I'm a mental health therapist and I want you to
Steal My Self-Care!
These are 10 daily habits that I do that help upgrade my own mental health.
You can make these incremental upgrades on your own as well.
Now, there's no need to do all of these and you might wanna personalize or adjust them to your needs. That's totally A-okay.
I want you to do what you know aligns with what you need.
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DRINK WATER
This is the very first thing that I do every single day.
I tend to be very thirsty when I wake up and water, as you know, is one of my favorite coping strategies already.
Not only does it keep me healthy, focused, motivated, and well-hydrated, it also helps to literally cool me down in times of stress.
When I get really frustrated or feel very strongly or passionately about something important to me, I happen to be somebody who literally heats up or gets like a lump in my throat. So drinking water allows me to take a pause while I take a sip so that I can think about what it is that I wanna say or do next.
2. MOVE MY BODY
Y’all know I love to move my body. So moving your body helps you move and adjust your mind and your mindset.
When you move your body, you can actually change the way you feel.
It's really, really great for your overall physical and mental health.
There are a few different ways that I like to move my body:
→ Yoga
→ Shake it out
→ Dance around by myself
→ Side stretch or bend
If I'm really in a crunch, I'll actually move where I sit in sessions, so sometimes I move around the room.
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3. EAT BREAKFAST
Now, when I was in high school, I used to totally skip this and that was a mistake! I'm going to really encourage you not to do that.
I eat breakfast almost every single day now. On days when I eat my breakfast, I tend to be much more productive and helpful to my clients and myself.
Y'all already know that when I am hungry, I am quite the monster.
So starting my day off with fuel and nutritious fuel helps keep me keep it going strong throughout the day as well. I noticed that my attention and my focus and my energy throughout the day are just stronger.
It really helps me just be a better therapist and a better human being.
4. BUFFER TIME + BIO BREAKS
It used to really, really stress me out when I had too much fun on my schedule.
I know that's weird. But I would be like, "Oh, my gosh, when will I have time for me?"
So now, I literally create white space on my calendar. I have about 15 minutes blocks of wiggle room or buffer time in between my clients. And I make sure that there's at least one, if not more, day(s) throughout the week where I don't have any other additional plans or scheduled plans with friends or family.
Now, if something were to come up that day and somebody invites me and I'm feeling like, "Ooh, yeah, let's do this," I might go ahead and do that. But I'm not pre-committing or overcommitting myself ahead of time.
With buffer time also comes bio breaks. Bio breaks are where you take a few moments to attend to your physiological needs:
→ So this is taking a moment to grab a drink.
→ This is eating a snack or a meal if it's mealtime.
→ It is moving your eyes away from the screen for a few moments.
→ Or using the bathroom to relieve yourself.
Attending to all of these biological factors really helps you not take up so much time, energy, and focus delaying those tasks. And it helps with your self-care as well.
I noticed that when I stop taking breaks or I ignore my biological needs, I actually do worse.
5. WALK THE PUP
Now, y'all know I love my pup, Princess. She's a cutie patootie and she brings me so much joy!
One of the ways that she's really helped to upgrade my self-care is by walking her daily. Well, twice a day because I actually walk her once in the morning and once in the evening.
Having that time just the two of us is really special.
→ It helps me stay mindful.
→ It helps us stay connected.
→ It also makes sure that I get outside and get some fresh air every day.
If you have a pup, I highly recommend taking them on walks.
Not only will it be good for you, but it'll also be good for them too.
6. GET FULLY DRESSED
Now, with the pandemic and working from home, I will tell you, it was really hard to maintain this strategy for self-care, but it has made a huge, huge difference in making sure that I stay focused and stay on top of my day.
Every day I make sure that I get dressed. Even if it is literally like I'm staying at home that day, I’ll still change out of one pair of pajamas into another pair of pajamas.
When it's a workday and I'm actually going to be seeing clients, I actually get dressed from head to toe. Not just the top part, but even my pants and my shoes as well.
You know, they say to dress for the job that you want. I say, to dress for the mood you want.
So if I wanna stay focused and attentive, I'm gonna go ahead and dress that way as well.
7. RESET THE ROOM
Resetting the room means putting things back to how it was before you leave the room. So if I move or use something in a room, before I leave the room, I make sure to reset it the way it was before I left.
This strategy was a HUGE game-changer for me!!
This saves me a ton of time and energy when it comes to decluttering and cleaning. Everyone in my house does this as well and it's a huge help moving forward.
Now, this might be something difficult that if you're not already starting off with a really well-organized or clean room, it might be hard to do, so just start resetting certain aspects of your room.
Over time, you will get there and achieve that goal.
8. REFLECT
Every day, I take time to pause and reflect.
Usually, I’ll do this through journaling or meditation, or just mindfully silently to myself, expressing gratitude throughout the day.
When you pause and reflect on what's working and what's not working, it really helps you notice the patterns that are contributing to whatever mood you tend to find yourself in.
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So if it's something that you wanna keep going, like you feel really relaxed and calm and peaceful, pausing to notice and reflect and stay mindful about what's contributing to that mood will help you recreate that in the future.
If it's an unsavory or unpleasant or uncomfortable experience, then it will let you know what to avoid in the future as well.
*That's how I learned that hunger is one of my emotional vulnerabilities. So now I make sure that I stay well-fed and fueled throughout the day.
9. CONNECT + CELEBRATE WITH OTHERS
When you find something that works for you, I highly recommend that you connect and celebrate it with others.
So before, I know I said that I don't tend to overcommit or pre-commit to different social obligations or events. But I still make sure that I stay connected with my loved ones and my trusted friends to let them know what's going well in my life.
I also wanna hear what's going well with you, too. I love celebrating with people and I love connecting with people.
It's one of the things that I think helps me do so well as a human being and as a mental health therapist.
It's also one of the reasons that I really love running my Teen Growth Therapy Groups.
When we can connect and celebrate with others, whatever it is that we're working on and achieving, it feels awesome.
10. JUST FOR ME
Now, I highly, highly, highly recommend that you also do something that's just for you. I tend to do something just for me every single day, whether that is drinking my cup of coffee, it might be watching a TV show that I'm interested in, or maybe it is taking a detox bath at the end of the day.
I love just taking a few moments just for me and no one else.
It doesn't have to be extravagant or crazy luxurious. But doing something that's just for you and no one else can be really, really great for upgrading your mental health with your self-care.
If you wanna take your self-care to the next level and practice with me, you can do that by following along with some of the mindfulness practices in this playlist right over here: https://youtu.be/-ecJXpCVR2E
We've got things like body scans, meditations, loving-kindness. Go ahead and check it out.
IF YOU ARE CONCERNED THAT YOU, OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW, MAY BE CONSIDERING KILLING THEMSELVES, PLEASE CONNECT THEM WITH HELP.
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