Several years ago, well probably more than a decade at this point, I was on a team responsible for putting together a conference. The conference had to have a theme, a catchy title, credentialed speakers to lecture and do workshops, and of course participants. The title of the conference ended up being "Bridging the Gap" and for all the marketing materials we had a beautiful sepia toned picture of the bay bridge. The theme was something like how to bridge the gap between behavioral health crisis care and long-term community care. The short story is that due to various reasons, the conference was cancelled. But this whole "Bridging the Gap" thing has stuck with me, as a title, as a theme, as something I mutter to myself while crossing the bay bridge to visit my mother-in-law or visiting my sister in Pittsburgh a town completely made of bridges and gaps and tunnels and pits...
How much of what we do in our daily lives is bridging some gap? Walking that tightrope between two different parts of ourselves or areas in our life. That knife edge between who we are and who we want to be? That stretch of road between who we are at work and who we are at home with our families? What are the bridge building tools that we use to help us make those transitions, walk those lines? And maybe most importantly, how do we make sure we don't lose those tools or maybe forget how to use them, forget that we even have them?
I tend to be a bit of a hypochondriac. Last week when my seven year old son was diagnosed with strep throat, I went right to Urgent Care to get swabbed too even though I didn't have any symptoms. While listening to podcast last week about lithium and how it is used to treat bi-polar disorder, a woman described her manic and depressive states and I couldn't help thinking (not for the first time, "holy crap, I'm bipolar"). Lucky for me, I'm surrounded by behavioral health professionals and I'm pretty sure I'm not bipolar. But what is it that separates me from someone who does struggle with bipolar disorder or chronic depression? Brain chemistry, sure... but what do we DO or HAVE or SEEK OUT that act as life preservers or tools that help us build those bridges that keep us out of the muck?
On a walk with my husband the other day, I decided I needed to make a list to keep in my phone of those tools so that when I feel things slipping (like when the doldrums of February kick in and I suddenly don't want to get out from under the covers in the morning or on the opposite end of the spectrum decide i'm going to cut my own hair with kitchen shears while putting together a four-course meal for the children) I can bust out this "tool box" and build a bridge, a raft, a life preserver, or even just blow up some water wings...
So here is my (not so unique list):
yoga
make a hearty nourishing meal (NOT a Four-course meal!)
snuggle with the children
play with a toddler
build a blanket fort and watch movies on the ipad
go hiking
go camping
do anything outside even if it's just sitting on a blanket staring at the sky
make lists of random things that make you happy
do a lot of push ups
yoga breathing
play dress up
dance
hang upside down
