Braiding A Bracelet

A key part of this blog and my creation of Wave Back is selling these blue and white bracelets. The making of the bracelets started out as a way for people to show their support for mental health. As I continue share them, though, I have come to realize how important they really are to me. Through my recovery journey, I needed to learn skills to use when I needed help with coping with stress. Coping skills can be tricky because they are not guaranteed to solve all your problems (although that would be nice!) I have had to learn what kind of skills work for me and when to use them. I’m not saying I’m the master

of coping, but I would say I have a few pretty great skills to share with you.

One of them is on your wrist! Not only are these bracelets beautiful and fun to wear, they also serve a purpose in my recovery. I often struggle with issues around guilt, including the guilt of eating. It’s pretty sad to feel guilty for doing A NORMAL HUMAN BEHAVIOR!! But that’s just one of the ways the eating disorder messes with you. The thoughts that swirl around in my head after a meal are so loud and damaging. As I braid each individual bracelet, the loudness becomes quieter. Watching my fingers quickly weave through the string calms me. I get lost in the weave, and I soon realize that whatever was making me feel so sad, is not as powerful as I had thought it was. With this activity, I can come back to reality and shake away those mean thoughts in my head.

Bracelet making and other art projects were a BIG thing in the hospital. At the time, I thought it was kind of silly, but now it clearly wasn’t just to have us pass the time but to learn how to channel our stress and anxieties in a less harmful way. Braiding a bracelet may not work for you, but you should find something that can help you come back to reality. Before Wave Back, I was able to reduce my high stress moments with a temperature change. If I was freaking out at dinner or crying over how I felt about my body, my parents would bring me a frozen orange. It sounds kind of weird I know. I would hold the orange in my hand or place it on my leg and recognize how cold it was. I would focus on that temperature change and it would calm me and bring me back to the present moment. This also worked with splashing water on my face, or taking a deep breath outside in the winter air. One time I walked quickly up the hill of my street and just in that short time where my heartrate changed, I was able to find myself again. In no way do these small distractions solve the real issues that I am struggling with, but it grounds me and helps me realize how foggy I get when I let my ED voice take over. Part of my recovery is finding clarity in my thinking, and since reducing my anxiety is essential to my getting to that place, these quieter moments have been critical to my recovery.

Coping skills are a challenge to master, but with time it will become more comfortable. It did for me. I have found the ones that work for me and I practice them regularly. My Wave Back bracelets have also taught me something else. Each one is unique and none of them are perfect…. More on that in another blog!