I’d say that for my mental wellbeing and overall happiness, self care has never been as important as it is right now. I think it’s something we could all use a bit more in general, and I mean real self care, not just face masks and painting your nails! Here are the things I’m doing to care for myself during all this craziness.
Keeping Clean
From my nails to my bedroom floor, keeping myself and my environment clean and tidy is major self care right now. It makes me feel much happier, and it stops the house from feeling like such a prison when it’s a nice place to be, and I’m in a condition where if I want to go for a walk or need to go to the shop, I can.
Time to Think
I’m not much of a fan of meditation, but I do like having time where I’m not stressed about anything I should be doing, or distracting myself with anything, and I just take a few minutes to think on how I’m feeling, why I’m feeling that way, what I can do to feel how I want to or maintain how I feel, that kind of stuff. Even when things are going well I like to do this, sometimes it means I realise I’m much happier than I’m giving myself credit for!
Being Unproductive
There’s all sorts of damaging messages flying around about how we should all be being productive and doing the stuff we didn’t have time for before, and though I am trying to be productive most days, sometimes I just need a day off! Days of the week practically don’t exist anymore, so as soon as I feel like I need a day to just rest up and do nothing, I take it. And I don’t feel bad about it for a minute.
Indulge
We’re going through a mad time right now, if you want that extra bar of chocolate while doing your essentials shop, you get it! That dress you’ve been wanting for a while? Order it now (it might take a while to arrive, but you’re getting it!). Now really is the time to treat ourselves, if we can, and not feel the slightest bit bad about it. Be kind to yourself, we deserve nice things just for living through this time. Even if you’ve not done a single productive thing since lockdown started, you’re getting through lockdown! You deserve a treat!
I know it’s not a lot, but having little things like this in place really help keep my mental health from ending up totally in the gutter, and I hope they can help someone else out too!
-Dana
Carry on Beautiful! 