Relax

One thing we have learned this summer is to relax. I have come to realize how important this is for everyone in our family. It is so important to relax our minds and our bodies.

This past while there has been so much stress and uncertainty with Covid that it’s been hard to think about anything else. We were stuck in our home, all together for so long.

For our family, we are fortunate enough to have a cottage to escape to so as soon as school was over, we packed up the car and headed up. It has been such an amazing summer so far. I think the past year and a half has just taught us to appreciate the little things and to be grateful for our family and our health.

Having two teens on the spectrum, you never know what challenges you are going to face no matter what environment you are in.

I have noticed with both our of children that they just needed a quiet space to calm their minds and relax without having any deadlines or pressures on them.

For our daughter, it means that she gets time to rest, do art projects, listen to music or just relax.

For our son, it means engaging in lots of outdoor fun like swimming, boating, paddle boarding, canoeing, hiking and just siting in the sun.

To relax your mind can be lifechanging for everyone, but especially for people on the autism spectrum as they have so much going on in their minds that they normally just can’t shut anything off. It’s been nice for me as a parent just to see both of our children able to engage in things they like or just not to do anything at all.

This can be hard as we are so programmed that we have to be busy all the time otherwise we are not being productive. But what I have discovered is that by being calm and relaxed is a great way to regain mental strength and become happier people.

In our cottage environment I find that the connection with nature and the water is an absolute life-changing factor for all of us. Just being able to enjoy sitting watching boats or sunsets or looking at trees can provide such calm and peace.

How do you get your child to relax? What do you do to relax you mind?