Dear Wellness Community,
The advent of fall brings with it colder, crisp days filled with sights of fall foliage, all things pumpkin, trick and treating, candy, friends and family gathering around food, light displays to bring in warmth and the holidays.
This year seems to have skipped over many of our familiar traditions. Halloween felt different. Questions arise about how we will ever get together with family and friends. Some of us may have grown weary of this way of life. Being far away from each other and our loved ones, changes in work routines, missing the fun times we had at the movies, sporting games, just hanging out: nothing is the same anymore.
Work seems all encompassing with a lot to accomplish and new ways of doing it all. Zoom fatigue is real. Elections, the racial and social unrest, ongoing polarization and physical distancing continue to create walls and divides. We feel “spent” and could use a real break to reenergize ourselves.
This issue of the Wellness Corner shares some ideas of finding ways to celebrate friends and family, give thanks by finding joy in the small things, ideas to bring warmth, light and connection through food, outdoor adventure, virtual entertainment, books and some inspirational messages. (As always assess safety and operations before deciding to participate in an activity outside your home.)
Thank you Dr. Best for sharing with us an interesting read from Seattle Times on making friends in a new city during the pandemic. And don’t delay in sending your Gingerbread Contest Pictures (details below)!
This week’s Wellness Corner authored by:
Dipti Chrastka, LMFT
GME Wellness Director
Monday – Friday at Harborview
206.744.0655
diptic@uw.edu
Wellness Corner Quick Links
Contents
Gingerbread Decorating Contest!
Send us (diptic@uw.edu and jkocian@uw.edu) a picture of your best gingerbread creations! Maybe it’s a house or maybe cookies or maybe your own one-of-a-kind gingerbread creation.
Make sure to include your name and program in your email. And get your friends to participate, because the program with the most submissions will get a pizza party on us!
Food
- Eat food from around the world at Spice Bridge: come and experience a variety of food and support South King County women and immigrant entrepreneurs.
- Teena Thach gives BIPOC owned Seattle restaurants a big boost. Watch this video to get your taste buds going.
- Seattle restaurant week is actually a month! It runs Oct 25th- Nov 21st and over 165 restaurants are participating with in-house dining, takeout and delivery options.
Black Lives Matter
- Check out this podcast by a Seattle native and Dipti’s former work colleague, Kimberlee Archie.
- Here is a PBS recommended documentary on the history of space and mobility for Black Americans. This is an eye opener on the roots of police brutality.
- Here are some book recommendations: The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin; A Taste of Honey by Jabari Asim; All about Skin: Short Fiction by Women of Color by Various Authors. More book recs here.
Chocolate
Warm water swims anyone?
Free 1 hour Rowboat Rentals!
Physician Warm Line
This free physician support line is available 8AM-1AM to any of you medical students, residents, fellows and attendings who need a listening ear. You will be connected to a psychiatrist who is ready to support you through personal and professional challenges.1-888-409-0141
Gratitude
- A handy tool is Thnx4.org. When we give thanks, we give happiness a boost and train ourselves to see something good. Greater Good Science Center’s online journal is a place where we can share “thanks” and record when you were thanked by someone and how you felt.
- Connection is the cure to loneliness. Listen to a podcast by former US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy.
- Thank you Julia Kocian for sharing a resource to develop self-compassion skills in health care professionals as they work with multiple challenges of patient care, trauma, new documentation requirements.
- Share with us ideas you may have on giving thanks or a gratitude practice that guides you. We can feature your voices and ideas in next month’s Wellness Corner. (Email diptic@uw.edu or jkocian@uw.edu).
Wildlights!
Treehouse fun!
Enjoy fall with a tree house escape.
Jump into Fall!
Mindfulness Minute
Take a pause for self-compassion.
The American Heart Association suggests “HEART” an acronym for a daily gratitude practice.
- Health: Think of what your body allowed you to do today. (Your arms allowed you to hold a pet you love).
- Eat: What nourishment did you provide your body today? What was your favorite meal?
- Activity: Take a moment to reflect on an activity you did that you enjoyed.
- Relationship: Did you talk to someone that made you happy?
- Time: Thank yourself for being here. Appreciate the here and now.
Entertainment
- Get some of your holiday shopping in early and safely online at the Northwest fall show and NWAA Holiday market from Nov 18 to Dec 3.
- Put on your dancing shoes….Learn tap dancing free online. Nov 19th at 7 pm.
- Laughter is the best medicine! Check out free standup comedy on Monday nights at 5 p (on zoom).
Gems from Treasure Valley
- To the left: Linder Farms event in Oct – A picture of our residents and fellows with their family enjoying a fun day at the pumpkin farm!
- Ballet digital season in Boise
- Winter Garden aGlow at the Idaho Botanical gardens runs from Nov 26th through Dec 27th
Got Feedback for Us?
We’d love to hear it! Share your thoughts about the Wellness Corner, suggestions for future events, discounts or articles to highlight, or anything else you’d like to share. Please email your thoughts to Dipti Chrastka (diptic@uw.edu) and/or Julia Kocian (jkocian@uw.edu) and/or Andrei Dandescu (andreid@uw.edu).