Lorraine Jackson

Take a Mental Break

As creative beings, we can sometimes develop tunnel vision, focusing only on the one project we're working on. We push ourselves too far mentally, becoming irritated or frustrated when things aren't coming together the way we want them to or as quickly as we'd like. That's when you may find yourself in a state of confusion or feeling as though you're in a fog—a fog that leaves you feeling stuck and unable to find your way out.

When that happens, it may be a good time to take a Mental Break. Stop what you're working on, step away from it for a specific amount of time, and regroup. It doesn't matter whether it's five minutes or a full 24 hours; the amount of time is up to you.

Just step away.

Take some time to enjoy relaxing physical activities or creative pursuits that help calm your mind and spirit. Here are a few that work for me:

• Meditate in the morning, afternoon (midday or mid-shift), before bed, or whenever you feel mentally overwhelmed.
• Sit or lie in stillness and silence.
• Go for a walk.
• Do Pilates, yoga, or another form of gentle stretching or low-impact exercise.
• Read a chapter in a book (preferably a printed one, but an eBook works too).
• Journal.
• Pull out an adult coloring book and some colored pencils, and color.
• If you enjoy painting and have supplies on hand, pull out a canvas, brush, and paint, and let your imagination guide you without worrying about the end result.
• Start a puzzle (preferably a physical one rather than one on your phone).
• If you have the space, leave it out and work on it periodically.
• Do anything else that helps pull you away from the confusion you're feeling and lifts the mental fog.

The goal of any of these activities is to clear your mind of clutter, worries, and concerns so you emerge from your Mental Break with greater clarity. Once your mind is clear, you can take inventory of where you are—not only in your physical surroundings, which may be part of the problem, but also in your home life, career, goals, and the season of life you're currently experiencing.

With that inventory, you'll begin to identify what may be causing those feelings and develop a plan to bring your mind back to center. Taking a Mental Break is one way to rediscover your Peace and Joy. Reconnecting with both is essential to reducing stress, which, in turn, allows you to be more productive when you need to be.

Coming from Personal Experience

You know the saying, "With age comes wisdom?" I certainly do, and I can truly relate to it.

I turned 50 four years ago, and since then I've tried to allow Wisdom to pour into me naturally. Now, at 54, I can honestly say it has in many ways, and I believe it will continue to do so as I grow older.

So believe me when I say that I share this message about taking a Mental Break from personal experience—both from not doing it and from learning how.

Over the past few years, there were times when I experienced a cluttered mind, uncertainty about my next steps, and the fog that came with those feelings. When I found myself there, I knew I had to find ways to relax my mind and calm my spirit because, if I didn't, I would remain stuck.

That's when I began paying closer attention to my body and mind. I realized I had lost the ability to simply STOP and just BE.

I was so focused on finishing my first book and getting it published, while trying to build an online following (which, truthfully, I never really did, although I thought I needed to), that I just kept going and going while working an almost full-time job.

Talk about physical and mental stress—I was living it, and for a while, I didn't even realize it.

Finally, I became frustrated, wondering why I was doing everything "the experts" recommended but was still getting nowhere except becoming mentally and physically exhausted.

Then one day, my spirit simply said, "Stop."

So I did.

That's when I realized I'd always known how to relax and take both mental and physical breaks. Many of my favorite hobbies had been relaxation tools all along—I just hadn't recognized them as such until then.

With that revelation, I began seeing my hobbies as more than hobbies.

They became tools.

Tools that supported my journey back to the Peace I hadn't realized I'd lost.

Tools that helped me understand what my goals truly were and how to align my actions with them.

Tools that reminded me my pace is my pace—and if it takes me longer to reach a goal, that's okay because my Peace of mind matters more.

Since then, I no longer stay up late trying to force out an article that may never be read or worrying about posting every day simply because that's what we're "supposed" to do.

I no longer operate on anyone else's timeline but my own (which explains the occasional inconsistency with this newsletter—thank you for reading and subscribing; I truly appreciate it).

Even then, I adjust my own timeline when necessary without criticizing myself for doing so.

Now I spend time every week—and sometimes every day—doing the things that keep me grounded, relaxed, and at peace before, during, or after work and on weekends.

I've found that making these activities a consistent part of my life has made all the difference.

I have the tools to enjoy every activity I've listed above, and I've spent time doing all of them.

I call them my "Ways to NjoyPeace," and here's a little about each one.

