In today’s blog post, we talk about self-care. We have gathered our top 12 self-care activities, which we hope you find useful. We’d lover to know your favourite ways of practicing self-care too, so why not leave us a comment?
1. Learn how to pace yourself
When you pace yourself, not only are you more likely to meet your obligations, but the entire process becomes much more tolerable too. The reason it becomes more tolerable is because:
- You have time to think and evaluate whether your current technique is working, or not.
- You have time to mix more enjoyable or relaxing tasks in between each of your obligations.
- You have more time to work something out, if you’re struggling to find a solution.
- You don’t become overwhelmed on a single task, leaving no energy for subsequent tasks.
2. Have some counselling/personal therapy
I’ll preface this by saying that counselling and personal therapy is not the same as supervision. This is because the desired outcome of therapy is to improve some aspect(s) in the life of the person presenting for therapy, whereas the desired outcome of supervision is to improve the quality of therapy delivered by the therapist.
“Essentially, therapy is about repairing and supervision is about enhancement”.
It sometimes comes as a surprise to people that therapists need therapy too. However, at Hypnotic Universe we actually encourage it, for a number of reasons.
- It stops us taking our difficulties, frustrations and concerns into our own therapy rooms, meaning that when we’re in a therapy session with our own clients, we’re 100% present.
- Many of our clients are living through difficult life circumstances and, although we do all that we can to distance ourselves from them, the simple fact is that sometimes it does get to us.
- It helps us organise our thoughts and plan strategies.
- Sometimes we don’t have insight into our difficulties and, working with somebody that can identify our own danger signs can help you put checks and balances in place before problems arise.
3. Do something physical to burn off stress hormones
Exercise burns up excess stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol, whilst causing you to release relaxing and mood-boosting endorphins. This alone gives you a good reason to get moving.
4. Make time to eat and drink
We’re not at peak performance when we’re hungry, so it’s important to make time to eat, even if it’s just a sandwich somewhere away from your desk. Not only does it give you energy, but if you can walk outside of your work area, it’ll give you some brief respite from anything that’s been getting on top of you that day.
We’ve all been hangry and times, but did you know that you can develop a similar effect when you’re thirsty? Even if you’re only slightly dehydrated, it’ll still blunt your focus and make you irritable. So do make sure to factor in time to go grab a drink – better still, get a water container and chug is between tasks.
5. Make time to sleep
None of us are at our best when we’re tired, so it goes without saying that we should all put in effort to get a decent night sleep. Most of us function best with around 7 to 8 hour sleep.
6. Do something fun
Doing something fun is a good way to recharge your mind so, if you can factor in regular rest breaks, that will really help your motivation and your mood.
7. Be kind and patient
Being as kind and patient with yourself as you are with others, is nothing less than you deserve. Yet so many of us don’t do it. So many self-care tasks involve time, but the good news here, is that this one doesn’t involve a time commitment and can be enjoyed universally.
8. Ask for help
Asking for help is frequently seen as a weakness but in reality, it’s quite the opposite as it involves strength. Asking for help when you need it, can reduce frustration, improve mood and save time and energy.
9. Learn the art of saying ‘no’
The trick here is to say ‘no’, whilst being confident, deliberate and meaningful. People generally challenge your ‘no’ less when you communicate with confidence. So, don’t be afraid of saying no, when you need to.
10. Discover a new passion
We all need some kind of passion in our life (something outside of therapy), whether it’s learning how to play a musical instrument, learning a new language, take up painting. Just find something that you look forward to doing and allows you to recharge your batteries. So, what are you waiting for? Go find something that nourishes your soul 🙂
11. Know yourself
When we recognise that events in our life and in the wider world are triggering us, it allows us to tackle our own shame and trauma directly. Freeing us up from forever reacting in ways that are detrimental to our mental health and relationships.
Furthermore, when we look at our responses to the world around us, we can make a determined effort to disconnect from as many of these triggers as possible. For example, there was a time when I stopped watching the news, because it substantially lowered my mood. Far from being informative, it triggered fear, anxiety and felt totally overwhelming.
12. Take a holiday
We all need some time to unwind properly, so if you’re able to, book yourself a little trip and go do something different.
Contact us if you need some coaching through self-care for therapists and boundary-setting.
*Subject to a brief safety assessment.
