Deb Erikson
This really fits on the helpful hints page, but it was my favorite, so it gets it's own page!
RITUALS
I find a certain amount of ritual very comforting. For example, each
night I take a bath with wondrous smelling salts. I look forward to this
moment each day. I even find myself getting excited in the evening, when
I'm about ready to sink into the bath. First I fill the bath with very
hot water and bath salts. Then I put on my favorite music, very loud. It's
kind of funky eclectic music, but sounds exactly like I feel. (Greg Brown's
In the Dark With You album - Funky Day was my bath time cut). I take
this bath every night, even on the worst days of chemo, when very little normalcy
existed in my life. This bath, this beautiful ritual, is one small part
of a regular normal day that occurs irregardless of anything else. That
is comforting when most of my regular and normal activities have been shaken
up and thrown around randomly by this creature called cancer. Also, it's
the last thing I do before I go to bed, so I always enter my bed and fall asleep
feeling spiritually grounded and relaxed. I feel powerful.
The interesting part of this whole ritual is that I never did this before now. In
my former life, I took quick showers at the end of each day, never a bath,
let alone one that used pampering salts. This is an amusing metaphor
for my life. When I look clearly, I have to admit that I did not do pleasing
things for myself. I was a very goal-oriented person and just taking
a bath for the pure pleasure of it was not a part of my life. I was more
likely to do something 'relaxing' in a focused manner, such as practicing yoga. Even
in my relaxing, I was working on a goal. I stumbled into this bath ritual
because my legs were aching and found that I just started doing it every night
without even planning it. Now I treasure each time I do something without
planning. It's a celebration of living in the present moment.
