Carol Bailey Floyd February 23, 2011 Exploring the Fun in WRAP

WRAP Overview Wellness Tools Daily Maintenance –What Im Like When Im Well –Things I Want to Do Daily –Things I Might Do Daily

Triggers and Action Plan Early Warning Signs and Action Plan Things Getting Worse and Action Plan Crisis Plan/Advance Directive Post Crisis Plan

People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what theyre doing. -- Dale Carnegie

Having a WRAP that is really active is a wonderful demonstration of fun as an empowering and constructive force. Most Wellness Tools are fun, and can often be inexpensive or free!

Wellness Tools are an invaluable resource for the Daily Maintenance section, and for all the Action Plans. Wellness tools work even in the Crisis and Post Crisis sections. If you have ever seen easel pad sheets full of Wellness Tools hanging on the wall in a WRAP workshop, you know what fun, empowering, and creative resources they can be.

Often people resist having fun because they think they should have their chores done first, their relationships arent quite what they want them to be, or theyre too tired. The truth is our chores never get done, our relationships are always a work in progress, and fun gives us energy!

My friend Betty used to say – Dont wait to get better to do things. Do things to get better!

I used to feel like I didnt deserve to have fun. I was embarrassed because I felt like I wasnt as accomplished as other people. When I felt really low, I didnt have the energy to have fun. I also felt like I wasnt a very good friend because I didnt feel cheerful very often, so I felt awkward doing things with other people.

As the years went by and my life improved, I found that the more fun I had, by myself, and with others, the more energy I had, and my relationships improved. When I developed a WRAP in 2002, I found a way to make fun and creativity a regular part of my life for a good cause – my own balance and well-being!

Wellness Tools I know I am having a good day if there are some relaxing, cheerful, and fun activities in it. If I am feeling low, then I know that by adding Wellness Tools, I can improve my outlook and my overall well-being.

Wellness Tools As a G-Ma, many of my Wellness Tools involve my grandsons Nate and Andrew. One time, when he was 3 years old, Nate was doing a craft project and he said, Im an artist and artists can do anything! And recently when Andrew (age 5) couldnt sleep, he said, I am going to have to investigate why I cant sleep. Needless to say, anything I do with Nate and Andrew is a Wellness Tool!

Hooray for Movies! Many years ago, I trained myself to go to the movies by myself. I dont have to call anyone. I can go on the spur of the moment. I can pick any movie I want. I love to go to the movies with a friend, but going alone, is one of my favorite fun Wellness Tools.

Daily Maintenance Life is too short to be taken seriously. -- unknown Our laughing club has been dancing and laughing to the Beer Barrel Polka for years. One day I realized that the roll out the barrel part could be roll out the Carol. I thought that was hilarious. Since I am not a morning person, I start every morning, before I even get out of bed, laughing (ha ha ha) to roll out the Carol.

Still Laughing in the Morning My next morning wake up routine is to stand up and do the Laughing Club cheer: ha ha ho ho hee hee (three times with arms reaching up) and then a hooray! Then I do the Yoga Breath of Joy three times. I am ready to get moving!

More Daily Maintenance I love the colorful quilt we have on our bed, and I named the sock monkey to be my mascot for the decade of my sixties, so making my bed in the morning is a pleasure!

Journaling and Gratitude I try to spontaneously journal at least 750 words each morning. I do this on: 750words.com I also post 10 things I am grateful for on: goodlistdaily.com

Triggers Now if I experience a Trigger, at first I might not be very happy, but then I realize that it is my responsibility to myself to do one or more Action Plans. When I realize that I might have to make time for a movie, a trip to the library, a cup of tea with a friend, or a walk, then the Trigger doesnt seem to have as much power any more!

Winter as a Trigger I prefer Spring, Summer, and Fall to Winter. I appreciate many aspects of Winter, but it is not my favorite season. When the Winter months start to drag on, I start my Spring countdown!

