Self Care and Lifestyle Balance Inventory

In a typical month, how often has the following been true for you? For each question, write the number that best fits your experience.

0 - almost never
1 - seldom
2 - sometimes
3 - often
4 - almost always

1. I have at least one full day off work each week.
2. I take some time for myself to be quiet, think, meditate, write and/or pray.
3. I work no more than 8 hours a day when not on deployment.
4. I exercise for at least 25 minutes, 5 days a week.
5. I do something I find fun.
6. I practice muscle relaxation, yoga, stretching, meditation or slow-breathing.
7. I share how I am feeling with at least one friend or my partner.
8. I get 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night.
9. I am careful to eat a balanced diet.
10. I drink more than 1 to 2 alcoholic drinks (0 most days, 1 several times a week, 2 once a week, 3 once a month, 4 never).
11. On balance I have more positive emotional experiences than negative.
12. At the end of the day I can leave the pressures of work behind.
13. I slow down when I am becoming tired, run-down and vulnerable to illness.
14. There are people who care about me that I trust, to whom I can talk if I want.
15. I do something I find creative or expressive.
16. I feel I have the training and skills I need to do my job well.
17. I stand up for myself, saying "NO" when I need to.
18. At work, I take a brief break every two hours and switch tasks regularly.
19. I spend time with trusted others who are part of a community of meaning and purpose (church/ community volunteers/ work colleagues/ book group).
20. I feel good about my ability to communicate with others.
21. I spend my time and energy doing what is really important to me in life.
22. I believe in my ability to accomplish goals, even when I encounter difficulties.
23. I set realistic goals for my life and work towards them.
24. I take good vacations.
25. I am able to let go of mistakes I have made.
26. I am able to manage conflict constructively.
27. I am able to let go of grudges.
28. I smoke or use other recreational drugs (0 most days, 1 several times a week, 2 once a week, 3 once a month, 4 never).

Scoring

0 - 29
This range suggest that your self care skills and lifestyle balance strategies may be POOR and that you could probably benefit from developing a plan to change your lifestyle and improve your self-care.

30 - 59
This range suggests that your self care sills and lifestyle balance strategies may be AVERAGE and that you could probably benefit from developing a plan to change your lifestyle and improve your self-care, especially if you have more stress than is typical for an adult.

60 - 84
This range suggests that you may have good self-care skills and lifestyle balance strategies in place, but could benefit from preparing for times of high stress by adding some additional practices.

> 85
This range suggests that you may have good self-care skills and lifestyle balance strategies in place for building resilience.

source: Headington Institute
www.headington-institute.org 

It's because I feel like typing instead of writing with a pen today, so here goes!

Today I realise I laugh ahead of a joke. Say for example there is a lead up to a joke, I'd laugh before the joke actually comes. Why? I find that the idea of the joke was already funny so the answer will most definitely be a good one. HAHA

Yes, I still say HAHA like this. :)

So are we ever going to get married? It's been 5 years since we've been together. Been living together since the beginning of 2015, and only two of us since 2017? So that's at least 3 years now right? We've lived with a Harriet for more than 2 years and now we have a Ginny too!

AHH. Brb, need to spend $10 on Kikki K shit. <3

I have come to a point where I want to wrap things as a career. It just feels like I'd be happy to be using my hands to make things even though it's probably going to be repetitive hand motions over hundreds to times. Weird moment today. But fascinating thought into my mind. :)

Dear future me,

Please don't ever forget about how much Harriet means to you.

Present day Harriet is very happy with the new house/environment, loved both of us very dearly.  We have breakfast at 10am every morning with one serving of wet food (a quarter can of Fancy Feast) and a top up of dry food for the day. She will then sleep for the rest of the day, finding the best spot in the house: preferably somewhere sunny and quiet, somewhere near people or sometimes alone. At 5pm is when she needs her first set of funtertainment: running around chasing wand toys. At one point, she enjoyed being tossed onto the bed when it's on the living room floor. At 7pm is when she needs some cuddles and a short nap, preferably on your lap or your stomach. 9pm is when she needs another set of funtertainment before bedtime. Harriet can also jump up to your belly from the floor up! occasionally jumping to your shoulders just after you've showered, not sure why.

Best thing? She'll come to the door to greet you, rubbing her back all over the floor/rolling over.

❤

I witnessed my first euthanasia today.

I was supposed to be the one holding the cat for its euth, but it was reacting badly to the shaver, my senior stepped in. It wasn't a smooth one, but at least now I know what could have gone wrong and not feel terrible when it does go wrong.

That euthanising liquid is essentially a high concentration of anaesthesia. It is easily accessible, that's why you get so many vets committing suicide.

I don't know if I would do it again. I didn't have the time to process the thought. I just went straight back to work.

I figured today would have been the best time to learn this because everything seemed pretty aligned for me today: me exhausted, me having no emotions whatsoever because of exhaustion, me needing to push on for one more day, vet student seemed interested in learning too (I wasn't learning this by myself, it was relieving), vet seems very nice and patient to teach today, senior was around to teach me. It was now or never, so I jumped at it.

Now I am still too exhausted to think about how it made me feel. I only knew I didn't want to allow myself to feel anything.

It happened quickly.

Quick enough for me to not build any emotions, more of intrigued and part shocked at the same time.

It's for the best.