Taking Care of Yourself

“Self Care is giving the world the best of you instead of what's left of you.” -Katie Reed

Last year, I wrote a blog about the importance of black women caring for themselves. Self care is such a vital part of mental health. When we are not intentional about self care we put ourselves at risk for burnout and other mental health challenges. Self care is not just binge watching television shows or binging our favorite foods. Self care is the act of pouring back into ourselves purposely, so we can be more present and fulfilled in life as a whole. Self care is:

• Personal: Caring for our personal Hygiene/ and Nutrition​​-eating healthy balanced meals

• Social: Having Physical Interactions & Connections

• Psychological: Finding time for Meditation/Self Reflection/Mindfulness/Prayer

• Physical: Getting Exercise/Sleeping well/and Moving our bodies

• Emotional: Removing Negativity from our lives/Increasing our Confidence & Self Esteem

Below is a 7 day self care challenge I created for those who may need a jump start or for those who may need self care ideas.

7 Day Self-Care Challenge

Day 1: Make a list of 7 things you are grateful for. Evidence shows that gratitude is strongly associated with greater happiness. Showing gratitude helps build and maintain relationships, encourages more positive emotions and builds resiliency.

Day 2: Show Gratitude to someone else. Write a letter to someone thanking them. Pay it forward by giving back. Visit someone you appreciate.

Day 3: Schedule a meeting with yourself. We schedule meetings with others consistently in the professional world. Why not schedule time to meet with ourselves? Take 30 minutes or however long you’d like to process thoughts, meditate or pray.

Day 4: Go outside. Take a walk, go for a swim, ride a bike. Sunlight triggers the release of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is directly correlated with improving mood and increasing calmness within our body.

Day 5: Take a 10 minute break today at work to stretch. When you're sedentary all day your bones and muscles tighten. Stand up, stretch, take a breather, then get back to work.

Day 6: Create or find your resource. This idea was taken from a community model that promotes resiliency and emotion regulation. A resource is something that brings you peace, joy or comfort. I have multiple resources. One is a rubbing stone. When I feel myself getting stressed, worried or anxious during the day-I take some time to resource by rubbing my stone. It holds temperature, it's smooth and it's weighted. Weight helps with grounding. Grounding simply means bringing awareness back into the body.

Day 7: Sit down and take some time to create your own self care plan. You can find a stress and self care assessment, along with a self care worksheet here. Once you create your plan, stick to it. Keep it somewhere visible and be sure to re-asses it periodically.

Resources

Blog

http://socialwork.buffalo.edu/resources/self-care-starter-kit/self-care-assessments-exercises/exercises-and-activities.html

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-serotonin-425327

Photo: https://www.joshuanhook.com/self-care-what-is-it-how-do-we-do-it/