Compassion Fatigue Solutions

Whether or not we have children returning to school, many of us make resolutions in September. They often have to do with our lifestyle: to eat more fruit and vegetables, to sign up for a class, to go to the gym more often, to make menus and plan for the week ahead, etc.

Some of these resolutions become incorporated in our lifestyle, and others quickly fall by the wayside because they were either unrealistic, too ambitious or we got caught up in the busyness of life again and ran out of time. (Or, the therapist in me would suggest, we have not yet done the necessary emotional prep work to make this change possible.)

Suggested Activity:
Before the Fall gets too hectic, I would like to invite you to take a few minutes today to take stock of one of the following areas of your life:

Physical health
Physical exercise
Clutter
Finances

There are many other good categories we could explore, but this will do for today.

Take a blank sheet of paper and a pen (or your laptop) and select the first category that jumps out at you. Write this category down at the top of your sheet. Now, write down whatever thoughts or words come to your mind in reaction to this category. For most of us, these initial jots will likely be negative or "shoulds" e.g.: Physical health - haven't been to doctor in three years, back is sore, worried about mole on back, etc.

Write as many items down as can fill a sheet. Now turn the sheet over and write down all the positives about that category - your strengths or things that you have improved on.

Once you have written as many things as you can, have a think about one micro-movement you could make towards improving that area of your life. Micro-movements are a concept put forth by SARK in her book Make your Creative Dreams Real. It can be as small as you want. Examples would be: "I will book a doctor's appointment by the end of the month", "I will eat one more fruit per day starting tomorrow", "I will clean out one drawer in my messy office on Friday".

Once you have this mini resolution, write it down in your daytimer, agenda or calendar. To make this resolution even more solid, ask a friend of yours to be your accountability buddy or, if you want, you can post your commitment on this blog (it can be anonymous) in the comments section.

I am quite pleased with my own Fall resolution: I decided to delegate lunch making in my home. My children now make their own lunches - I still make the sandwich and they do everything else. I'm not sure how I ended up winning the easiest job but they both seemed really pleased with themselves when I said "ok, I'll do the sandwich and you do the three peanut-free, garbage free snacks which includes having to rummage through the plastic container cupboard in a futile search for the corresponding lid. Ok?" So I have now gained a full thirty minutes each morning (yes, that is how long it was taking me, don't ask, I don't know why, but it was).

Have fun with the resolution and make it realistic and achievable.