It’s that time again, everyone! What time do I mean? Oh, just time for me to pour my heart out. Well, actually, not so much today. Today, I want to talk to you about something very important: self care. Self care is very closely related to self love, something I’ve struggled with most of my life. It’s not easy to learn to love yourself when your self esteem has always been shit… But there are things you can do to show yourself some love even if it’s just simple things. I want to talk about those today.
I’m still fairly new to the self care scene, I’ll note. When I as young, I was very bad at taking care of myself- in fact, I was seemingly bullied for certain things I didn’t do often enough, but I didn’t understand they didn’t quite intend to bully me by saying the things they did. I was often yelled at by the school bullies to take a shower, which I thought was just them being mean and calling me a dirty existence. I found out later that it was because I had a seriously bad odor even if I’d showered that morning, as I sweat profusely throughout the day sometimes, and thus my body odor doesn’t stay tame.
It’s been more than a decade since those words were said to me, however. Since then, I’m not sure my hygiene has gotten any better- in fact, it’s gone downhill. My father has to remind me to do things like brush my teeth still, and I no longer shower every day. I don’t go out much, so I just wipe myself down (aka a sponge bath) some days instead of taking a shower, as I get dizzy even in just warm water. I do have a stool in the bath/shower for when I get dizzy, though. So really, I shouldn’t be worrying so much about the dizziness…
All that said, I do try to take care of myself lately. I’m trying harder not to apologize for things that aren’t my fault. As you probably already know, I’ve also started journaling and planning my day to some extent ahead of time. And you know what? I may fail a lot of my tasks, but I really enjoy using my binder journal. I have some really good things in it, like a mood tracker for the month, which has shown me just how bad my anxiety and depression can be. I also have a habit tracker, a gratitude journal and other things in my journal. I’ll talk more about that another time, though. The point is, I find my journaling fairly soothing and insightful!
Another thing I’ve gotten into is cosmetics. I like playing around with them, but I also do it to feel better about my appearance. Some days, I’ll look in the mirror and tell myself I’m cute even if I haven’t put makeup on- but many days, if I don’t feel my best, I’ll do my makeup both to relax myself (I don’t know why, but hitting myself with a sponge is oddly relaxing). I also do a facial mask every few days, not like clockwork but in general. I find having it on my face for ten to twenty minutes and just daydreaming and laying back in my recliner really enjoyable. Sometimes, I’ll time it by watching a cartoon with dad instead. We both enjoy kids shows (not like toddler shows, mind you… but cartoons like Danger Mouse are great!).
Something I’m trying to learn to do is positive affirmations. Things like ‘you look fine as you are’ or ‘there’s nothing to worry about today’. I’m still not good at saying them regularly, which I need to work on, but I do practice positive self talk when my anxiety rolls in like it does regularly in its cool car. At those times, I try my best to do positive self talk and tell myself a certain phrase: “This pain will pass.” I always say that when I’m in pain, even if I’m in the middle of an anxiety attack or panic.
That’s it for the self care I personally practice. Now, let’s hear yours! What do you do to try to ease your inner pain? And what do you do to show yourself love throughout the day, or even just the week? No matter what you do to take care of yourself, I want to hear it. It can be something as simple as a positive affirmation or just doing something you find relaxing. Please share your tips with me- because I still need all the help I can get!
Well, that’s that. Have a great weekend guys!
I’m not always great with it either.
I do find meditation helpful…when I bother to do it. I try to do it before bed lately to help me sleep.
I often in the morning in my bullet journal try to write things positive (like to relax). Also have loads of positive stuff with sayings on em around my room.
I’d really like to hear about your journal. WRITE ABOUT IT PLEASE!
I keep a gratitude journal in my planner/journal. I don’t know what to call it at this point honestly xD I intend to write a blog post about it for next Tuesday, as I already had the rest of this week planned out >w< Thank you for the input~ What kind of meditation do you find most helpful to sleep?