Author: Christina Bruni

Christina Bruni is the author of the new book Working Assets: A Career Guide for Peers. She contributed a chapter "Recovery is Within Reach" to Benessere Psicologico: Contemporary Thought on Italian American Mental Health.

Changeology 90-Day Action Plan

I’m a big fan of the Changeology 90-day action plan for achieving goals.

Using the 5 steps I have achieved a number of goals:

  1. Stopped wearing jeans to my job all the time.
  2. Started wearing makeup more often.
  3. Cooked my own dinners every week.

The Changeology book website has useful resources and worksheets.

Alas I did not get a response when I submitted a message via the contact form on this website.

Other than this I recommend the 90-day action plan.

My Weekly Routine

While living indoors through the pandemic I’ve written down changes I want to make after I return to going outdoors every day.

I recommend reading the book Atomic Habits by James Clear.

In the book the author outlines simple steps to execute to adopt healthy habits and make them stick.

Today I’ve adopted these tactics to power through this extraordinary time:

  1. Eat as healthfully as possible every day.
  2. Exercise at home 2x per week as often as possible.
  3. Go outdoors only 2x per week to reduce the risk of getting infected.
  4. Write down on sheets in a weekly To-Do’s pad the food I eat for lunch and dinner every day.
  5. Place tomorrow’s outfit on the other side of the bed to make it quick and easy to dress in day clothes in the morning.
  6. Typed up and taped to an index card the weekly routine I’m going to establish once I’m outdoors every day again.
  7. Telephone my mother often to talk to her.
  8. Talk to a friend on the telephone.
  9. Keep a journal in a 3-subject college-ruled spiral-bound notebook.
  10. Read books and magazines.

Perhaps these habits will empower you to create your own routine while living through this pandemic and following through after the shutdown ends.

Coping with the Pandemic

I believe that the 5 Stages of Grief align with a lot of our responses to living indoors through the pandemic.

The stages are denial anger bargaining depression acceptance.

I’ve seen or heard no one else talk about these responses to grief.

For one the coronavirus is not a person. Yet it’s okay to have anger that the pandemic has disrupted your life.

A trouper like I am can be in denial about the effect sheltering in place has had on you.

Even while not in a clinical depression it’s also tempting to wear your pajamas all day during this extraordinary time when you’re home.

So like I said the 5 Stages of Grief could come into play.

I live in New York City which is the epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S.

My city will not reopen until June and this might be in late June.

I have empathy for anyone whose recovery has been impacted while living through the coronavirus outbreak.

It isn’t easy–to know that you are not alone can help you feel better about how you’re coping.

In coming blog entries I’ll give some tactics I’ve been using to power through.

Bedlam PBS Documentary

PBS online is airing the documentary Bedlam on the mental health crisis in America.

At the end of this blog entry I’ll give the link to the website so that you can watch this graphic yet ultimately hopeful account.

Decide for yourself what to think after viewing the video.

More power to the Black Lives Matter founder Patrice whose story is told in this documentary.

In fact the Black Lives Matter were instrumental in fighting for mental health justice.

They protested in the street and caused the LA government to halt building a jail to house people with mental illnesses.

The mental health justice activists had the funds diverted to treatment not criminalization.

Seeing this empowering film I’ve decided to donate money to Black Lives Matter.

Bedlam documentary on PBS.

Getting Confidence

Years ago I was told not to rah-rah peers with the “If you believe it you can achieve it” cheer.

It might not be possible for most people to have the mental motivation to get into action to achieve a goal.

In light of this reality I want to resurrect something I wrote over 7 years ago.

As the Health Guide for the HealthCentral schizophrenia website from 2007 to September 2015 I wrote hundreds of news articles about recovery that were in the vanguard.

In all the time I advanced these ideas no one else copied what I had to say or has picked up on these things since.

One article I wrote talked about getting confidence as a person living in recovery.

Right here I’ll resurrect this theme.

To get confidence you need to remember that the outcome doesn’t matter. It’s the process of taking action that counts.

In this regard I’ve always remembered what a champion athlete had to say about this:

Venus Williams the star tennis player wrote an article in the New York Times in which she talked about goal-setting.

Her ultimate criteria for success was to ask yourself if you feel good. In my take the outcome is irrelevant as well.

It is the striving to achieve something that counts more.

The prize belongs to those of us with the courage to try, to risk, to fail, and to try again.

Years ago I bought from a local trophy shop two medals that hang from red-white-and-blue ribbons. One spells out GOLD. It was my reward for lifting weights at the gym.

The other is a baker’s cap and three spoons that signified my budding hobby cooking from recipes.

As the Health Guide I championed that to feel good about yourself you should have a hobby you like to do.

You don’t need to excel at the hobby to feel good. That’s the point.

My premise was this: working out at the gym or at home entitles you to claim you are an athlete.

You are a bona fide cook or chef when you create mouthwatering meals.

Gaining expertise then I countered was a way to get confidence.

What do you think?

Taking a Detour

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic I want to talk about taking a detour.

My life didn’t get better until I turned 35 and started my library job.

Shunted into the mental health system early in my recovery I was forced to take a detour.

Let me tell you a detour is not a dead-end. It’s a pit stop along the way to a different path.

Maybe you’re not supposed to get what you want quickly and painlessly.

That is the goal as I see it–to embrace the struggle for what it is– a learning of something you need to know in order to get what you want.

I care a lot that in this pandemic everything seems to have been put on hold. A sunny day can be harder to envision.

Sometimes where you start out isn’t where you should remain.

That is the ultimate purpose of a detour: to cement in your mind the one true path you must go down to be happy and fulfilled.

You don’t often figure out until you experience firsthand a setback the truth about who you are and where you should be going in life.

Again–I think of these things during the pandemic we’re living through. Of how it can seem like this is the end of everything–the end of your hopes and dreams for whatever you had hoped to achieve.

I say: use this time to engage in active reflection.  Get out a notebook and sketch out what your goals will be when the pandemic is over.

Shore up your good feelings while you shelter in place.

Remember that after things get better there’s so much life for all of us to live.

Stirring the Sauce

Experiencing a plateau can be likened to stirring the sauce for Sunday macaroni supper. It will take time to heat up.

Sometimes engaging in a repetitive act is necessary. It can seem like you are not getting anywhere. What is the purpose of doing the same thing over and over?

It is to get in the groove of a healthy habit. The secret sauce you are simmering is your recovery. It could take years to get to where you want to be.

The Changeology book goal-setting method is a 90-day action plan comprised of 5 Steps:

Psych

Prep

Perspire

Persevere

Persist

Committing to executing the plan for 90 days can set in motion a healthy habit that lasts.

In coming blog entries I will talk about a couple goals I set that have stuck.

In fact living through the pandemic has made it easier for me to achieve these goals.

Soon it will be coming up on one year since I first started making these changes.

My own experience with setting these goals might empower you to go after your own goals with gusto.