Adventures in Self Kindness

Everyone has totally different ways of looking after themselves and their head. I’m writing this blog as a way to document my own self care strategies, as well as sharing them with others in the hope that there might be something useful for someone else. Keep an eye out for a mix of walks, recipes, crafts, positive self talk ideas and other things I’m enjoying at the moment.   

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It’s Mental Health Week, and I figure it’s a great time to share with you three apps I really enjoy using to keep my mental health on track.

Sworkit

Sworkit is my favourite fitness app for light exercise workouts. If I’m feeling stressed or anxious, or at risk of collapsing on the couch and falling asleep after work, I’ll use this app for a 10 minute stretching or yoga session. It always helps pick up my energy levels and I appreciate having a routine to follow to ensure I’m working through each exercise properly. Each of the four categories above are broken down into further areas, and you can set the time of your workout anywhere from five minutes to an hour. It’s simple, but sometimes simple is what you need.

Productive

I am a chronic list writer. I have lists everywhere. The thing I really love about Productive is that it’s just another place for me to keep a daily list. The point of Productive is that it helps you build habits, and track what you have and haven’t done each day. You can set how often and what time of day you want to complete the item; or set weekly, fortnightly or monthly tasks. For example- I can have a task for brushing my teeth every morning and evening, a task to go to the gym twice a week, and a task for watering my plants fortnightly. It’s a great way to remind yourself to do those important daily tasks, as well as track how often you do those things you want to be doing fairly often but maybe don’t actually (exercise, social things, hobbies etc).

Buddhify

Lots of people find mindfulness and meditation hard. I find it hard. I’ve been making a really conscious effort to do it regularly, and thus make it easier. Buddhify helps a lot with that. It has short mindfulness exercises in a really wide range of categories. These include travelling, eating, difficult emotions, going to sleep, waiting around, pain & illness- just to name a few. Regardless of where I am or what I’m doing when I listen there’s usually something that fits. It’s different for everyone, but I find the speakers quite easy to listen to and the content relevant and useful. 

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Exercise I like doing more than going to the gym:

dodgeball at school

all of the outdoor activities at work

rollerskating

long walks

stretching

lounge room yoga

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Point Nepean Quarantine Station

The Quarantine Station at Point Nepean National Park is made up of almost 50 historic buildings. It was established in 1852 and there is some great history. I’d recommend grabbing a self guided tour brochure and going for a wander, making sure to go into any buildings you can find an open door to.

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Macrame Plant Hangers

Mum taught me how to macrame over the holidays and it’s a great way to keep my hands busy. I’ve potted up a heap of little plants and succulents and I’m slowly making plant hangers to sell at the market. 

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Roast Chicken & vegetables

Ingredients:

1 whole free range chicken

lemon

herbs (I used rosemary and thyme)

vegetables- potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, beetroot, zucchini, asparagus, brussel sprouts & broccoli 

Method:

cook the chicken as per instructions (I stuffed it with lemon and herbs before roasting), roast all the veggies as per usual (apart from the broccoli which I gave a quick boil when everything else was done)

Approximate cost: Around $15.

Serves: 1 dinner, 4 lunches.

Notes: How cheap is a roast meal when you cook a whole chicken yourself! I know this is a pretty boring meal but it was also really, really delicious and I’ve now got delicious lunches sorted for the rest of the week. The chicken itself cost less than $8 and it’s got heaps of delicious cheap veg to go with it.

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Diamond Creek Trail (Eltham)

If you are ever in Eltham and looking for something to do I’d definitely recommend a short walk along Diamond Creek. Hidden just behind town the creek is super nice and surrounded by lots of green spaces perfect for a picnic anywhere along the stretch between Eltham station and the YMCA. 

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Quick Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients:

200g dark chocolate

about a tablespoon of butter (or similar)

2 tablespoons caster sugar

300ml cream

little bit of vanilla extract/essence

2 large eggs

sprinkle of sea salt

Method:

Melt the chocolate and butter

Beat the sugar, cream,vanilla and a little sea salt together in a separate bowl until soft peaks form

Separate the eggs, mixing the yolks in with the cream mix and putting the whites in a clean empty mixing bowl

Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form

Mix the melted chocolate in with the cream mixture

Gently fold in the stiff egg whites

Leave in the freezer for an hour or so they can set

Approximate cost: $10 max. I think. Apart from the cream and the chocolate, I always have the rest of the ingredients in the cupboard.

Serves: 6 small cups, or 4 big cups that always make you feel like you’ve eaten too much and make you regret serving it in big cups.

Notes: Best served with strawberries or some kind of fruit. Can be set in the fridge too, it’s just quicker in the freezer, and makes a nice snack the next afternoon as well.

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Wollangarra Flying Fox

I’ve got such a love-hate relationship with the flying fox into Wollangarra. Most of the time I love it- except when I’m exhausted after a day of driving, caving, driving, walking from the front gate to the river and suddenly faced with the daunting task of hauling the flying fox over myself with sore arms from lifting my own body weight all day. Also, as it turns out, I’m not heavy enough to make it all the way across the river. More hauling, more arm soreness. I had a really sore body all weekend from various physical challenges and as much as it hurt, it was a good feeling. Anyway, this has ended up being a pointless post with some snaps of the fox and some words about having sore arms. I’ll stop now. 

