Self care as more than just wine in the bathtub
Jarrett McCourt
May 12, 2021
Over the past year, I’ve presented what I call a “Self Care Seminar” at more than 20 universities. One question I’ve gotten at almost each one is the following:
“Is the average person’s mental health worse than it was before the pandemic?”
This is a tough question, and one that isn’t really as binary as you may think. I think the correct answer is somewhere between yes or no, depending on who you ask. Some people might tell you that their mental health is certainly worse than it was pre-pandemic, but others might tell you that the pandemic forced them to confront some demons that have lived in their closets for a long time.
As someone who not only struggles with anxiety and depressive episodes but also speaks with people regularly about their own struggles in presentations and at my job on Crisis Text Line, I’ve believe that the healthiest people mentally are not the ones with an absence of mental health issues, but the ones that have the most tools to deal with them.
The biggest part of my presentation is called “5 ways to go from hot to cool”, where I identify 5 of the most common ways to take a hot, anxious moment and turn it into a calm and cool one. Everyone can likely recall a time when anxious, running thoughts completely take over our bodies and minds. It isn’t until we are able to do something to take our minds off what is bothering us that we are able to relax and tackle what is truly bothering us. The tools I discuss are the following:
● Press Pause: Sometimes just asking ourselves (out loud!) what the source of our anxiety is can be an incredibly effective way to dampen the physical and mental symptoms of anxiety.
● Grounding Technique: A highly effective tool where we name 5 things we can hear, 4 things we can see, 3 things we can feel, 2 things we can smell and 1 thing we can taste. It serves to get our mind away from what is causing us to feel anxiety or panic.
● Personal Crisis Tool Kit: If we are able to identify a few things that can bring us back to a place of calm before anxiety hits, the magnitude and size of an anxiety attack can be diminished.
● Talk Yourself Down: By just asking ourselves what is the worst possible outcome of a situation (if we have a bad performance for example), it can minimize the stress around anxious and nervous thoughts.
● Use Your Support System: So many people I talk to feel an incredible amount of guilt around talking about their struggles, and so many of us have loved ones that want us to be happy and healthy. Asking for support in a time of need can be the difference between an anxiety attack that completely derails us and a fleeting moment of discomfort.
The tools I present are certainly useful in a hot moment, but one of the biggest points I try to hit home is that they can also be used preventatively to keep anxiety at bay. Why do we wait until we’re already anxious to engage in self care?
Self care tools have been useful for me and also for people I speak to on Crisis Text Line, but self care looks different for everyone. It can be having a glass of wine in the bathtub after a long week, but it can also be going for a walk, talking to a friend, or watching your favorite TV show. What’s important is that you identify the self care tools that work best for you, and that you know what those are before you get anxious. I think you’ll find that this really takes the heat out of your most tumultuous moments.
Named one of Canada’s “hottest 30 classical musicians under 30”, Jarrett McCourt currently performs with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Passionate about mental health and suicide prevention, Jarrett has been a guest on popular music-themed podcasts including "The Brass Junkies" and "That’s Not Spit It’s Condensation", speaking largely about ways to improve one’s mental health as a musician in the 21st century. In his spare time, Jarrett works as a supervisor with the Crisis Text Line, a global not-for-profit organization providing free crisis intervention and suicide prevention via SMS message. Jarrett has also visited several colleges, universities and summer festivals to speak including Northwestern University, the University of Michigan, the University of Kentucky and the New World Symphony. Moreover, Jarrett is a certified yoga instructor (YTT200), and is a firm believer on the positive effects of mindfulness on one's happiness.
