I’ve blogged a few times about how winter, and January in particular, are really tough for me.  The loop of cold -> fibro pain -> depression -> fibro pain -> depression -> fibro pain -> depression compounds itself into an overall shitty time for me.  I’ve spent a lot more days in bed this month than I intended, and I’ve been rather angry at myself for not being able to push through everything and just tough it out.  My inner drill sergeant is a heartless bitch.

So I’ve been thinking about ways to support myself and be a bit kinder to myself.  Netflix, while delightful, doesn’t really constitute a ‘self care regimen’.  I’ve been trying to take hot baths, slather myself in coconut oil, and in February I’m going to be visiting my doctors to get back on all my meds.  (Yes, dear.  Depression is a chemical imbalance, and all the positive self-talk in the world won’t help unless you’re medicating yourself at the same time, REGARDLESS of what the pretty Facebook memes say.)

Working in that direction, I decided to put together a depression/chronic illness self-care kit.  I wanted to try to gather to myself some kind, loving, supportive energies to help me out.  Or at the very least, I’ve given myself a shiny distraction.

This is what I came up with:

Aquamarine:  Connects to water and its energies, including emotions.  Creates calm and harmony, clears away confusion.  I like the soothing color.

Manganocalcite:  Releases fear and grief, bringing unconditional love.  Helpful for healing trauma.

Blue calcite:  Very soothing and calming.  Relaxation, recuperation, helps heal pain.  Releases negative emotions.

Lithium quartz:  Lithium has been used to treat depression for ages, and its calming energy infuses this stone.  Finds the underlying roots of depression and releases them.

Rose quartz heart:  Love, universal love, self love.  A stone of gentleness and healing the heart.  Calming and reassuring.  This stone is directly connected to the heart chakra.  (A lot of my pain is focused in my chest, and I’ve had reiki workers tell me that it’s my heart chakra that is the most blocked.)

Rainbow moonstone:  Connected to the moon and the tides, calms the ebb and flow of emotions.

Lepidolite:  Also rich in lithium, it has similar properties to lithium quartz.  Dissipates negativity and harmful, obsessive thoughts.  Brings emotional healing.

Selenite:  Amplifies the energies of the other stones gently.  Normally, I would have used a quartz crystal, but the energy of quartz crystals seemed too…  sharp..  harsh..  to me for this application.  Also, peace and calming.

Phrenite jade:  Supports overall physical health and energy, but in a gentle way.  Purity, serenity, tranquility.

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So, will these stones heal me and make everything better?  No.  Fibro is real and it sucks.  Also, see above note regarding depression = chemical imbalance.   But will they help me to focus on being kind to myself to allow healing to happen?  Quite possibly.  They’re also pretty, and have a really lovely, smooth, calm energy about them.  So at the very least, I have some new rocks to play with while laying in bed and watching Netflix.

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On a related note, I would like to qualify my normal ‘January sucks’ post by saying that my birthday was really top-notch this year.  We had a lovely dinner with my family, my husband booked an escape room for us and our friends, and we got to meet some other friends that we never get a chance to see up in Chattanooga.  We finished the weekend off with gaming with more friends, and holy shit it was just a superb weekend.  🙂