May is National Mental Health Month. One important piece of mental health
is self-care. This quote speaks to the importance of self-care:
“When you take time to replenish your spirit, it allows you to serve
others from the overflow. You cannot serve from an empty vessel.” ~ Eleanor Brown
In today’s world it is easy to get wrapped up in working, life demands,
and expectations from family, which makes it increasingly more important
to take a moment and focus on you. Just as when on an airplane they ask
you to put your oxygen mask on first then help those around you, the same
goes for day to day life.
Often, when we’re busy, we put ourselves on the backburner, running
here and there, taking care of this task or that. We forget that to be
our best selves we need time to simply be. In this technology driven time,
there are many mindfulness apps to help guide you to allow yourself down
time, to relax. Mindfulness has many benefits including increased sense
of calm, higher energy and enthusiasm for living (energy for all those
societal expectations), increase confidence in yourself, a decrease in
stress, anxiety, or depression, and an increase in compassion for yourself
and others. Most mindfulness activities take as little as five minutes
to complete.
My personal favorite mindfulness resource is at the
Free Mindfulness Project. This site has numerous activities ranging from three minutes to 45 minutes.
Some have you focus on breathing, others help you see how you truly are,
and others have you look at how the world is.
This May, take some time for you to be your best self- mindfulness has
great benefits and takes little time.
Lexie Hoffmann is a Provisional Clinical Social Worker (PCSW) in the Campbell County
Medical Group
Kid Clinic. The Kid Clinic is a school-based pediatric clinic offering medical care
for Campbell County students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade and
their siblings ages two weeks and up; and counseling services for children
4 years to 21 years. It is located at 800 Butler Spaeth Rd., across from
St. Matthew’s Catholic Church. The Kid Clinic is open Monday-Friday from 8 am-5 pm. For more information,
call 307-688-8700 or visit
www.cchwyo.org/kidclinic. The Kid Clinic is a collaborative effort between Campbell County Health and
Campbell County School District.