My Ways to NjoyPeace

• I meditate at least twice a week. Never for very long (I'm not there yet), but usually for 10–15 minutes. I often spend time in stillness and silence before or afterward. On Sunday mornings, I take my time leaving the bedroom, enjoying a few quiet moments of peace before starting the day.
• I love Pilates and enjoy yoga, so I often blend the two into my morning stretching routine before work.
• I take short walks with purpose before work and longer, leisurely walks on my days off.
• I'm always reading at least one book. Although I don't read as often as I'd like and it sometimes takes me quite a while to finish one, I always come back to it and read a page or two.
• Journaling is something I do the least. However, I do keep a journal, and every now and then I pull it out to write down my thoughts.
• There was a time when I enjoyed adult coloring every day. A few years ago, I spent at least an hour coloring daily. While I don't devote that much time to it anymore, I still have all my supplies, and just the other day I started a new picture. It can be incredibly relaxing.
• The same is true of painting. When you're not trying to create the next masterpiece but simply painting for the joy of it, it becomes wonderfully relaxing. I took up abstract painting about eight years ago, bought supplies, and started painting at home. Now I have several works of "my art" displayed around the house, with many more stored away. Like adult coloring, I still pull everything out from time to time and let the brush guide me across the canvas.
• Puzzles! I've always loved them, although I hadn't completed a physical puzzle in years. I do enjoy puzzle apps on my phone and laptop because they help me relax. Still, I'd been thinking about adding traditional puzzles back into my collection of peaceful activities. Thanks to my son, who gave me a puzzle for Mother's Day, I now have a reason to buy a puzzle table and tackle all 1,500 pieces. Now that will take some time. 😊

How Clarity Unfolds

Taking a Mental Break to enjoy activities that promote relaxation, refresh the mind, and encourage creativity is one way of putting "Love for Self" first.

That is how Clarity unfolds.

You begin to understand yourself on a deeper level, narrow your focus to what you truly need and want, and see life from a more insightful perspective.

The next time you find yourself in a creative fog, try one of these activities and notice how you feel afterward.

The key is to do them intentionally. You can't rush through them and expect meaningful change. Instead, pour into yourself the same energy you pour into your creative work, your family, your job, and everything else that matters.

Make these moments part of your daily, weekly, or monthly routine.

You may be surprised by the difference they make.

My hope is that you discover your own "Ways to NjoyPeace," helping you see the Wisdom in slowing down, putting yourself first, and embracing a lasting "Love for Self."

Author's Note: This article is also published in my "Intimation Messages" newsletter on LinkedIn (July 4, 2026), "The Joydrop" on Substack (July 5, 2026), and in my "LYLT Expressions" publication on Medium (July 5, 2026).

—Glorious Raine

Press PAUSE

There are times in life when we get so engrossed in our day-to-day responsibilities that we forget to stop and take a breath. It is usually not until we become completely tired and worn out that we realize we have been moving so fast that we forgot what it feels like to stop and just be. By that point, our bodies have begun to give us cues and signs that it is time to press the PAUSE button. We begin to feel overwhelmed, exhausted (even after what we thought was a good night’s sleep), irritated, or even physically unwell.

Once we reach this point, we often have no choice—we are, in some way, forced to “stop and breathe.” Let’s not wait until it comes to that. Instead, we can find ways to fit a five-minute meditation, a breathing exercise, reading a quick section of the book we are slowly working through, or just sitting in silence into our morning, afternoon (lunch break), bedtime, or any time of day.

I have experienced both the exhaustion that comes from doing too much without taking time to rest and the feeling of being relaxed, refreshed, or renewed from taking just five minutes to breathe. There have been days when I have made taking time for myself a priority over anything else once I get home from work because I now understand the positive impact of “taking 5.”

Put Yourself First

Putting myself first means making sure I exercise (usually walking) and stretch before starting housework, cooking, or cleaning. I also make it a point to “find my flow” through fluid movement and “create my own bliss” by incorporating 5–15 minutes of meditation or simply lying on my back in silence. One of my favorite practices after a Pilates and stretch session is lying flat on my back in “Star Pose,” with my legs outstretched and arms extended to the side. I close my eyes and just lie still, focusing on relaxing every muscle in my body and clearing my mind of clutter.

After about 5–10 minutes, I roll onto my stomach and push back into “Child’s Pose” for a few seconds before coming to my feet and rising to a standing position. Afterwards, my mind feels renewed, my body is relaxed, and I am ready to conquer the evening.

