Happy Hour Has a New Meaning

“In the old days” Happy Hour meant meeting some friends for drinks, typically on a Friday night but sometimes during the week.  Restaurants and bars would often offer discounts to lure people in before the rush of dinner and hope that early revelers would stick around for dinner too.

My how things have changed!  Happy Hour in my book now means any hour that I can carve out doing something that makes me happy.

Here are some of my top choices:

• Read a book that I’m really enjoying. I prefer to slip away into a novel but I do read work related books too.
• Go for a long walk in my neighborhood.  No clock, no time restrictions.  Enjoy the flowers, trees and chatting with the neighbors.
• Watch an “easy on the brain” movie or t.v. show
• Meet on Zoom with family or friends
• Talk on the phone with a friend or one of my kids
• My weekly social distancing evening on my neighbor’s front porch

Sometimes, unfortunately, these things are not enough and I have to pull in the big guns.  That means meditation, deep breathing, using Emotional Freedom Technique or Brainspotting, all tools I use in my practice to help my clients work with their anxiety, depression, and trauma. 

I also use a computer program from HeartMath that is a bio-feedback system to help regulate deep breathing.  HeartMath is a research-based institution that has been promoting stress management techniques for years.  The premise is that your heart and your breathing must be in coherence to bring the body into a resting state.  It is important to manage our stress during this pandemic and shelter in place because increased stress decreases our immune system.

HeartMath is offering a free program to help people.  I strongly encourage you to sign up for this and share with your family and friends:   http://www.hmath.me/hmexpfree

I am presenting Webinar 2 in my 3 part series this Friday, April 24, from 12-1.  In this session, we will talk about parenting during the pandemic.  We will cover:

• What to tell your kids about the virus
• How to manage behavior and anxiety-having a schedule vs not having a schedule
• How to use food and good nutrition to help manage behavior https://yourhealthystructure.com/about/juggling-three-generations-and-the-covid-19-virus-a-3-part-series/

Stay safe and well!

Dr. Vicki

Picture: ID 135845148 © Iuri Cazac | Dreamstime.com