Tag: Mental Health

Coffee Catch-Up # 37

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If we were having coffee we would be either be still walking with our coffee or drinking it in a local park if you are double vaxxed. New South Wales is beginning to get excited as Monday week 11th October is when we are due to have less restrictions if we have had 2 doses of any vaccine. By the middle of November our international borders will also open as we will have reached 80 % double vaxxed. Todays coffee I really enjoyed as if was very smooth and creamy.

If we were having coffee I would tell you how excited I was to see a huge mulberry tree fully laden with fruit on my walk last week. This sight brought back strong memories of my childhood. I can remember having silk worms as a pet briefly and watching them make silk. It is strange but silkworms only eat mulberry leaves which is tricky during winter when leaves are scarce. I can also remember loving mulberry pies. They were fun but messy to make. Getting the purple stains out of your fingers was also a challenge. As mulberry trees are so high harvesting the berries from the top is a big challenge.

The dark berries are ready to eat.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that October is Mental Health awareness month. And what better way to draw attention to it than with a massive blow up elephant in the room. I love him. When I first started working in mental health 40 years ago it was never a common topic of conversation. Mental health really was the elephant in the room that no-one talked about. Fortunately this is no longer the case and I for one hope it stays like that.

If we were having coffee I would asked you who you thought our next Premier would be after the shock resignation of Gladys on Friday. It definitely feels weird to be leaderless during such a difficult time in our state’s history. I’m no expert in politics but my guess is the current Treasurer.

If we were having coffee I would have asked you if you enjoyed a coffee on Friday for International Coffee Day. I did and again it was a good one. I also wrote a post to celebrate in which I discussed the virtues of coffee with an acrostic poem using my favourite coffee style, cappuccino. If your interested I have attached post here.

If we were having coffee I would ask you what is happening in your world.

Thanks to Natalie for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare

Coffee Catch-Up # 33

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If we were having coffee I would tell you I can’t believe there is only one more week of summer. This year is going by so fast. Since our last coffee catch-up life has been very busy. It’s lucky that I have begun living a life of semi-retirement as I haven’t had time to work. One thing I have made time for on most days has been an enjoyable cappacino.

If we were having coffee tell you that on Australia Day this year it was 40 years since I started training as a psychiatric nurse. Back in 1981 the stigma attached to people suffering with mental illness was huge and many were too scared to seek help. Fast forward 40 years and with each decade, discussions about mental health have improved greatly. Now there are many options for treatment. One of the things that I am grateful for in Australia over the pandemic is mental health issues have been discussed openly and been at the centre of all government policy and decisions.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about travelling to Tweed Heads for a family wedding at the end January. The wedding itself was on the headland on the New South Wales and Queensland border. (on the New South Wales side.) It was set up so if there was still a problem with the Queensland border closures all guests could get to the wedding. The only problem was that to drive to the wedding site, we had to drive into Queensland and back into New South Wales. This was initially a problem to us as 3 of our 4 members were banned from entering Queensland due to having been in Sydney in the last 14 days. We worked out that we could walk if necessary but fortunately on the day of the wedding the borders opened up to all. So the problem was averted.

From our room in the resort, you could see the border barricades and despite the hotel being in New South Wales it ran on Queensland time. This was very confusing as our clocks would move forwards and backwards an hour depending on where in the motel we were. The front of the hotel also had dividing sections telling us which parts were in NSW and parts QLD. It was very weird for 3 days being able to see Queensland and yet not cross the road into it. On the day the barricades came down it was fun to watch the news being made from our motel room and to drive into Queensland because we could.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that our daughter started her registered nursing career and has moved into regional New South Wales. This has taken up much of our time both before and after the wedding. It’s surprising how much stuff she had in either our house or storage. Slowly but surely her house is coming together and eventually I can reinvent our spare room into my space. I am so proud of her taking a risk and moving to an area she knows no-one to follow her dreams and gain experience not attainable in the cities.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about walking around Sydney seeing the preparations for the Lunar New Year Festival. Throughout the city were various figures of the Chinese calendar. The first one we saw as the tiger which is also my favourite as I was born in the year of the Tiger. He was very cute and his eyes seemed to follow you around the park.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about our Sunday walk today. We went to Dixon Park beach, one of our local beaches, to see rocks and etching from 20 years ago that had been uncovered due to the amount of sand that has been washed away recently. This beach is between my two favourite beaches in the local area and I have walked it many times and never seen these rocks as they were covered by sand. Today you couldn’t walk between the beaches without climbing over the rocks. It was very strange. I was also fascinated that the sand in many parts was a mix of grey (assumedly from the rocks) and the usual yellow.

If we were having coffee I would ask you what has been happening in your world?

Thank you to Natalie The Explorer for hosting this weeks weekend coffee share.

International Nurses Day

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Today is International Nurses Day, celebrated each year on 12th May, Florence Nightingale’s Birthday. It is a day that everyone reflects on the work we do daily. I, like most nurses enjoy my job, even though it is rarely easy. One thing is for certain, everyday is different and it is never predictable.

I began my psychiatric nursing career nearly 40 years ago when training was in hospitals, not at university. Fortunately over the years the stigma attached to mental illness and mental health concerns has changed greatly. In 2020, hopefully everyone understands that their mental health is as important as their physical health.

I love this tribute written and performed by a doctor to nurses. He has reworded the song Always A Woman To Me addressing so many classic issues for nurses everywhere. I smiled all the way through it as it triggered many memories for me.

This year International Nurses Day is special. As well as nurses risking their lives to save the world, it is also 200 years from Florence Nightingale’s birth.

Nurses are the back bone of our community, always there when you need them. Next time you see or need a nurse, give them a big smile and say thank you. It will make our day.

Cozy Time

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I like to get cozy everyday. Taking time for myself, alone with no other distractions, is something I like to do at the start of the day as well as in the evening. Sometimes I am lucky enough to have some added cozy time after work before I start my nightly routine.

For me, cozy time is sitting in my very comfortable lounge chair focusing on what I want to do. In the morning it’s thinking about my goals and planning out my day. At other times it might be reading, blogging or slowing my mind down by watching a movie on Netflix.

In the above photo you can see the love we have shared over time by the creases in her folds. She has been a dear friend for nearly 2 decades now and if she could read my mind the stories she could tell.

Sometimes it only takes 5 minutes but my cozy time is my favourite way to centre myself.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/cozy/

Feedback Sandwich

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When I think about a sandwich I don’t think about food but a way to deliver difficult feedback. I start by telling the person something they do well. Where possible I try to make it as close to the topic we are discussing. After we have discussed this for a minute or two I then introduce my difficult feedback. Where possible I look at the big picture of the issue discussing how the problem impacts the person and others. If appropriate, I will also give some ideas to help the person to move forward and make the changes required. To complete my feedback I would ask the person if they needed anything from me and remind them of the positives of what they are doing.

Often feedback is very difficult to hear but I find the more open the discussion, the better the outcome. By using the feedback sandwich, the person becomes less defensive because the news has been softened by positive feedback. It is a system that works well and has an overflowing impact of developing respect between the people involved.

A win/win for everyone, the feedback sandwich is:

POSITIVE FEEDBACK

DIFFICULT CONVERSATION

POSITIVE FEEDBACK

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/sandwich/

Coffee Catch-Up #14

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If we were having coffee I would tell you how excited I was to welcome my 800th follower to my blog this week. My current goal is to have 1000 followers by the end of 2016. I enjoy my blogging community and I have learnt a lot over the last 2 years as I’ve visited your blogs. We are all unique and together we make each others world’s brighter.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I enjoyed working at my new hospital. They are a great team although they use a slightly different system to what I am used to. However, I quickly settled into my new rhythm and was lucky enough to work a few more shifts than I was originally booked for, which helped expedite my knowledge of how things are done.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I enjoyed my birthday last Tuesday. My husband made me breakfast before he had to leave for work so I took myself shopping.  I even managed to get myself a $20 birthday discount when I bought myself some new clothes. Bonus! I then caught the train home with my daughter who taught me how to hunt Pokémon before cooking me dinner. The one thing that I was looking at when shopping was a Fitbit however I have yet to decide if I would use it enough to justify the cost. If you have one what has been your experience?

