I wish it had known about Mayim Bialik’s podcast, Breakdown before now. How inspiring and comforting it would have been for me during the height of my pandemic breakdown.

Well, I know about it now and have begun listening from the beginning. She is my type of person – bridging the head and the heart – the science with the soul – what we know with what we experience. I am trying to find my own way of doing that with religion and mental health – and possibly psychology.

Anyway, during one of the early episodes, she and her guest discuss recognizing triggers and developing tools to cope. What works for one person will not necessarily work for another. Our coping skills can be as unique as we are. The goal is to be able to become familiar enough with ourselves and what works for us so that we can manage our anxiety. The more competent we become at this, the less time we will spend in that vicious cycle of mental anguish.

Mayim did a much more eloquent job of saying this, but my point is that what she said not only made sense, but I know from personal experience that it works. Necessity and therapy have helped me develop my own self-recognition skills and coping mechanisms.

For instance, I carry stress in my neck and shoulders. When the pain becomes too intense, it is a sign for me to slow down and take stock of what’s going on in my life. Sometimes it’s obvious . . . well, I would say that most of the time (now) it is obvious. The goal, then, is to do something about it.

This past week was significantly more intense than normal. As a hospital chaplain, I am used to situations that are more emotionally draining than others, but these moments are usually spaced out over time. Over the course of the last two days of my week, however, my emotional bandwidth was stretched cobweb thin.

Counting down the hours until I could clock out and take two blissful days off was not going to work for me. Two cups of coffee and a Dr. Pepper would not give me the energy I needed to finish my shift nor did any amount of twisting my neck from side to side alleviate the pain rising up my neck and down my shoulders.

---

I LOVE the smell of cinnamon. It is probably one of the best smells in the world next to fresh baked bread or chocolate chip cookies straight out of the oven.

As I walked through the main lobby of the hospital on my way to the stairwell, the smell of cinnamon wafted through the air and into my nostrils, stopping me in my tracks. I took a deep, DEEP, breath in, inhaling that wonderful aroma.

As I slowly released my breath, I realized why cinnamon is one of the best scents in the world. It has this power to calm me. It does so by reminding me to breathe.

Anxious and stressed people like me tend to forget to breathe. This lack of adequate oxygen creates the tension in my neck and shoulders that can only be released when I relax – and I am only able to relax when I properly breathe.

The smell of cinnamon caused me to subconsciously take a deep breath in – and slowly breathe out.

As I released that breath, I realized SOME of the tension in my neck and shoulders eased.

AH . . . THE SWEET AROMA OF CINNAMON . . .

The smell . . . the deep breath . . . the release of tension . . . reminded me of a hospital perk I have not used in some time:

It is a relaxation pod intended to give healthcare workers a place to relax in private. Through an app, we sign up for 15- or 30-minute naps. The pods are located in a private area and have a massage chair and thick sound-reducing curtain.

Unfortunately, the staff for whom it was intended do not have time to use them. So, they are most often used by secondary staff like me. I like to take my lunch breaks in there from time to time whenever I am feeling more tense than normal.

15 to 30 minutes in the massage chair does wonders for my stress level. I leave those pods feeling brand new, like I had gotten a wonderfully relaxing nap. It’s a drastic metamorphosis. The funny thing is, although these pods were designed for this very purpose, I always feel a little naughty every time I leave. 😎