Self Care to Reduce Stress
Practicing self-care during stressful times is an important way to reduce your stress and anxiety levels. However, during stressful times we tend to ignore our needs and limits. It is during these times that it is extremely important to care for ourselves the most. We need to exercise, get enough sleep, eat nutritious meals, take breaks and preserve our boundaries.
Practicing self-care not only helps us feel better, it helps us function at our best. It boosts our energy and helps us to think more clearly. Self-care supports our health and well-being.
Self Care Activities
- Set your camera to macro and take close-up photographs of bugs, flowers, and anything else that catches your eye outside your home.
- Sing your heart out.
- Hand write a letter to a friend or relative and start a conversation in the old-fashioned way.
- Participate in on-line activities provided through Zoom and Instagram for exercise and fun.
A Resiliency Scavenger Hunt
By Alyssa Forcehimes, PhD
- Walk by someone (from a safe, 6-foot distance) and offer the person a silent “I wish you well.”
- Find something you can give to someone else that will make them smile.
- Find something you pass by every day – look at it more closely for a few moments as you pass by.
- Find someone in your contact list who you haven’t talked to in a while and send them a message to say hello.
- Listen to a song that makes you feel happy.
- Name a person you’re grateful for and think about how this person impacts your life in a positive way.
- Look at yourself from the perspective of someone who loves you unconditionally.
- Do one random act of kindness for someone – one that costs you nothing but a small amount of time.
- Find one thing that you love to smell (you get a bonus point if it is the soap you’re using to wash your hands for 20 seconds).
- Find a picture stored on your phone (or in an album) that makes you feel happy, and reflect on what brings you joy.
Follow us on social media for updates and ways to manage stress.
The following links contain information and activities to help you practice self-care.
7 Types of Self-Care activities for coping with stress, Psychology Today
A list of 50 fun self care activities, Self Care Pursuit blog
The Big List of Self Care Activities Adapted from The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook