If you find yourself overwhelmed with stress, feeling it's difficult to make decisions, or easily getting into conflict with others - perhaps it's time to HALT.
HALT is an acronym to help you remember a few parts of your physical self that might just need some tender attention before you can move forward with integrity.
HALTS to check if you are Hungry - Angry - Lonely - Tired - Sick
Hungry
When did you last eat? Did you eat something nourishing and filling? Perhaps you need to start some care for yourself by having a snack.
Sometimes people lose their huger cues and their body no longer tells them "Hey, it's time to eat!" with a tummy grumble or a niggle. But even for those people, finding yourself feeling faint or overwhelmed might be a late-term signal of hunger.
And while you're having that snack, have a glass of water too. Dehydration can also really impact your ability to think clearly and behave with integrity.
Angry
Are you getting angry quickly? Feeling more snappy than usual?
Perhaps taking a moment to release that anger wisely will help.
Splash water on your face, take some deep breaths, do an angry dance, get some fast-paced exercise, squeeze an ice cube in your hand, eat a lemon. These are all ways to help your body release anger that don't involve shouting at someone or harming yourself.
Lonely
When was the last time you spoke to someone (especially face to face)?
In a world of entertainment resources, we can easily populate our life with online community and podcasts or TV, but nothing really touches lonlieness like an actual face-to-face conversation with someone.
Take a moment to call a friend, visit a neighbour, check out your local church's cake morning, or go speak to someone at the park or a cafe. While talking about deep things is great, sometimes just speaking to a human of any sort about anything can help ease that pain.
Tired
How did you sleep last night? Have you come off of night shift? Are you generally sleep deprived in this stage of life? Is sleep hard due to nightmares, ruminating, or fear?
Our brain needs sleep. And when we don't get enough deep sleep, our brains are impacted by that.
Take a nap, lay down and take some deep breaths listening to your favourite slow music or audiobook (David Suchet is excellent for this!), allow your body to rest and slow your mind's pace
Sick
Are you feeling unwell? Do you have a cold, stomach bug, broken bone? Is your body healing from something?
This last one is not on the original HALT list, it's added by me. Because being sick is super disruptive.
We need to have extra grace for ourselves when we're sick. That means noticing that our window of tolerance will likely be smaller, that we might find ourselves unable to cope with general life and need to slow down.