Scented by Cedar: Self-care boxes of love
Twenty-Plenty was indeed plentiful in challenges and adjustments from Covid-19, job losses, financial insecurity, loss of loved ones, panic, increased anxiety and we continue to feel the aftermath of the pandemic on multiple levels. I was particularly interested in the impact of online fatigue and the plethora of challenges on small businesses, the average person who did not qualify for business rescue or UIF or relief funds. What about their staff, their families, their communities? In response, our team became involved in offering pro bono mental health services to the frontline and essential workers during the national lockdown level five and we strengthened our support to feeding programs at the community level. Soon it was realized that the under-prioritized mental health services were now needed more than ever. My psychology brain was elated, finally! But these were not the circumstances in which I had hoped it would emerge.
I was reminded of Viktor Frankl’s, “Man’s search for Meaning”, which offers a deep perspective on life, suffering and that survival is based on finding meaning in suffering where a sense of purpose provides an opportunity that wills us to survive. This idea came from Frankl’s own experience of suffering where he was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp for four years. The lessons that can be taken from this that could be applied to our current challenges are:
- Finding a Why, which means through finding your purpose you able to overcome the challenges that life presents. Your purpose protects your mind, shielding you from adversity.
- Contrary to popular belief success and happiness cannot be pursued, instead, it should ensue from our daily actions and our mindset. We need to consciously focus our actions and thoughts on healing and self-care like carving out protected time for activities that support this.
- You choose your attitude, which means that there are things that are out of our control like Covid-19 that had and continues having an immense impact on our lives. These circumstances have the propensity to make our lives incredibly difficult but we are also confronted with a choice, the capacity to make the most of the situation. For some, it may have been an opportunity to reconnect with themselves or to slow down and begin to process the past traumas that we were focused on avoiding by our very busy lives and overscheduling. For many, this was the first time in their lives that there was stillness and after the novelty wore off of being at home and the reality of our traumas weighed heavily, our mental health challenges began to manifest.
- If you cannot change your circumstances then change yourself, which means you have the power to adjust to the circumstances by finding meaning in it (i.e. what have you learnt from it and how can you grow through it).
- Once you can find meaning in your suffering then it is no longer suffering. This could be to survive the virus, reunite with your loved ones, reconnect with yourself, focus on what’s important to you and this meaning would will us through. This has certainly been the case for me. I wanted to strip away the unnecessary drama in my life and focus on what brings me peace by taking better care of myself and this resonates with many.
With intentional self-care, healing and the impact of Covid-19 on the forefront, we decided to introduce Scented by Cedar the new branch to our Cedar Psychology tree where we created an affordable self-care box of love. We carefully curated items that would promote holistic self-care garnered toward restoration and healing. The items are socially conscious with a women empowerment focus, where we recruited, upskilled and capacitated young, unemployed women to manufacture these handmade self-care products (scented candles, reed diffusers, room & linen mists) under our brand. Why not show some love and support to your friends, families, loved ones, educators and colleagues by gifting them with a self-care box of love or individual items while also showing your support to mental health promotion, small businesses, community empowerment and women empowerment.
For more information or to order, please contact us on [email protected] or 081-303-6969 (WhatsApp or call) or @cedar.psychology (Instagram & Facebook).
