A Chronic Voice August Prompts – Confining, Draining, Anchoring and Restoring

I’m a bit late joining in with the August A Chronic Voice prompts again, but better late than never! I always enjoy joining in with Sheryl’s monthly prompts and was so happy to see them starting up again last month. This post has taken me a while to write as I’ve kept coming back to it in short bursts. Migraines have meant needing to cut back on screen time recently, so everything involving a laptop seems to be taking much longer than usual.

Confining – As I wrote about in last month’s prompts, this summer feels like it has been one long, unprecedented heatwave here in the UK. It looks like this summer is on track to be the hottest on record. Temperatures may not be as dramatic as elsewhere in the world, but for us in the UK it’s been stiflingly hot. Our houses, especially older ones, were generally built to keep heat in rather than with keeping cool in mind. Shutters and air conditioning in private homes really aren’t a thing, which makes prolonged heat harder to deal with.

For me, this has meant being confined indoors and staying home far more than I normally would. Walking the dogs and running have had to be done first thing in the morning, before it gets too hot for the dogs and for me. I’m definitely ready for some cooler days and a bit more freedom to get outside without having to plan everything around the temperature. 

Draining – OK, so this may be a case of too much information, but the weather is draining me. Literally. I am sweating all day, every day. In part, this is likely to be linked to perimenopause, but medication may also play a part, as it’s known that certain medications can make it harder to deal with the heat.

It’s not just the sweating itself either. Constantly feeling hot is exhausting, uncomfortable and makes it harder to sleep, concentrate or summon up much enthusiasm for doing anything. I feel as though a significant proportion of my energy this summer has gone into simply trying to keep cool!

Anchoring – Journalling has become one of the things that anchors me when life feels unsettled or my thoughts are going round in circles. There’s something about tipping everything out of my head and onto the page that gives me a sense of calm and helps me make sense of what I’m thinking and feeling.

I don’t necessarily journal for very long, and sometimes what I write is little more than a stream of consciousness, but I notice the difference when I stop doing it for any length of time. I start to feel more stressed and pent up, which is usually my reminder that I need to get the journal out again. It has become one of those small routines I return to again and again.

Restoring – Something else I’ve been paying a bit more attention to recently is my skin. I struggle with very dry skin as well as psoriasis, neither of which was an issue for me before developing fibromyalgia. Skin problems seem to be relatively common amongst people with fibromyalgia, and I’ve written previously about my own experience with them.

At the moment, I’m trying to be more consistent about looking after my skin rather than only doing something when it becomes particularly dry or irritated. I’ve recently started trying a natural body oil containing essential oils to see whether that helps, and I’m enjoying the ritual of using it as much as anything else. There’s something quite restorative about taking a few minutes to care for my skin rather than treating it as yet another problem that needs fixing.

Whether it actually makes a difference to the dryness remains to be seen, but for now I’m enjoying adding this small bit of self-care to my routine.