Lovely Suggestions Self Care Guide:
The self-care guide for those of us who feel completely lost.
1. Keep makeup wipes next to your bed for those nights when you just want to crash, and can’t bring yourself to get up and wash your face.
2. Give yourself personal goals that will improve your mental and/or physical health. You can start small, and work up. Maybe try eating fruits with every meal? or stretching each morning? or fitting a fifteen minute walk in the sun every day (tip: big sunglasses can cover your face so you won’t even need to get ready, and you’ll look fly as hell with no effort at all)
3. Let your friends and family love and support you. There are people in your life who want to help, but maybe they just don’t know how. Tell them how you’re doing, a simple “I’m having a rough week, can you come over?” text is enough. Just being with someone, even just to watch a movie on the sofa with, can make your days a little easier. Isolation, even when it feels good, only makes things worse.
4. Make time for yourself, and the things you love. Make a point of spending 30 minutes every day for the things that make you happy. Maybe it’s drawing, or watching youtube, or taking a hot showers and blasting music, whatever it is, make time for it.
5. Allow yourself to feel your feelings. Don’t push off how you feel, letting it build up will only make it harder. If you feel like garbage, sit down and let it all out. If you’re having a tough morning, take things slow. Then, when the time comes, give yourself a little push to get going and keep you from wallowing.
6. If you’re happy, let that shit shine! Don’t let the good moments get washed away, hold onto that feeling. Listen to your feel-good songs, dance around, maybe post about it. Make those moments into memories, especially when they feel few and far between.
7. Keep a list of good things. It might seem simple, but when something good happens write it down, and look back on it on the tough days. Maybe it’s something nice someone said, a joke you shared with a friend, someone holding the door open for you, or your dining hall had tater-tots. Every time you meet a goal you set for yourself, big or small, write that shit down! Kinda like before, keep track of the good things so you can prove to yourself they still exist when you feel like there is only bad.
8. You have unlimited phone-a-friends in real life, use them. Feel like everything is awful and you can’t do anything right? Days like these make the world seem dull, but your friends can give you a clear perspective and help ground you. Can’t get yourself out of bed to eat breakfast? Ask someone to bring you food. (Tip: You don’t have to feel guilty for asking someone to help you manage, everyone at some point in their life needs it!)
9. Keep a water bottle and healthy-ish snacks by your bed. Easy things, like veggie chips or dried fruit can help give you that boost to get out of bed, and even if it dosn’t, at least you’ll still be nourishing your body.
10. Structure your day. Especially if you’re in college, or you don’t have a 9-5 job. Sometimes the days can flow together, and it’s 7pm when you realize the day got away from you. Make a whole-ass schedule, and delegate times for studying, friends, work, chores, down time, etc. Not only will it help you manage anxiety because you’ll know when you’re going to do what, but it will help you feel more stable. (Tip: Be compassionate with yourself if you don’t stick to it exactly, rather than critical and self-depreciating. Take a deep breath, accept that you didn’t get all you wanted done, find another time to do it, and move on to the next thing)