If we were having coffee I would tell you I was grateful on Thursday night after Toastmasters to be able to watch the Semi Finals of the Toastmasters International Convention 2016 from Washington DC. What amazing speakers. It was also exciting to be able to cheer on one of our fellow members, David Griffiths who came third. It was hard to pick the order of the winners although I do think that the 3 people who placed were the best speakers.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I have enjoyed the bits of the Olympics that I have seen and was particularly excited to see some of the people my children used to compete against, do personal bests and in some cases come home with an Olympic medal.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that last night we enjoyed cooking pizzas in our outdoor pizza oven and chimney. The smokey flavour was awesome. One problem we found with the pizza oven was that it was too small to cook the bigger pizzas in. We solved this problem by using our chimney but it wasn’t nearly as effective at cooking them as the pizza oven. So with our new-found knowledge, when we move we have decided to buy a new, bigger pizza oven that takes all pizza sizes. We also secretly hope to be able to cook other foods in it using our various sized camp ovens. Cooking over fire – there is nothing like it.

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2016-08-20 19.37.22If we were having coffee I would ask you what is happening in your world? Let me know in the comments.

Coffee Catch-Up #13

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If we were having coffee I would tell you that I am looking forward to my first shift at my new hospital on Monday. It’s been 8 years since I have worked as a nurse on the floor helping patients and I didn’t realize how much I had missed this special contact.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I meet with the collaborator of my book last Monday for the first time in 3 months. I was pleased she loved the changes that I had made because it gives me confidence that my thoughts on the book progress are true. Although, it feels like the end is getting closer, I know there is still a lot of work to be done. However, I am still aiming to finish my part by end of this year.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I had a fun time at the supermarket this morning seeing if I could guess the amount of sugar in the foods I normally eat. I was pretty accurate so I think I will be able limit my sugar intake to 24 grams daily most of the time. If you are confused by this statement you can catch up here https://www.inspiringmax.com/the-power-of-sugar/ Today is day 3 and I am feeling good this morning as I slept so much better last night.

If we were having coffee I would tell you this week I that to insert my drawings into my book this week I discovered that I need to draw them in Microsoft’s Paint program. I have never used it before but as I get better at using it, this program will leave me with a more professional drawings, which will be good. I would also ask if you have used Paint and have any tips for me. Just for fun I’ll show you my first very basic drawing on Paint.

Mountains

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I won my Toastmasters Club Table Topics competition last week. This is an impromptu speaking contest where you are giving the topics literally seconds before you speak to it. I think my blogging experience helped me and now I move to the Area competition at the end of September.

If we were having coffee I would ask you what is happening in your world? Let me know in the comments.

Crisis

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Crisis

Working in mental health, for me crisis management, big and small, can be a daily occurrence. And while helping someone or even myself through a crisis is a good feeling, I don’t believe it is the best part of the experience. Like Marilyn Monroe in the above quote, “Within crisis, are the seeds of opportunity,” I agree that the opportunities that arise after the event are. They create personal growth within us that transforms our lives. We are a changed person, older and wiser. due to the lessons we have learnt or have been forced to deal with due to the crisis.

For more information on my inspiration to get through a crisis stop by my earlier post below.

Getting Through Tough Times

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/crisis/

Perfectionism

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Perfection

 

The meaning behind the above quote is that in general perfection cannot be reached. When you aim for perfectionism in all areas of your life you stop setting realistic achievable goals. This is because you believe you can’t achieve them so  you don’t bother attempting to, which affects your contentment.

