Creative Practice Week 3 – Self Care

Setting boundaries and caring for our selves is critical to maintaining a healthy Arts in Medicine practice. Not only is it important in our practice, it is important in our daily lives. Without taking good care of ourselves, we become unhealthy, resentful, tired, burnt out and unable to give our best selves to our work, our families and our own lives. Setting boundaries allows us the power to say, "No" without feeling guilty. It permits us to protect our time, our emotions and those things that are sacred and important to us. 

Watch for these signs of caregiver stress:

• Feeling overwhelmed or constantly worried
• Feeling tired most of the time
• Sleeping too much or too little
• Gaining or losing a lot of weight
• Becoming easily irritated or angry
• Losing interest in activities you used to enjoy
• Feeling sad
• Having frequent headaches, bodily pain or other physical problems
• Abusing alcohol or drugs, including prescription medications

(“Caregiver stress: Tips for taking care of yourself - Mayo Clinic,” n.d.)

We often hear of this burn out as compassion fatigue. Françoise Mathieu, M.Ed., CCC., has written a very good article called Turning Compassion Fatigue into Compassion Satisfaction: Top 12 Self-Care Tips for Helpers. In it he suggests developing an early warning system for your self.  One of the tips is to create a self-care idea collection. He suggests that you interview 3 friends on their favorite self-care strategies and making a list. You might find something new that will refresh your soul. He adds taking time for your self every day, delegating tasks both at home and work, creating a transition ritual between work and home and exercising. (Mathieu, F. 2007)

Measures That May Help Prevent Burnout

• Mindful meditation
• Reflective writing
• Adequate supervision and mentoring
• Sustainable workload
• Promotion of feelings of choice and control
• Appropriate recognition and reward
• Supportive work community
• Promotion of fairness and justice in the workplace
• Training in communication skills
• Development of self-awareness skills
• Practice of self-care activities
• Continuing educational activities
• Participation in research
• Mindfulness-based stress reduction for team
• Meaning-centered intervention for team

(“JAMA Network | JAMA | Self-care of Physicians Caring for Patients at the End of Life:  ‘Being Connected . . . A Key to My Survival,’” n.d.)

When I am feeling stressed or in need of respite, I go to nature, especially near a water source. Whether the river, a pond, a creek, local beach or my favorite – cruising through the deep blue ocean, water’s negative ions revive my soul beyond anything else. High concentrations of negative ions are essential for high energy and positive mood (Thayer, 1997). Marian Diamond, a professor of neuro anatomy at the University of California, Berkeley, has found that levels of negative ions are inversely related to levels of serotonin in the brain. Negative ions suppress serotonin levels in much the same way that natural sunlight suppresses melatonin. Hence the invigorating effect of fresh air and sunshine and the correspondingly depressed feelings associated with being closed in and dark.(“Scientific research about how negative ions affect the brain and moods,” n.d.)

Breathing in fresh air, feeling the breeze and sun on my skin make me feel alive. And any time I can spend in it makes me so grateful that I can be there in that moment. My mixed media piece is called Sunshine Concubine because my affair with the sun is only consummated in stolen moments of time from my very busy life.

Caregiver stress: Tips for taking care of yourself - Mayo Clinic. (n.d.). Retrieved March 23, 2015, from http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/stress-management/in-depth/caregiver-stress/art-20044784

JAMA Network | JAMA | Self-care of Physicians Caring for Patients at the End of Life:  “Being Connected . . . A Key to My Survival.” (n.d.). Retrieved March 23, 2015, from http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=183563#ref-jel90002-67

Scientific research about how negative ions affect the brain and moods. (n.d.). Retrieved March 23, 2015, from http://www.negativeiongenerators.com/negativeionsresearch.html

Thayer, R. E. (1997). The Origin of Everyday Moods: Managing Energy, Tension, and Stress. Oxford University Press.

Mathieu, F. (2007). Transforming Compassion Fatigue into Compassion Satisfaction:
             Top 12 Self-Care Tips for Helpers. Retrieved March 23, 2015, from
             http://www.compassionfatigue.org/pages/Top12SelfCareTips.pdf