Blue Zone - The Bridge, Step 6

 The Bridge will help me to take the first step towards repairing rifts in my relationships. Cyndi Bennett writes in 'Clean Up on Aisle 9" the following:

The Recovery Process

"If you have done the internal and external work that I outlined above, you may feel emotionally exhausted. That is to be expected because you’ve just done a ton of deep therapeutic work.

Part of the recovery process is self-care. Reward yourself for doing the hard work. What does that look like for you? For me, it was a luxuriously long walk/hike around the lake at the Greenway, a massage, and reconnecting with my support system.

The healing journey can be exhausting at times, so we need to pace ourselves to keep moving toward our goals."

Paying attention to my stress and doing something about it is definitely a thing that I have always ignored in the past. Hopefully this piece of the process will really help me to stay grounded and not spiral into panic and fear.

Something I read online that describes me:

"You can use strategies that help you keep your thoughts, emotions and body calm when you encounter a challenging situation. Many people try to cope with trauma by avoiding triggers whenever possible. But keep in mind that total avoidance may not be healthy, especially if it is limiting your daily life. You can try different self-regulating or calming strategies such as deep breathing and meditation, engaging in a hobby or activity, and contacting a person you trust who can listen or offer support. Think about the ways you already know to self-regulate as well as some new ideas you might want to try. When your battery is running low, seeking help can feel overwhelming. One way to prevent this is planning ahead for these times."

This goddess project is how I am planning ahead while still dissociating by having Artemis and Persephone do all the steps, lol. But I do feel safer and think that I can try these steps. Just talking these last few weeks as I try to address issues has not been working too well. The Bridge gives me a map and gives me a fighting chance.

Another relevant piece of information I found online is:

"One of the most important steps is to improve your capacity to assess threat, distinguish threat, and recover from fear. Though your experiences have given you very real evidence that the world is scary, healing needs you to believe that you have the potential to be safe. You do this through repeated practice of regulating your reactions to stress, seeing it as a form of physical therapy for your nervous system. We can’t stop the train from leaving the station- our nervous system is reflexive and autopilot shifts on easily. Coping with C-PTSD means that we can catch the train quicker, slow it down quicker, and rope it back into the station more effectively.

When you can reduce the fear reactions you experience when no threat is present, you’re retraining your nervous system to become more accurate and less reactive. This triggers a slow but important domino effect where your thoughts are less connected to fear, your emotions are less connected to fear, and your behaviors are less driven by fear.

The result is that you’re in better control of your physical symptoms, you improve your self-care, and begin to feel more present in life. When we aren’t motored by worry, we have space for more emotions and can experience true safety."

So, the goal in this step is to regain equilibrium and feel safe. However, as I would already be totally triggered, I should not be doing any major work in this step. I can do that in another section of the Blue Zone or Yellow Zone. The focus here should be on de-escalation and feelings of safety.

I'm going to use 4 Greek goddesses to explain the recovery process.

All images in this step are the work of the amazing Thalia Took. I have changed their names to fit my process, go to the bottom of the page to find out who they really are!

Eurynome - aunt to Persephone, mother of the Charities

Eurynome ruled Olympus before Rhea, and as the third wife of Zeus, she bore him the three Charities. She was the goddess of water meadows and pasturelands as she was an oceanid, and her statue depicts her as a mermaid. She was a nurturer, taking care of an injured god for 9 years as well as her children and all of Olympus when she was ruler.

As a nurturer and a mother, she will be the one to comfort me. She will remind me of the things that make me feel cozy, safe, and content. Things like hot sweet tea, warm blankets, and pajama days. And as a mother, she will make sure that I do them!

The three Charities are half-sisters of Persephone. They lived near the 9 Muses and often spent time together. They are:

Thaleia - meaning abundance.

She will be the one who surrounds me with an abundance of peace and love and connection. I will settle in with people and/or pets, some popcorn and drinks, and watch a movie all snuggled up in a warm blanket. No need to talk or interact, just a chance to be with others in a way that feels safe. 

Euphrosyne - meaning good cheer.

Rainbows always make me happy, lol. She will be the one who gets me to play the self-care games I have found at Self-Love Rainbow. I love her stuff! I've bought tons since it is so cheap, and they are super helpful since there is nothing scary about rainbows! An easy way to do the self-care that I need to be healthy in order to deal with stress without making it into an obsession and feelings of failure and overwhelm. 

Aglaea - meaning good health.

Aglaea is the youngest of the Charities. As good health, she will represent walks and time in nature. That is something I always forget, and yet is one of the best ways for me to find calm and happiness.

So, these things will hopefully make the whole 6 step process feel manageable and safe and doable.

Images: 1. Thalia Took's 'Brizo'. 2. Thalia's 'Venus'. 3. Thalia's 'Iris'. 4. Thalia's 'Elpis'.