However, perfectionism can be healthy if it is isolated to only one achievable area. The difference is how you feel about yourself and why you are attempting perfection. In some sports, Olympians can achieve a perfect score. However, remember that to get one perfect score—on one skill or routine—they also have practised the skill thousands of times imperfectly. They may have also injured themselves attempting to complete the skill. Athletes accept this as part of the journey and get back on track to do their best. They know and accept that while they may achieve one perfect score—they won’t always be able to keep this up and on a different occasion, they may achieve a low score for the same skill or routine. It is what it is.

The following table considers some of the differences between healthy and unhealthy perfectionism.

HEALTHY PERFECTIONISM UNHEALTHY PERFECTIONISM
Achieve your personal best Increasing anxiety due to fear of not achieving goals and self-worth is only achieved through completing unachievable goals
Do a good job at your workplace Setting yourself up to fail then being afraid to try
Do the best you can in specific areas of your life e.g. Olympians with perfect scores or students who score high scores in some exams Fearing failure to such an extent that you avoid the task at hand
Setting high but realistic and achievable goals Setting unachievable goals

If you want to aim for perfectionism, make sure it is healthy and achievable for you. Aiming for perfectionism in all areas of your life creates so much anxiety that you never get started and as a result your self-worth and content of life plummets.

 https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/perfection/

Coffee Catch-Up #9

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If we were having coffee I would tell you how dramatically my life has changed since our last coffee catch-up 5 weeks ago. My son has moved to Japan to be with his finance, I have resigned from my job, taking a month off before returning to casual nursing and this week it was confirmed that my husband has a new job in Newcastle, the city I grew up in. Life is definitely moving forward and the future looks bright.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about the great, wet weekend my husband, son, daughter and I spent together in the Hunter Valley before he left for Japan. The villa I rented contained a slow combustion fire place, so, despite the cold and wet we were toasty warm. I had kept this a secret from my husband to add to give him  a surprise. He was so excited that he didn’t stop playing with it all weekend. The fact that he didn’t have to chop the wood made his day even better. The cabins were in wine country and had resident kangaroos that roamed around the property. The photos below are from our verandah and we thought one of the kangaroos even had a joey in her pouch, however, because it was too wet we couldn’t get any closer. What do you think?

If we were having coffee I would tell you that since we last meet my blog has turned 2. I can’t believe how much I have learnt and grown since I joined the blogging community. This time 2 years ago I think I was still struggling to have 7 followers and now I have over 700 and fortunately they continue to grow daily. My goal by Christmas is to have over 1,000, which I think is doable if I keep chipping blogging away. My goal for my 3rd blogiversary is to have had 50,000 views. As this is  just over double what I am now on, it may be a tall order, but hey reach for the stars I say.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that since I resigned from my managers position, I have enjoyed having no stress and getting back into my blogging regularly. I don’t think I realised the impact the stress was having on me until I stopped and literally felt my body relax. Every time people see me now they are commenting on how good I am looking and how it is nice to see me smile again.

If we were having coffee I would tell you how grateful I am to A Momma’s View for choosing my poem on understanding as one of her pick’s of the week. It has helped me develop my confidence in my new skill of poetry writing. Stop by and visit her blog if you get the chance it definitely worth a look.

If we were having coffee I would tell you how nice it was last Saturday to share an Aussie BBQ with my son and close family and friends just hours before he left the country to start his new adventure in Japan. Sharing stories and future plans is great bonding experience and with the ease of travel these days nowhere is far away.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about the beautiful flowers I got from my staff after leaving work. They were so heavy and take pride of place on the table behind my desk, bringing a smile to my face daily.

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If we were having coffee I would tell you that my daughter’s birthday seems like it was months ago, however in reality, it was only 3 weeks ago. Because everyone was busy, it was extended over the week and celebrated many times with some intimate gathering of family and friends at the times everyone was available.

If we were having coffee I would ask you what you have been up to since we last met. Has your world been calmer or crazier than mine? Let me know in the comments.

Coffee Catch-up # 8

Weekend Coffee Share