I feel as though my journey with health and wellbeing has evolved over my years as I have grown as an individual. The strategies and tools that I use to let myself regulate and come down from some stressful events really stem from when COVID was happening in the world. COVID of course is still a factor, however I am speaking more so when it was in the height of COVID, and things had started to get shut down. My hockey was cancelled, and for the first time since I was 5 years old, I didn’t have any hockey to play. This was very weird for me as I would say that hockey was my safe space, my space I could go to forget about all the other stresses of life and just enjoy. So, with hockey being gone I was forced to find new wellness tools for myself. With the added challenge of much being closed. Walking… Walking became my safe space, a thing I could do and feel safe, clear my mind, be at peace. I could switch things up and listen to a podcast or music, or the nature around me. I could go down new and different paths, or I could stick with what I knew. Walking genuinely became therapy for me and I don’t think I could put into words how heavily I rely on it still to this day now. I can be feeling anxiety or be upset and angry and now crave going for a walk so I can release that feeling, and it works for me generally every time. A newer tool I have added to the toolbox recently is Pilates. I just do Pilates videos at my home with my yoga mat and quiet room. I have loved how it has made not only my body feel but also my mind. I am a big workout person and I love lifting weights, but Pilates has been an amazing switch up for my body and has almost just forced me to slow down a little bit. I will certainly be continuing to do Pilates for a long time to come, I have grown to love it so much. The final big tool in my toolbox is simply finding alone time. I am an introverted person for the most part and my social battery gets drained by the end of a busy day. I know how important it is for me to have my space from friends, family, everyone to just be by myself to re-group. I know I will be more pleasant to be around if I can have some alone time in my day. This is the bulk of my tool box, I love my tools, and I hope to add more tools as I move into this teaching chapter in my life.