Taking time for yourself is incredibly important, though it can be challenging because it often feels time-consuming. If you are the type of person who needs to stay on task and gets stressed when you fall behind, you may need to “stop, breathe,” and press the PAUSE button for a little self-talk. Start by reminding yourself that it is okay to get off track sometimes.

Once you have freed your mind from the anxiety of falling behind, consider adding the time you want to spend exercising, stretching, or relaxing to your daily, weekly, or monthly schedule. This ensures it actually gets done. Making it part of your schedule helps you stay on track while keeping your stress levels down from not following your routine.

The benefits are well worth it. I speak from experience: when I take moments for myself, regardless of what else I have to do, I find that I am more relaxed and at peace, which makes navigating the rest of the day-to-day activities far less stressful.

There is that moment in time when you feel lost. That moment when you feel scared and confused. That moment when you feel out of control and helpless. That moment—that moment, that moment, that moment.

That moment in time when you see your child or a loved one in distress and there is nothing you can do. Nothing you can say to change the situation. Nothing that can make them feel better—because in that moment, you are lost, scared, confused, out of control, and helpless. You are all of those things in the same instant.

I would not have believed it was possible for one person to feel so many emotions at once if I had not experienced it myself 25 years ago. But you can—and I did. In a single moment, I felt every one of those emotions.

Why?

Because I heard the words:

"Your child’s blood sugar level is 585, and he is diabetic. If you had not brought him in today, he would have died in his sleep from a diabetic coma."

Yes, you read that right. That is exactly what I was told. And that is when all of those emotions collided in one single moment in time.

The realization that something is wrong with your child—while having no real understanding of what the words mean when you first hear them—can ignite a flood of emotions. To say that hearing the doctor diagnose my son with Type 1 diabetes was frightening would be an understatement. Once I calmed down enough for him to explain that it was Type 1 (and that there is a difference between Type 1 and Type 2), the weight of the diagnosis fully settled in.

This was not something that could be fixed with a prescription, an over-the-counter supplement, or a simple diet change. No—Type 1 diabetes is something that will travel with your child for the rest of their life. There is nothing you can do to take it away, change it, or stop it from living in their body.

Instead, it is something you learn to cope with, manage, master, and live with—and teach your child how to thrive in spite of it. And that is exactly what my family did after the initial shock and the long, overwhelming period between diagnosis (which felt like forever) and stabilization through treatment.

Taking on a Whole New Language

I remember those moments and the whirlwind of emotions I felt all at once. It was like learning an entirely new language.

It began with a long day of discovery—the diagnosis—followed by a long night of immediate treatment during a hospital stay, and then several days of education as we learned how to, in essence, take care of our child in a whole new way.

That experience truly was one long day that turned into a long night, which then became several days. But we got through it. And moving forward—choosing to move forward—is exactly what I aimed to promote in 585.

The Book

585: The Number That Changed Our Lives reflects the moments in time that sometimes suspended me in place, propelled me forward, or made me wish I could go backward. Moments that, over time, became part of me, part of my son, and part of our entire family.

These are moments that force you to see that even in hard times—even in moments filled with uncertainty—there is hope, healing, good health, and first, foremost, and always: love.

It took me a long time—over 15 years—to decide to share our journey with the world. In 2006, I self-published a book of poems and brief essays about raising a child with Type 1 diabetes. That book did not remain available for long; I unpublished it, locked it away, and moved on.

Now, 18 years later, I am finally ready—not only to share my story, but to stand behind it. I have recently self-published it once again.

585: The Number That Changed Our Lives is an open and honest memoir recounting my experience as the mother of a child with Type 1 diabetes. Within its pages, you will read about the raw emotions I experienced upon my son’s diagnosis, the impact it had on my life and my husband’s life, and—most importantly—how it affected our son.

The book also offers insight into what it is like to raise a child with Type 1 diabetes, along with inspiration and practical knowledge for managing the condition. Completing this book has been a long time coming, which is why I am excited to share that 585: The Number That Changed Our Lives is now available for purchase at Lulu.com.

If you have enjoyed reading this article, please consider sharing it with anyone you know who is living with Type 1 diabetes—whether they have it themselves, are raising a child with it, or know someone who is. There may be a small gem of information within these words that helps make their journey a little easier—and that has always been my goal.