Kiersten Black

Be passionate. Care about the things that align with your values, your interests, and your experiences. Give your passion a place to go find your community and interact with it in a way that helps you to feel seen, heard, needed, and empowered. We have to keep caring.

What brings you joy? Engage with something you enjoy today. Be intentional about being fully present with the activity, put the phone away, disconnect from notifications and fully immerse yourself in an activity. Notice how it feels in your body and the thoughts you have before and after.

Center yourself on your circle of control in this moment. You can choose what to eat, what to wear, who to talk to. You can get involved in grassroots movements, you can speak out, you can turn the news off, you can choose where and how to spend your energy. You have a choice, be empowered by that.

Smell a candle, take a warm shower, sit with a weighted blanket, reduce stimuli of lights, noise, and news. Give your body and brain a break to regulate and soothe itself. The goal of this news is to paralyze you and deregulate you. Take a moment and re-center and soothe yourself with your senses.

As things pile up and the doom is heavy take a moment to practice gratitude. Be thankful for you support system, for a favorite snack, for a beautiful sunrise. Gratitude activates the part of the brain that helps to regulate emotions, memory, and bodily functions.

Do something kind for someone today. It will make the world a better place for both you. Take a step to foster those you are in community with. We need each other now more than ever.

It’s a new week. Be intentional with your time, set a goal. What do you want to accomplish? What value will drive your week? Think of something that sets you up to be successful and build mastery that aligns with your held beliefs. Be true to yourself regardless of the chaos around you.

Anchor yourself today in a core part of your identity. If that is being a loyal friend connect with someone, if it’s being a creative spirit then create to your hearts content, if it is being knowledgeable learn something new that is for fun.

Authentically embrace yourself.

Pick your focus and stick with it. We cannot fight in all fronts or we will become overwhelmed. But we can all peel off a corner in our area of expertise and begin to reveal effective strategies for resisting the chaos. Every single one of us has something to offer.

The world is a heavy place right now. It’s okay to take a break, to turn the alerts off, to stop scrolling. The news will be there when you are ready.

Remember it’s a marathon we just started. Pace yourself and set boundaries to protect your peace.

You can’t pour from an empty cup. Fill yours up.

Are you feeling stuck or paralyzed by all the news? Take a moment to align with your values and then put it to action. Maybe it’s the value of relationships and you connect with someone, a value of justice, write to a leader, peace take a moment in nature.

Authentically honor your values today.

Take a moment and take a deep breath. Feel where the stress is hitting your body and tend to it. Tense up those shoulders and hold it and release the tension with a sigh of relief. Stretch those tight spots and remind yourself of the good going on around you. Look for the helpers they are there.

Today was a rough day for many. And as we embark on the next 4 hours let’s adopt the practice of asking others the question what are doing to take care of yourself? Would love to hear how you met your needs today! #InaugurationDay #selfcare #socialwork #therapy