by letting go of some of my expectations of other people and of myself.

I have decided that I am not going to push myself into getting a full time volunteer job right away, but just take it one step at a time.  I'll add the job at a nursing home gradually.  I think I was beginning to expect too much out of myself and I need to continue focusing on my emotional needs.

DBT skills that I have used today is self-soothing myself and mastery.  I did these things by cooking a good dinner-a yummy chicken salad with a homemade dressing.  I wish I had taken a picture!  Usually I stay near my therapist's office after my session to wait for a support group a little later, but I was feeling really tired today.  Oddly enough though, I didn't want to go to sleep right away, but I wanted to do something that I do well to make me feel better, so I made dinner when I got home.  I find the repetitive actions in cooking, like the chopping and mixing, to be self soothing.  It was amazing how much better I felt after making my dinner, especially since I enjoyed the taste of it too!

Sadly, I didn't take any pictures tonight, but here is the recipe for the slightly spicy dressing:
mix together 3T of A Taste of Thai peanut sauce mix, 1/2 cup coconut milk, and lime juice.  Enjoy!

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