Good Tools Gone Bad by Jane Winterling

It is the end of summer in Vermont. The leaves are starting to turn and the mist in the morning air is magical making each dot of color a unique visual meditation. I have been reflecting on the many rich discussions about living WRAP and creating our personal Plans over the years and I wanted to share with you the big lessons learned from creating a Wellness Toolbox for myself.

For me, the Toolbox has been a place where I have developed a special self-awareness that allowed me to strengthen my Plan in ways that I did not expect. Using this process, I came to realize that I did not have enough tools that were specific to my needs to stay well. I am someone who is shy and when I experience difficulties I tend to isolate. In using my Toolbox to create my Acton Plans I could see how out of balance my life was and that while I liked my starting list of tools they were not enough to support my wellness. All my tools were things I did by myself. I really had to struggle to make myself develop more tools that involved other people in social settings. Calling someone to go for a walk with me is sometimes really hard for me. Realizing that I needed more tools with supporters got me to look at where I might be out of balance in other parts of my life and need to develop new tools.

I have also had conversations about “good tools gone bad”. Those can be the activities that get in the way of our accomplishing the things in life that are important to us. For example; if I spend all night surfing the web or gaming I may not be able to function at work the next day and working is a big wellness tool of mine as well.
 
Using your Toolbox to collect all your wellness tools and as the source for creating many of your Action Plans, can allow you to see where your life and your Tools may be balanced too heavily in one area. While I may need to lay low for a while When Things are Breaking Down one of the things that gets me to that stage is not having enough social interaction on a daily basis and especially at the stage of Early Warning Signs. So I have built that into my plan. I am also more aware of what it means to me when I get lost in one of my diversionary activities. Good tools gone bad.