Mental Health Posters - Day 17 of 30 - Things That Make My Life Easier

Each day I talk about one thing that makes my life easier as a neurodivergent mother raising neurodivergent kids while going back to school full time in my 40s.

https://youtube.com/shorts/gZeP3N4wOQU

Now before everyone comes at me for promoting a coping mechanism (and not therapy) to deal with big emotions (which, by the way, I love and do recommend and have spent years doing), let me first say this: We, in my household, have zero issues feeling our emotions. I have always encouraged my kids to express their emotions because I'm a firm believer that if you do not, they can become trapped in the body, and according the work of Dr. John Sarno (author of The Mindbody Prescription), the risk of not expressing our emotions outweighs the benefits of keeping them to ourselves because we don't want to inconvenience anyone.

Nuh uh. Not on my watch.

What I do struggle with, more often than not, is getting stuck in big emotions. If I'm obsessing over something I'm bothered by, and I mean really having trouble processing my feelings and it's been dragging out - sometimes I need a little help stepping back to look at the bigger picture. Because I don't have a significant other, I don't usually have anyone to share my big feelings with in-the-moment, nor do I have anyone to check me and say "Okay, Jaren. You've been going on about your issue for awhile. Kinda feels like you're dragging it out. Maybe it's time for a reset?"

So I figured out a way to help myself, no matter the situation:

MENTAL HEALTH POSTERS. Ah, I love a reminder.

Real subtle, Mom.

Something about seeing charts, colors, and scientific explanations really allows me to pull back and look at the situation through a larger lens.

One of my favorite posters is about the HALT technique - how to stop when you're in the middle of a meltdown by asking yourself if you are hungry, angry, lonely or tired. I can't tell you how many times I've been pissed off about something only to realize I just needed a long nap and a hug. Thank god for my dog. (Let me tell you that in my 40s, I prioritize sleep over having a social life because peri-menopause is dragging my tolerance in the mud. Boy do I feel better now that I focus on sleep. Let's see how long this lasts, perimenopause.)

I like to casually explain the posters to my kids when we are having dinner and they're in a good mood. They listen. So I'm leaving them up for the foreseeable future.

Btw - you can find these all over Etsy, Temu, etc. Give them a try.

How you handle meltdowns as a neurodivergent?

-Jaren