If you are feeling under intense stress or not managing your mental wellbeing, it is important to try out some coping strategies and practice self care. Self care can put you in a place where you feel more able to manage your emotions – and if you are managing your emotions, you can function better, which puts you in a better position to deal with your challenges.
Self care can mean different things to different people, for many it’s time alone with a book and good food (yes, I mean chocolate….) and for others it’s letting off steam with friends and a night out (no, I don’t mean alcohol!). It can take many forms, but essentially, if it allows you to bring your mind into the present and forget about future worries or past mistakes and you enjoy it, it’s a form of self care. There is some pressure to feel that in order to fully indulge in “self care” you “should” be doing yoga or meditating and, well, yes please do that because it is so beneficial, but really if your heart isn’t in it and you need immediate relief from a stressful time, what you really need is something personal to you and that might well be meditating or it might be strumming a guitar.
Self care isn’t always the fluffy stuff either, it can also be facing some truths and shedding toxic relationships. Anything that betters your life and makes you live more authentically is a form of self care. Do you need to tackle that to do list so you can free up some mind space and time? Do you need to spend less time with that friend who brings you down? Do you need to tell your partner that they need to help out more around the house? Just do it already! Imagine how much easier life will be without the added pressure of these niggles rattling around your brain?
If you are feeling that life pressures are becoming overwhelming, there are four immediate aspects of self care that you need to attend to:
MOVEMENT = Walk, dance, run or do whatever raises your heart rate and spirits at least three times a week, preferably more
SLEEP = Adults need around 7-8 hours a night. Bedtime rituals or meditation can aid a peaceful nights sleep if you are struggling
DIET = Eat three meals a day, of nutritious and well balanced meals – you are what you eat
BREATHE = Practice deep breaths, fill your abdomen and learn diaphragmatic or mindful breathing
Now you must find the time to do that thing that fills you with joy, whether that is reading, crafting, baking something or playing a board game. Build a toolbox of strategies and use them regularly. Here a few more coping strategies to try out to see what works for you:
· Take a walk in nature
· Create a calm environment to escape to, such as in your bedroom
· Start journaling
· Take a bath
· Try meditation
· Practice gratitude
· Catch negative thoughts and replace them with positive ones
· Get in touch with friends/family
The more you practice self care, the more it will work for you.
Julie Rae 