Cast all your cares upon God

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. (Phillippians 4:6 NIV) 

Not only do our clients have issues, but so do we. Practicing self-care is so important or else all the struggles we have had in the past can re-emerge. This past weekend I must confess I was struggling with feelings of inadequacy and overly anxious about my internship, assignments, and other expectations from my grad courses. Not only do we have to instill hope about others, we have to first make sure we have it within ourselves. No one likes a fraud, no one wants to be one either. So in being true to ourselves and others, we have to take care of ourselves and work through our bad days to bring on the good ones so we can be effective to others. We don't want to be burnt out, otherwise we will just be more miserable in our efforts to do our job and our true calling and passion will be lost. I know that all this is easier to say than to be done. For me to cope with my career, life, ect., it's a process of implementing positive things in my personal life over time that will bring joy and peace to my life. For example, instead of spending that extra hour before bed that I don't want to do homework, I may read a book that's not related to social work, watch one of my favorite movies, or like I have been doing recently, work on a puzzle. Even though I don't have much time to get my mind off things, these little things helps. I learned I have to make the time or else I will be unable to get a good night's sleep. Another thing that helps me is that while I am in the car, instead of tuning into the radio, I will put on Christian music like Misty Edwards, Jason Upton, Tim Hughes, Hillsong United, Tim Hughes, David Crowder Band, ect. This music gets my mind off the things of the world and onto focusing on God who has made all things possible for me. While I am traveling to or from classes and internship, this is a time I look forward to when I can get a break from the craziness of the world that faces me. So I hope that I can continue to do these things because once in awhile is not enough. Self-care is a lifestyle that I must continue to remind myself I need to practice for my own personal mental health.