Having plans for the day is a joy. The anticipation can carry you through the mundane or difficult stuff that you have to do in life. Having them cancelled by something out of your control, such as forest fire smoke, is crushing.* It’s not just a simple case of rescheduling or adjusting. It’s a full stop. For me, it triggers those feelings of fear from the lockdowns: danger lurks outside.
Knowing What Struggling Feels Like
The positive part about developing my self-awareness is that I can fully recognize how my body feels when I’m struggling. But, acceptance of these feelings is still a long way off for me. Today’s step is feeling them and choosing healthy tools to sooth myself.
Smoke Gets In The Way Of Positive Tools
It’s so easy for me to grab a sugary snack and scroll thorough every social media site. It’s harder to find healthy tools when some of my strongest choices involve going outside, and taking deep breaths. I can’t do that. Exercise? Nope. Light a candle? Nope. My throat is scratchy and I’m inside. I need my inside air to remain as clean as possible. The smoke from forest fires has made the air outside unbreathable.** I feel trapped.
Adapting My Tools
I’ve decided that I’m going to use my teacher skills and think of this as an “indoor recess” kind of day. When the students can’t go outside, they need quiet, indoor activities to keep them occupied. Activities that might work for me today include learning to make Hong Kong milk tea, yoga on Youtube, doodling with watercolours, or starting any indoor project where I need mild concentration. Keeping my hands and mind busy with new, simple challenges, helps me avoid the passive “eat and watch something” trap.
Click here to read more ideas for activities that sooth anxiety.
Kindness Rules 🧡
A big dose of kindness is needed today, when many people have had their plans cancelled. I checked in with friends and family. I’ve checked in with myself and I’m finding ways to be kind to myself. If I don’t accomplish anything useful beyond that, that’s ok. That’s my new plan for the day.
*I recognize that anxiety from forest fire smoke doesn’t come close to the distress people feel who must evacuate due to forest fires. The anguish of those who lose people, animals or property because of the forest fires, is a much larger tragedy than being trapped inside by some smoke. If you are able to help those affected, please consider donating money to relief agencies.
**Click here to read an extensive article about coping with wildfires.
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