Emotional First Aid!

Sometimes you just wake up on the wrong side of the bed. Yesterday was one of those mornings. I’m facing a major shift in project focus at my job, which leaves me feeling unclear, vulnerable, and unsettled (as well as more determined than ever to transition to full time astro-herbalism as soon as possible! But that’s another topic…) I’d had a discussion the day before with a bank lender about getting a loan to make some major, necessary renovations to my dilapidated old home (like installing air conditioning and other pretty basic, EXPENSIVE issues), and the scope of the situation felt overwhelming. In fact, my whole house is under construction, and it feels like it will never be finished.  My kid’s highschool is giving us problems with his transcript and class enrollments. There are some complicated issues going on in my extended family. All of this, on top of just… keeping normal life going… Yesterday morning, it all just felt too much.  I didn’t want to move forward with the day, from the moment I awoke.

Everyone will have low moments. That’s just life. The Moon is currently in Cancer, and this is a good time to embrace the fact that we all have emotions! Even difficult ones!  And that’s a good thing!  Difficult emotions always carry a message, and it is important to listen to those messages. You just have to be productive about it.

Yesterday, once I recognized that a dark mood was settling, I began to try to think of how to treat it. 

The problem is that when you’re in the fog, it’s hard to think. 

I know I have coping mechanisms, strategies, herbs, treatments, things that help… but damned if I can remember them when my whole body starts feeling enveloped in thick fog!  So I set down what I was doing, racked my brain, and eventually remembered a few ways I could treat my bad mood. At that point, I did start taking steps to treat myself, but it took awhile to gather what I needed and to enact the self-care that really does help.

Once I started feeling better, it hit me: I need a “depression self care” box, an emotional first aid kit!  When this happens again, I won’t have to rack my brain to try to think about what to do.  I can just open the box, and it will have an array of options for me, all of which will be simple and convenient to implement.  So after my workday, I started putting my emotional first aid kit together.  

There are a few principles I used when assembling my kit:

• Everything should be as visually appealing as possible. Beauty is intrinsically uplifting! 🌸

• Everything should be as simple as possible. (When your brain is foggy or overwhelmed, you don’t have much energy or capacity to do anything complicated.)

• Everything should be as health-promoting as possible.  Like most humans, I often reach for junk food or bad habits when I don’t feel well… (and I try not to judge myself for it!) But I’d like to try to prepare things that are good for me. (Or at least, maybe a few steps better than eating a whole bag of Doritos.)  Let’s help my future self engage in good habits!

• Delight. Delight is the word I’m going for. Mild amusement isn’t going to be strong enough to chase clouds away; you need a spark to start a fire. 

The box

I found a box that I got on sale from Marshall’s awhile ago. It used to hold something else, but it has been sitting empty after a recent reorganizing project. This looked like the ideal size.  And it’s so pretty! 

And now, what to put into the box?

My first thought was chocolate!  Dark chocolate, even though it contains some sugar, is actually very good for you, and it’s a fantastic mood booster.  ALDI sells these truffles, a large box for only $3, and they taste wonderful:

But they come all packaged together in a bag, which you have to reach into, and they get cocoa dust on your fingers, which annoys me. So I decided to wrap the truffles individually in cupcake liners. This will make eating them more of a fun, decadent experience, and I won’t have to get my fingers dirty.  

Then I placed the individually-wrapped truffles into a box I got from the dollar store.

My next thought was to gather some greeting cards I’ve received over the years from dear friends and family who love me. Reminding myself of the people who care, connecting with their spirit, is always touching. I usually keep these cards in a drawer, but I decided to move them to my emotional first aid box. This way I can re-read them and feel their love coming through for me.

Next I included some capsules I made containing the following amino acids:

• L-theanine

• L-tyrosine

• NAC

• GABA

• DLPA

These are all natural proteins extracted from food, and they are strongly supportive of mental health. I have had great success with these supplements for my mood.  There used to be a company that made a supplement with all these amino acids together, but they went out of business. So now I buy the above ingredients in bulk and just make my own capsules. The mood supporting actions generally take about an hour to kick in. So these capsules don’t provide an immediate lift, but they are important to support me the rest of the day.

Next, I thought about how some herbal allies might be able to help.  I decided to put two herbal syrups into the box: Lavender and Hawthorn Berry.  These are the only syrups I had on hand with herbs that hold mood-boosting qualities. The idea behind including these is that I could make myself a cup of tea or coffee, and add a splash of delightful syrup into it.  Or, if I felt like something more savory, I could make myself some buttered toast and sprinkle the syrup on it.  Of course, sugar is not super great for you… but when you are depressed, your circulation slows down. A little blood sugar spike can be just the thing to wake you up a bit.  (I know enough to follow it up with plenty of fiber and liver support later, once I’m feeling better.)  Anyway, the lavender syrup was actually made with honey, which has antimicrobial and immune-supporting qualities, so it’s not completely bad! 😁

I also decided to make myself a couple tea blends. I called them “Joy” and “Zing.” Joy is uplifting in a gentle, calm way, and Zing is stimulating and exciting.  Both are quite delightful!  

Look how pretty the Joy blend is!

The recipes:

(Measurements are rough estimates, and done by volume, not weight. I used a tablespoon for most of the herbs, except the really strong ones like clove.)

Joy

• 3 parts Rose petals

• 3 parts Lemon Balm

• 2 parts Calendula

• 2 parts Tulsi / Holy Basil

• 2 parts Rose hips

• 1/4th part clove

Zing

• 2 parts Lemon zest

• 2 parts Lavender

• 2 parts Goldenrod

• 1 part St. John’s Wort

• 1 part Ginger

• 1/2 part Angelica

I divided them up into individual tea bags, to make the tea as easy as possible to prepare. Normally, hassling with a French press or a tea steep is fine, but when I’m in a bad mood, that extra step could mean the difference between making the tea and not making the tea. Again, we are going for easy and simple things in this box.

My friend Beth recently sent me a rose-infused oil that was dedicated to Venus in Taurus— a wonderful way to call on the comforting, healing powers of the benefic goddess. So that delightful talisman went into the box too!

And finally, I wrote a card to myself. On the outside is a beautiful painting I love, by Diane Madaras, an artist in Arizona (where I used to live).

And on the inside I wrote several instructions for some things I can do when a bad mood strikes.

A few of my instructions:

• What message is this mood sending? How is that voice trying to keep you safe? Sit with it and let it say its piece. Thank it for helping!

• Go smell something wonderful! (Pleasant smells are scientifically proven to boost mood. Not that we needed a study to tell us that, but it’s nice to have it!) Take a deep whiff!

  • Vanilla

  • Clove

  • Lavender

  • Lemon or orange peels

  • Rose petals

  • Jasmine

• Go for a walk

• Drink a glass of water

• Wrap yourself in a fluffy blanket

• Text a friend

• Go watch the chickens and ducks forage in the yard. (They are so cute and hilarious!)

• Watch a comedy show

• SING. [list of favorite happy, catchy songs, to remind myself what I like to sing]

Here’s my Emotional First Aid Kit so far!

I will keep brainstorming about other things I can put into the first aid kit.  I’d like to add some tinctures, for the days when sugar doesn’t sound appealing. 

What would you include in your emotional first aid kit?