Good morning everyone!
Angie woke me up bright and early this morning and with a cup of coffee at my side, I am ready for another day in which to succeed! It’s a phrase my high school physics teacher used to use on a daily basis. He was without a doubt one of the most amazing teachers I have ever had.
If you missed my Project Rawvitalize Week 7 post, you can check it out here. What I am really trying to focus on in my life is moving beyond surviving and into thriving. Last night (my most contemplative part of the day is nighttime) I was running through a list of what I’m grateful for, and perhaps one of the biggest things is being healthy. Yes, I said it, healthy. If someone would have called me “healthy” right after I got out of inpatient, I would have cringed internally while politely saying “thank you” or if it was someone I knew well, I would explain to them that for someone with an eating disorder, “healthy” can often be interpreted as “fat.” But these days I’m healthy and I’m proud of it. I’ve gone more than 5 months without symptoms (a few slips here and there but I pretty much always got back on track by the end of the day) and that’s how I know that I’m really beating this disease and it feels damn good.
Ok, so now let’s get to what a Thrive Guide actually is. I decided upon the name because I wanted to make my own little handbook that would be full of reminders on how to keep myself happy and healthy, mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally, and I will go through each one of these in a little more detail shortly. I get great inspiration and motivation from the books and blogs I read, the people I meet, the places I go, and the conversations I have and I wanted something tangible to help me achieve the goals that I want to achieve.
The first step in creating the guide is to identify what keeps you mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally balanced, healthy, and happy. This will obviously look different for everyone and it’s really important to dig deep and and be honest with yourself about what you like and don’t like. Don’t write down what you think you “should” be doing to make yourself feel good, but also don’t be afraid to write things down that you haven’t tried and want to. Does that make sense? I hope so. I think the key here is remember the dialectic of being good enough already but also knowing there is room to grow and improve. We are all works in process and it’s about the journey, not the destination because there is no one fixed point where you can stop (unless we’re talking about enlightenment but that’s a different story).
For me, this list looks something like this:
Mental Health
- Reading a variety of stimulating books, research articles, and positive, uplifting stories.
- Going to therapy
- Practicing what I learn in therapy on my own and devote time to DBT skills work
- Take my meds (and no, I don’t believe it’s shameful to say you are on meds- you don’t need to tell everyone or even anyone, but I used to feel really ashamed of it. If I had high cholesterol or an infection I’d take meds and it wouldn’t be a big deal)
- Devote time to meditate
- Spend time figuring out what kind of post-bac program I want to do
- Get my aromatherapy certification
Physical Health
- Practice yoga several times a week (how many times I practice depends on my body and how I’m feeling)
- Walk more and try running outside instead of using the treadmill
- Spend more time outside with Angie
- Drink more green juices and smoothies
- Eat a wider variety of foods
- Experiment in the kitchen with vegan cooking and baking
- Play more tennis this summer!!!
Spiritual Health
- Devote time to meditation
- Find and join a community that has similar spiritual beliefs/goals
- Read more books on spirituality
- Journal and write more about spirituality
- Spend time in nature
- Hug more trees (I did this when I was in treatment and I have to tell you, if you can get past the whole judgment of “I look like a freak hugging a tree and everyone is going to laugh at me,” it’s actually really awesome to hold onto something so steady and full of energy)
- Make and use a gratitude journal
- Get mala beads (more of a desire and not a necessity)
Emotional Health
- Journal every day like I used to
- Make DBT skills cards to keep on hand wherever I go
- Practice self-care and self-soothing skills
- Cultivate my relationships and have positive, healthy ones
- Set boundaries
- Practice yoga
- Paint more
- Write more
- Don’t be ashamed of being creative and do more crafts/projects
The Thrive Guide is not set in stone and I plan on revising and adding to mine as necessary. Now that I’ve identified some goals, I want to write them down on paper and make it look pretty to hang up on my fridge or somewhere where I can see it a lot. I also plan on using these goals to help me with my work on my vision board (see this post and this post).
I will update you as I “prettify” my Thrive Guide and I’d love to hear what helps you thrive! Please leave a comment and share your wisdom!
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Good morning! What a great post. I read through it a couple of times to really soak it in.
I have a list, but never thought about breaking it down into categories which isn’t a bad idea. In part because it changes the brainstorm process a bit as well. My list is more for options to lift me up when I just feel so down. More of a “redirect.”
For me I also have:
work on dog obedience
fully interact with dog (I have a tendency to really withdraw if I am feeling super low)
Ask myself what do I really NEED (I am working on meeting my own needs better).
Baking or cooking (love the process of a recipe)
This is some great stuff. I think I like “thrive” much better than “redirect” (the name of my list). Actually maybe redirect will be a category in my thrive list if I think I need the “if all else fails” category.
I loved your ideas and I actually like the concept of a redirect. I think that realistically it’s an important one to have in case nothing else is working. If you come up with more things, I’d love to hear them, Samantha!
I absolute love this. I am thinking about creating my own thrive guide because even being in a good place now, it is important to concentrate on why and how I got to where I am. Thank you for this!
Thank you Alex! If you do create a thrive guide, I’d love to know what you’ve included! Feel free to come back and share your wisdom! Thank you for visiting and for your comment
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