Trauma can make you scramble for guidance and solace. Searching through complicated medical advise and therapeutic doctrine can start to leave a person reeling and disconnected.
Sometimes it is best to try to reconnect with something from your past to help you deal with your current situation. Maybe find a way to simplify by applying childhood things to aid in soothing your very complex, adult crisis would help you.
Be creative. De-stress. Find comfort in adding something lighthearted and silly to your routine. Change up the existing structure of something.
Like Cookie Monster's version of the alphabet.
A, B, C, D... COOKIE MONSTER!
(If you know what I am talking about, you probably smiled.)
When my head hurt so bad I couldn't think and remembering even easy things was difficult, I reverted to made up songs to remind myself of what I needed to remember or do, because I was going to be too tired afterwards to go back for forgotten things.
"Gotta get some groceries, better drive and get some,
Stop for some coffee, it is tummy yum yum.
Don't forget your dinner and better get shampoo
Otherwise you'll be hungry and pretty stinky too."
"Did you take your medicine?
Oh no? shame, shame on you.
Quick, better pop a pill,
Or headache monster's gonna get you."
Have some fun with Mother Goose to help you climb out of the darkness and clear away the confusing cobwebs. Change a nursery rhyme or bedtime story to get you more in tune with yourself. Rock an old tune with new lyrics to push the serious back a bit.
This little piggy went to market
(because sometimes you need to get up and out, not just park it)
This little piggy stayed home
(because sometimes you need to stay in bed, not to roam)
This little piggy had roast beef
(because sometimes eating tasty gives you some relief)
This little piggy had none
(because sometimes fasting keeps bloods tests from being redone)
This little piggy went wee, wee, wee, all the way home.
(because sometimes a good cry takes you to a safer place)
Jack and Jill went up a hill
To fetch a pail of water,
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after,
But that's quite okay
We all stumble on our way,
But when you're knocked down
It's nice to have someone else around.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
(minding his own business)
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
(suddenly facing a traumatic event)
All the king's horses and all the king's men
(those pesky doctors, nurses, and therapists)
Couldn't put Humpty together again
(single-handedly, but he had a village of family and friends to help)
Yes, it sounds ridiculous. Asinine really. But that is the point. Sometimes something simply silly helps make things easier by putting it in a different context. Your perspective is a powerful thing.
Whatever gets you from Point A to Point B in one coherent piece, even if it is the Cookie Monster Alphabet, is totally acceptable.
(Note: This post was not endorsed by Jim Henson, the Muppets, Sesame Street, Hans Christian Anderson or Mother Goose, but a whole lot of my survivor songs were certainly inspired by them over the years, not to mention bad 80's songs.)
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