My cup doth overflow! Stress Containers at Chateau Streuli

 The last month or so has flown by. Mrs Streuli and I have moved house and thanks to a very supportive family are about to rent out our little one bed flat. In the meantime, we have some rather good news to share.


Baby Streuli will be coming to cause chaos in May 2021!

The anxiety that Lockdown 2, Baby and house move all in the same short time period has been huge. At the same time, we've been working full time and I've been doing a training course to become a Mental Health First Aid Instructor. The nightmares about missing or unfinished homework have returned!

But as we head toward December, I look back at the chaos of those weeks. Is Mrs Streuli safe at work? Are we keeping ourselves safe without shutting out the world?

In MHFA (Mental Health First Aid) we talk about Stress Containers. Everyone has a different size and shaped container. What is stressful for one, might be routine for another. Working lots of a night shifts or having a rapidly changing routine is like a stress tank shrinking and bulging. 

At the bottom of your container is a tap. Sometimes that tap can get clogged and the stress keeps piling up until you explode. Other times, you have the safe coping strategies or working skills to keep your tap flowing and your stress manageable. Sometimes just talking it through with someone, like I do with Mrs Streuli, can keep that tap flowing freely. You have the power to unclog your tap. 

What useful strategies do you use? Yoga? A jog? Writing? Dancing? Film Night? 

Sometimes you can control the flow into your stress containers. Sometimes, life happens all at once.

One last thing you can do to help other people with their stress containers - is for you be safe this Christmas.