I have meetings all day today starting right off the bat at 9am. The anticipatory stress of that made it difficult to wake up this morning and have me a bit of a migraine so I took my time this morning and made sure to eat a hearty but comforting breakfast and took my supplements and drank a half liter of water. I took a shower to feel refreshed and swept my floor so I can feel clean and not overstimulated by any little grit on the floor. I’ve shut all the curtains as it’s very hot already, and put on the ac and a quiet fan so I have some nice airflow, and I’ve got on my favorite comfortable lightweight clothing. I’ve taken Excedrin and a tums and washed the couple dishes in the sink and wiped and tidied the counters so I don’t get overstimulated by a messy kitchen when I take a break later.

I’ve also informed my meeting mates that I have a bit of a headache so I’ll be keeping my camera off today (no client meetings thank God) and everyone was totally nbd about it (I love my coworkers!). This helped keep me from having to visually mask my facial expressions and have to worry about if I look right, so I only have to mask my vocalizations.

I use Google recorder app mostly just for the live transcription so I can easily refer back to what was said if my auditory processing delays cause me to miss something, but it also reduces my anxiety knowing I can always go back and listen or read the text of the meeting if I need to (I never have lol). I’ve also stopped the flow of conversation when an action item for myself was mentioned to say “ok hold on I’m writing this down” and even said it out loud as im writing to fill the silence and help me not forget, no one has ever made me feel weird or bad for doing that. I write these on sticky notes and keep them in front of my keyboard until they are completed or transferred to my bigger longer term to do list as needed so I don’t forget them or get lost on a bigger to do list if they are more immediate action.

During the meeting I actually tried closing my eyes and visualizing the discussion in my head (this worked because it was a schedule meeting so I was visualizing a calendar and didn’t need to look at the screen, not sure if this would work in other contexts). Doing this and pressing on my eyes as a bit of a massage helped reduce the headache a little and I’m hoping helped prevent eye strain moving forward. Going to keep doing this in my next meeting as much as possible.

I’m between meetings right now so I’m turned away from the computer and put my feet up to relax a few minutes, deep breathing slowly, and writing this to take a mental break. I actually got up after that sentence and did a couple physical movement things: I brushed my cat the way she likes (reduces hairballs!) And took a quick walk in my garden to deadhead some flowers and refill the birdbath, then I refilled my water bottle with fresh cold water and washed my hands and threw some cold water on my face bc it makes me feel clean and refreshed like I’m starting anew, then I put a little of my favorite scented lotion on which makes breathing feel sparkly which is a texture I like a lot.

Now I’m seated back at my desk with 5 minutes to mentally check back in, deep breathing slowly and I’m ready to dive back in, feeling pretty good.

How about you?