Blog

After yesterday’s terrific interview with The Decatur Herald and Review, we were notified that would be FRONT PAGE NEWS! You can bet we will be framing that!

Today we head to our first open house for private resource and referral contacts. We will be giving a brief run down on services and perform demonstrations. Business cards and an email contact form will be available as will water and small refreshments. There will be plenty of time for questions so please make sure you interrupt us and ask as much as you want.

 

Are you in the public and feel left out? DON’T!

 

We will be having two future open houses for the PUBLIC! On July 8 and July 21 we will be hosting an all-access day for new professional contacts and the public at large.

 

Times to be announced soon.

CPR and when to stop

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is a process that many know as CPR. CPR is meant to return life to someone not breathing and whose heart is not beating. It is a process that any civilian can learn and can help to sustain or save lives especially when combined with advanced medical care. As a medical professional, paramedic, nurse, or technician, CPR is stopped when life is renewed or when the medical director makes the difficult call to quit. Civilians with a CPR card are under a different set of rules. CPR can be legally or ethically stopped under the following circumstances. (as always, check your jurisdiction or CPR provider to verify this accuracy)

1. When the person begins breathing
2. When an automatic external defibrillator is available
3. When a higher level of care is available (firefighter or paramedic)
4. The scene becomes unsafe
5. When you are too exhausted to continue

While the first three make simple and easy sense, the last two are easily forgotten or misunderstood. If the scene is unsafe, someone giving CPR cannot make sure of their own safety and cannot effectively do CPR while in danger. If someone giving CPR becomes so exhausted that they can no longer perform, then they will be ineffective and increase the risk of hurting themselves in the process.

How does this translate to self-care and self-love?

Two concepts that are ignored are self-care and self-love. One of the problems is that self-care feels entitled and self-love feels selfish. I am here to tell you that BOTH of those assertions are correct….but they are also necessary!

Self care involves taking time to work on something for you and your physical and mental health. Self care is needed to make your own personal world run smoothly. People, whether professional or not, love to help others. They do it often and consistently. But at some point, psychotherapists ask the question, “what have you done for yourself lately?” All too often, the answer is “nothing.” That is worrisome because we want our clients to care for themselves. But let’s be selfless and look at the problem from a different light.

If you want to be selfless, compassionate, and empathic, you have to be able to be those things for yourself first. Self love, like self-care, is something internal and beautiful but it is not a one and done procedure. You must practice it often. Without being selfish, compassionate, and empathic to you, you cannot give your all to another. Much like scenario 5 in CPR, if your emotional batteries drain too quickly and cannot be refilled, you will be less effective at caring for others. This is why we push and push to keep people practicing self-care and self-love. When those batteries drain, your capacity for care drains. At that point, you may a danger to yourself through episodes of emotional exhaustion, social fatigue, and broken physical limitations.

Lack of self-care, much like pushing the limits in exhaustion helps no one. It’s unfortunate, but true and it can be hard to admit to ourselves. We MUST be selfish from time to time. So if self-care and self-love come easy to you, then my hat is off. If you are currently finding new ways to take care of yourself, then you are ahead of the game. However, if self-care is not something natural or organic and you find yourself unable to cope, there is always help via friends, family, and professionals.

Now quit reading and go take care of yourself!
Comment below your favorite self-care activity!

The team (two-legged only) are in Dairy Queen in Monticello having a “business” meeting. We are officially open!

We are on limited hours at this point but look forward to new openings!

Recircling

One of the greatest frustrations in life is stagnation and worry over messages and events that you cannot figure out. You pour minutes and hours of frustrated thought into a problem and end up even angrier or more worried than before. What is the solution? More time and effort? Stepping back? Asking someone else to help solve the problem?

All of these answers are correct! But it starts with a simple concept of the recircle. Here’s is how this awesome opportunity works.

A recircle consists or more than just stepping back. It involves new information, time, calming, and support to solve a previously difficult problem. Greg Kersten shared a quaint but powerful story on why recircling works during his Nashville Green O. K. Corral Series event. In the short tale, he talks about hanging an apparatus and dropping a small metallic screw into the gravel below. Searching for minutes produced no effect. He walked inside in a huff and asked his wife to help him find it before he became irate. As she was finishing a chore, he went back outside to await her help. Greg explained that while walking back in a calmer state he looked down and saw a gleam of light that was indeed his previously lost screw.

 

The story is simple but it has a profound impact. Recircling can be taken as literal or figurative and still have massive potential. Whether you genuinely walk around and physically return to the area or relax your mind and find a new answer, you have performed the recircle. At any time we face problems that range from irritating to devastating. The impact, while relevant, can always be helped by a recircle.

 

What is involved in a recircle?

 

A recircle starts by admitting you are finding a brick wall and temporarily distancing yourself from the problem. During the recircle, you take stock of the problem and break it down into its parts. Once you have a calmer view of the playing field, you can start to assemble your team. The team are the people, tools, or ideas you require to attempt to tackle the problem for a second time. Tools might include calming techniques, physical implements, or self-inventory. These tools can help you launch new ideas on how to tackle what you are facing. But no part of the recircle is as impressive as garnering your support team or “herd.”

 

Horses utilize herd mentality which differs from a pack. Packs have distinct and accepted hierarchies of authority. One wolf at the top with other wolves at different tiers below. A herd is interested in the safety and needs of the team. A herd wants what the herd wants. At some moments, the herd needs to help the majority. At some points, the herd combines to help the individual. In short, the herd flows in a natural motion to work with the rest. Ask yourself who is in your herd and who you need to solve the current problem. Some people you can add to your herd are as follows.

• Family – Family is sometimes your greatest allies because they are your first herd. They have inside knowledge on you and your experiences, reactions, and needs
• Friends – Friends can also be part of the herd as they sometimes see a different side than what you share with family
• Support groups – Whether it is online or in person, a support group can be any section of people with a common goal such as Alcoholics Anonymous or The International Bipolar Foundation. They can be formal or informal and can be a great
• Professional and medical support – Sometimes a problem is too great to tackle on your own or with family. If that happens, you can add professional and medical support to your herd in the way of doctors, therapists, and other professional assistance

Regardless of who you choose to add to your network, do not feel like you have to do this alone. People of all types are waiting and eager to help.

 

At Healthy Strides, we use the recircle to achieve many powerful and lasting goals. We help clients recircle in a variety of ways.

 

• PTSD – Healthy Strides assists clients in forming and adapting to rewire and rewrite their symptoms into strengths
• Depression and anxiety – Let our four legged superstars work teach you to recircle and face pain with confidence and renewed vigor
• Families – Our team can help families and couples problem solve on a basic and cooperative level
• Teams – Whether corporate or otherwise, Healthy Strides assists teams of all shapes to communicate in fluid and appropriate ways

If you feel like the time is now, reach out to us and allow us to become part of your herd!

 

Healthy Strides – One Stride at a Time

We are ever so close to getting started! Paperwork is complete and updated. Insurance is almost complete and we are working on getting in with a few radio and TV stations in order to spread the word!

Good morning all! I am pleased to announce that we are getting closer by the day to the official launch of Healthy Strides LLC. Currently, the LLC is formed and we are officially a business. We are working on finishing our paperwork and getting our insurance in order before we can take our first clients. You can check back here any time you want to see our progress!