Early Warning Signs and When Things are Getting Worse You can diminish or eliminate Early Warning signs or even indications that Things are Getting Worse by putting effective Action Plans into motion. If Things are Getting Worse, your supporters can help you coordinate your Action Plans to help assure that you dont go into crisis.

Crisis Plan When I am facilitating, I love to point out that there is fun all the way through WRAP, and when the section on Crisis comes up, I am always happy to point out the slide that says: provide materials so I can draw or paint. Fun and creativity are comforting and healing.

Post Crisis Plan During this time of transition from Crisis to getting back to being able to coordinate your life again, your supporters can help you gradually resume using your WRAP.

Supporters Some people have lots of supporters, and others, who are starting out with their WRAPs, may have none. The good news is that getting supporters is always a possibility and developing a system of support is often fun! Going to community events, special interest meetings, volunteering, renewing friendships, spending time with family members, and being supportive of others are a few ways of increasing the chances of having friends and family to support you.

Supporters Supporters are not just there for the tough times – reach out and suggest some fun things to do, too!

Fun with A WRAP Supporter and a Dear Friend My friend Jean (on the left) is an Advanced Level WRAP facilitator and is one of my best WRAP supporters. We support and encourage each other through good times and bad, but most of all, we have LOTS of fun! Maria, who along with Jean and me, is a Certified Zentangle Teacher (zentangle.com), is talented, fun, and loving – a great combination in a terrific friend!

The Power of Choice WRAP is all about the power of choice. You can change parts of your WRAP any time you want. If a Wellness Tool has gotten boring, you can add a new one, you can make your Daily Maintenance more interesting, you can do exchange listening, change negative thoughts to positive ones, and try focusing. Every time something difficult happens, you can do something positive in response. And the positive thing can be fun and creative!

Fun and Creativity Doing enjoyable, cheerful, fun and creative things helps you to be more open to the possibilities of life and helps to you feel more hopeful about your future!

WRAP Creativity The most beautiful WRAP I ever saw was done in a scrapbook format, with pictures, fun lettering, and lots of love! Some people decorate their WRAP notebooks. My first WRAP was in a hot pink and orange flowered notebook so I could find it fast! Recently I saw a personal WRAP done on PowerPoint! It was amazing -- with charts, photographs, and an enormous amount of creativity.

Fun and Creative Hotel Room I love to travel and facilitate WRAP workshops. I enjoy meeting new people and any time I get to talk about WRAP is a privilege. I always travel with a lot of art supplies, and make my room a fun place to come home to at night. It makes traveling even more of a pleasure.

WRAP Kits and Bags One person who uses WRAP travels with a Wellness Tool kit. She has a relaxation CD, crossword puzzles, a copy of her WRAP, her journal and other fun and comforting things ready to access. Another woman designed a WRAP tote bag with the Key Concepts on the outside, and gave them to the participants in her WRAP workshop for them to put in some of their tangible Wellness Tools!

We all deserve to have a great life! Having a WRAP helps assure that we can have that happen. WRAP is friendly, common sense, accessible, empowering, and can be as fun and creative as we chose it to be. Thank you to Mary Ellen Copeland, PhD, and all the people who helped coordinate its development! WRAP

In honor of fun, creativity, and possibilities, I have started a fairly new blog – celebratepossibilities.blogspot.com where a new challenge has been issued to identify: 1,000 Fun Things to Do ! Lets reach this goal together!

Wellness Tools Webinar Wednesday, March 16, – 2 p.m. Go to And make sure you click sign up to receive our newsletter to make sure you are on our mailing list. Look out for registration information!

Mary Ellen Copeland - Mental Health Recovery & WRAP® Mental Health Recovery and WRAP® - Wellness Recovery Action Plan WRAP Facilitators Copeland Center for Wellness and Recovery

Resources 750wordsdaily.com goodlistdaily.com zentangle.com celebratepossibilities.blogspot.com mentalhealthrecovery.com copelandcenter.com