What is your glue during difficult times? How do you hold yourself and your life together during stressful times such as these?
Kintsugi is the Japanese are of repairing broken pottery by mending the cracks with lacquer (glue or resin substance) dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver or platinum. The art reflects a method or technique that allows the cracks and crevices to tell a story of an object, rather that disgusing a blemish, flaw or imperfection. The focus is on the precious metal used to place it back together, thereby making it more valuable and beautiful. the art can teach us so much about resiliency and using our resources and support systems to hold us together or piece us back together.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and all of the closures, restrictions, and recommendations, you may find yourself stretched thin. You may find yourself in the depths of your grief and now trying to figure out how to care for yourself, as well as your family. This may be a difficult thing to do while trying to navigate the world today trying to cope with the spread of the virus.
This is the time to reinforce your glue. Recall the valuable and precious people in your life, your resources and enhanced coping skills. Remember your tools, whether it is journaling, practicing self-care, exercise, counseling, hanging out with friends and family, via telephone or Facetime/Skype or in person (as much as you are able with the current recommendations). Keep in mind that you are resilient. Also practice good self-talk, such as, I am safe, I am loved, and I will get through this. In the small pauses of life, practice gratitude, give of yourself when you are able, and give to yourself any chance you can get. Hold yourself in high regard, and care for yourself deeply enough to honor your own thoughts and feelings, while utilizing all you have learned throughout the process. You do not have to put your grief on hold just because the world seems as though it is in a holding pattern. You matter and your story matters, and just like the Japanese art of Kintsugi, the more broken you are by something, the more beautiful you are.
Authored by Dr.Christina Warden, DSW, LCSW