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Telephone Track

I’ve been to Wollangarra a whole heap of times, yet I’ve never walked up the Telephone Track. It was really great to be able to see Woll and the Macalister river from a different angle, with the homestead looking so tiny nestled among the trees. It was a great little walk, of which I’ll let the photos do most of the talking. I’m just glad I finally got to walk this track which I’m sure many have walked before me.

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Wollangarra Flat

Wollangarra has this crazy knack of giving me a really content feeling, with absolutely zero stresses or anxiety the minute I set foot on the other side of the front gate. I really love spending time on the flat when there are few other people around, and it feels like the rest of the world doesn’t exist outside this little valley. Having no reception helps with that too. It’s been a few years since I last visited Woll, and I was really grateful to be able to sneak in a weekend visit with good company, good food and good weather.

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Hiking Plans

I’m always thinking about all the places I want to explore and things I want to do. I’m trying to make a conscious effort to do them more. This week I bought a new tent in the hope it will encourage me to go on more overnight hikes. I’ve written a list of the walks I want to do and I’m looking forward to hopefully spending a few more weekends and holidays doing them. Wish me luck!

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Post from Sticky Institute

I love zines. I love how diverse they are, how many there are, how much it showcases the cool thoughts people have and a huge range of creative talents and skills. I’m constantly wishing I had the time and energy to make more zines myself, as the ones I’ve made I had a lot of fun doing. 

Did you know Melbourne has it’s very own zine shop? Well, if you didn’t, you do now. Hidden below Flinders St is Sticky Institute, for all your zine needs. Literally, all your zine needs. You can use their facilities to make your own (photocopier etc) as well as perusing the huge range of stock. I have a confession though- I find the shop really overwhelming. There’s so much choice and I never know what I want, and always walk out empty handed. I do however love buying them online, and leaving it up to the staff to make the selection for me. I’ve never ever been unhappy with what I’ve been sent, and it’s always a happy day when I get a sticky institute envelope in the mail. 

If you’re curious about what a zine is, looking for new ideas or want something different to read, I’d really recommend heading in next time you’re in the city. I’m sure you’re much more capable of zine shopping in person than I am.

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Lauren Merrick Illustration

I recently went to the Finders Keepers Market with one of my dearest friends, who holds a similar love of crafts and supporting brilliant artists to me. It was a lovely afternoon eating good food and wandering the endless aisles of cool crafty pieces. Although I’ve been trying to save lately, I couldn’t resist purchasing a couple of prints I fell a little in love with. I particularly love the moon piece but Lauren has lots of beautiful prints. You can check them out at https://www.etsy.com/shop/laurendrawspictures. They’re super great and I’m only a little jealous of people who can watercolour well...

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Georgia Maq

I had never heard of Georgia Maq until a friend sent me a mixtape with a couple of her songs hidden among a whole bunch of other gems. My car doesn’t have a CD player, and for the last 6 years my driving music choices (aside from the radio) have been limited to Fleetwood Mac, Custard, The Fauves and a few early Triple J Hottest 100 tapes. Not that I’m complaining- Rumours has been played hundreds of times in my car and has been a much loved road trip essential. It was super lovely however to have new things to listen to, and especially to have songs that were perfect to sing along to. Georgia Maq fit the bill exactly. I love her storytelling ways so much, and even though I still only know a couple of her songs (it’s easier to find music from her new band Camp Cope at the moment), I know them very, very well. Sadly the tape player in my car has died in recent times, but my love for Georgia Maq definitely has not.

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National Centre Against Bullying Conference

I was lucky enough last week to attend the annual NCAB conference as one of our past leadership students was asked to be a part of the youth panel. The day was fantastic, and it was especially great to hear so many passionate people talk about bullying solutions- both the experts presenting and the people I came across in each workshop. 

I picked up lots of great tips of things I can be doing in my own practice, as well as things to consider that I hadn’t thought about in regards to cyber bullying and schools. I went to a great session on Reach Out’s Orb game, which comes along with teacher resources and is about working on your mental fitness and social skills. I’d really recommend any teachers check it out and have a go yourself to see if it’s something you’d like to implement with your students.

The youth panel was wonderful to listen to, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it was super lovely to see a young person I know present her opinions to a huge room of adults and I hope she is proud of the way she represented herself and her school. Secondly, it was great to hear from the young people themselves and hear their personal views- it’s great listening to academics and researchers but sometimes it doesn’t quite get the point across as hearing first hand experiences from students themselves.

I always feel very lucky that through my job I’m able to continually learn about other organisations and individuals that work with young people. I am constantly discovering new things and hearing other people’s passion. This conference and our past involvement with the Alannah & Madeline Foundation has been no exception.  

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Fabric and Leather Shoulder Bag

Where found: Salvos on Smith St, Collingwood. Way too easy to walk to when I finish work early. They always have some lovely furniture in the window and there seems to be a pretty high turnover of stock.

How much: $12.25.

Why it’s great: This bag has a super nice pattern, but the thing I love most about it is it’s deceptive size. It looks like a small handbag but it’s got really handy pockets that fit my diary and notebook perfectly, a pocket at the front for things I want to find easily, and then a big zipped one in the middle that I can fill with all the things that make my handbag heavy without really ever using half of them.

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28/7/16

layers

dominoes choc lava cake

blue and green embroidery thread

big warm blankets

crossing things off the to do list

nice coincidences

non judgmental people

doc martens

unplanned successful op shop visits

starry sheets