According to the World Health Organization (or, as some would have it, WHO???) "hygiene" is defined as referring to "conditions and practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases." While these long weeks of distancing have helped slow the spread of COVID19, they have been terrible "conditions" for mental health.
That's why 2020 will mark a new era for how we view hygiene--a period of heightened hand washing, mask wearing, but also of nurturing of mental health.
Like so many of you, I dedicated the past few years to an intense gerbil wheel of work in hopes of catching up financially from the devastation of the last economic downturn. Insane work hours for what turned out to be an insane goal.
Is it really catching up when you aren't making time for your own health while living paycheck to paycheck and barely covering bills?
I'm out of work. Phil's out of work. The Hudson Valley alone went from 9,000 unemployment claims to 150,000 as of this writing. Neighbors are fighting about who is or is not behaving with respect to safety. And, the fear of what next is enough to tip mental illness.
I was going to sell Mother's Day baskets, but I then I began thinking that's crazy...
Really? We're doing Mother's Day???
What about all the nurturing people that have not been or ever will be mothers?
Wasn't Mother's Day created by Hallmark just to sell more cards?
Turns out it was created by Anna Jarvis in honor of her mom, a peace activist who cared for wounded soldiers on both sides of the Civil War, and then after the War created Mother's Day Work Clubs to address public health issues. From now on I'll think of this day as Nurture Day--an opportunity to care for ourselves and others. This is a club that's not exclusive to Mothers.
Improving our public health requires a combination of self care and nurture of others. We wear masks because this reciprocity improves the overall health of our community.
So, now I'm selling Nurture Baskets--for self care. for care of someone who has nurtured you.
Muchas gracias. ?Como puedo iniciar sesion?