What One Day of Self-Care Looks Like To Me

What self-care looks like to me (for one day, anyway). It's important to keep things switched up with your self-care. If your self-care needs to be sleep, then, by all means, do that!

My simple rules for self-care

• No cell phones (until dinner/around when your self-care day is wrapping up)
• No social media
• No TV (unless you're using it to play music from)

Changes to my self-care routine

My “self-care” routine is so different now than it was 5 years ago. My self-care routine has gotten matured because I know what I personally need to decompress if I'm in the middle of a crisis if I'm heavily stressed due to work, relationships, health. I need this time to put aside everything and focus on me. What that looks like is:

• Lathering myself in lotion
• Putting on warm socks
• Brushing my teeth
• Putting on good lip balm and making sure I keep that balm in my pocket so that when I have the chance, I am reapplying it throughout the day.

My lips are especially dry, as is my skin from having psoriasis, eczema & random dermatitis every now and then... because an immune-mediated illness is an absolute blessing (sarcasm).

I basically take the time to address every single body part throughout the day, giving it attention and what it needs. If that area needs warmth, I'll get my moisture-induced heating pad I found online and apply it to a swollen area, and move it around while reapplying H20 mist.

Hygiene & self-care

Self-care also can mean getting things done at the same time. And that means taking care of your hygiene. Doing the laundry twice a week so that I don’t have to wear smelly sweatshirts all week and have the luxury of having fresh, warm blankets from the dryer to snuggle with all week.

Animals & self-care

Want to have some fun? If your pup loves baths, hop in the shower and rinse them off. (I recently purchased the strangest bathtub fish set that wiggles in the water and it is hysterical to watch my dog & cats react to the swimming fish in the bathtub. That type of laughter that can only come from animals is a huge part of my self-care.

As I’d just mentioned, animals are a huge source of my self-care whether it comes to taking care of them by giving them fresh food and treats every day so that we stay a happy family. Those are the things that give me the motivation to take care of me and my mental health.

Additional tips for self-care

Folks, you better moisturize. Heavily. When the heck do we actually have the time to lather ourselves and let it actually dry and soak into our skin when we live in a society that is so go, go, go. Moisturizing every single body part from your lips to your neck to your thighs and feet.

How do I end my self-care day? Usually by playing mindless games like Super Mario Bros. Or handheld Slingo.

Of course, there are going to be things that interrupt your self-care day, but do as much as you can that makes YOU happy in a healthy, motivational way that helps you keep going with your inflammatory bowel disease.