You know when you wake up some days and it’s really obvious you’re going to need a bit of extra loving care that day?

I had one of those days this last weekend.

I think I’ve got what my beautiful friend Jade Nelson calls “weight of the world syndrome” … bring tears to your eyes degree of neck, shoulder, upper back pain/tension. Part of it is going to be my shit posture for the last few weeks slaving over the computer, but the majority of it could probably be attributed to the weight of what I’ve been through over the last 8 months in my personal life. I fully acknowledge that while it’s perfectly natural to feel stress, it’s absolutely possible to use strategies to help the body and mind cope with that stress.

A while back I made a list. It’s a list of things that are known to help the nervous system come back to balance, and a list of things that just make me smile a little, or a lot.

Today, I’m so grateful for that list. In the middle of the fog, I didn’t have to do the mental scramble of remembering what I could do about the physical and emotional pain. I just had to cast my eye down the list to see what I could manage, and what was likely to be feasible.

I also did something I don’t normally do, and let my husband know what I was going through. I’m a little bit good at “being ok” on the outside of me – like some of you, I don’t cope well with others worrying about me – but I’ve come to see that communicating my internal struggles loosen their power over me. It’s ok to let that fragile guard down, be vulnerable, and do the ugly cry.

These are the things I chose for my extra-loving-self-care strategy today …

Magnesium oil application
Light the good candle
Laying on the Shiatsu mat
Loving-kindness meditation
Walking through the really nice plant shop
Sitting on the sand at Bondi beach
Noggin to noggin time with Shelby the Aussie Bulldog

I invite you to make a list of your own that is at the ready for when you have these kinds of days. Put it somewhere it’s easy to find, and add to it regularly.