How to Practice Self Care During a Pandemic
As you can imagine, many people are currently experiencing a rise in anxious symptoms related to the COVID-19 health crisis. It has been the topic of concern in almost all of my recent talks with both adults and kids. When a first-grader casually (and accurately) uses the word “epidemiology,” in their everyday conversations, I think it’s safe to say that we are all being affected in some way by this whole pandemic thing.
So what can we do to ease our minds? It all comes down to practicing healthy self-care. If you’ve ever met me, you know that I am very passionate about expanding the definition of “self-care”. When you break it down, “self-care” simply means “taking care of yourself.” It doesn’t just apply to our mental health; it’s part of our physical and social health as well. When we rethink the way we define self-care, we start to notice the various ways that we can, and often already do, take care of ourselves.
Let’s start by giving ourselves a little credit. If you’re reading this, I’m going to assume that you’re looking for ways to focus more on your self-care. Maybe you think that you aren’t doing enough, or that you could be doing more; which makes perfect sense. I get those thoughts, too. But let’s be careful not to short-change ourselves. The first step in increasing your self-care is noticing the ways you are already taking care of yourself. To do this, ask yourself a few questions: How are you already practicing physical self-care? What about emotional self-care? What does self-care look like in your social life? You’ll be surprised at how much you are already doing without noticing.
When it comes to taking care of yourself during a pandemic, it’s especially helpful to take inventory of what you are already doing. Have you slightly upped your hand washing game? That’s self-care. Have you caught up on the news to be better informed and prepared? That’s self-care. How about reading an article on practicing self-care during a pandemic? Yep, you guessed it, self-care.
So how do you practice self-care during a pandemic? Just start with mindful observation. Before you shame yourself for not doing proper self-care, be reminded that these are unprecedented times and it’s okay to be gentle with ourselves.
If you want to know more about self-care and how you can work on self-care during a pandemic, join me for a special Self Care 101 Webinar! We will be meeting online every Wednesday for eight weeks starting on May 20th and ending on July 8th from 6-7PM.
For more information or to register head to this link. This webinar is free for first 50 teachers and social workers, must submit a valid ID upon registering to confirm.
Email us at info@stillpointcounselingandwellness.com to get your promo code before registering.
