Self-Care

By Zach Teske

Self-care is a very important part of therapy. Self-care is a way to monitor ourselves and helps maintain our mental health from day to day. We do things for self-care and may not even realize it. Ever come home and treat yourself to some take out and your favorite tv show or movie? That is an example of self-care. Self-care our day to day things we do to help our mind declutter and stay stress-free. 

How to understand self-care and what it means to you. 

The concept of self-care to many is generally understood as taking actions in order to maintain a certain level of mental health. In other cases, we use self-care to prevent burnout, triggers, anxiety, depression etc. Self-care provides people with a momentary escape from the things that cause us the most stress and can help us understand and manage the things throughout the day that may be the most bothersome. 

What do you do for self-care? 

What you do for self-care should be individualized to you. It can be an activity or event that you partake in that takes you away from the current state that you are in. Self-care can be something you have easy access to, it can be as simple as reading a magazine without any disruptions, to gardening, exercising, drawing, keeping a journal and on and on. The important thing about what you choose is to understand if and how it works for you. It is key that your self-care activities are yours! 

Tips to maintain and improve your self-care. 

A good way to maintain your self-care is to create a schedule. Remember that our activities for self-care could range from a few minutes to a couple of hours or more. It will vary depending on your schedule and your personality. Keep your self-care consistent. Do not rationalize with skipping your self-care activity, hold yourself accountable in order to take care of your mental health. 

My Take Away...

Self-care can be a very simple action we do for ourselves that can have a significant impact on our day to day life. FInd what you enjoy and be sure to make time for yourself.