The anxiety and panic that people are experiencing is so real and valid. There is such a loss of control and predictability – something that so many of us crave and rely on. It is important that we remember that we must be taking care of ourselves during this time. This blog is here to outline some self care tips on how we can engage in self-care.
Self-Care Tips
Accept your Anxiety
If you are feeling fear right now, know that it’s okay to feel that way.
Trying to “get over it” or minimize it is only going to make it worse. Breathe into it and give yourself space to witness and let the emotions come and go. In doing so, you can act from a place of wisdom rather than panic.
Remember to focus on the things that are in your control. There are many things that are out of our control, which contributes to our increase in anxiety. There are still things that are very much in our control. It is extremely helpful to put our energy and focus into those things, rather than giving it away to things that only make us feel worse.
Identify your triggers and limit them as much as you can.
Social media and the news can be great – they are a way of keeping us connected to the world around us and our closest friends and family. However as of late, it can be extremely triggering.
If you need to limit your time on social media, please do it for as long as you need! There is nothing wrong with acknowledging that certain things are just not working for us.
In fact, it can be extremely empowering and brave. Watching and consuming all the reports and fear can be damaging to our mental health. Not only does it add to our anxiety, fear and suffering but it is in no way productive and hurts rather than helps us.
Self-Care Activities
We at Empower your Mind Therapy cannot stress this enough! Taking care of yourself during this time is vital. Some activities you can do to mindfully nurture yourself are:
- Read for 30 minutes
- Take a bubble bath
- Listen to relaxing music
- Facetime a friend to talk
- Play video games
- Watch Movies
A DBT skill that is essential in effectively utilizing self care is PLEASED and Self-Soothe! Check out this blog post to learn more about this skill!
Radical Acceptance: A DBT Skill
Accepting the things that you cannot change. While radical acceptance is one of the most difficult DBT skills to achieve, it can be liberating. We spend so much time and energy on things that are way beyond our control. Sometimes we dig our heels in and refuse to move while it feels like we go through the emotional equivalence of being steam rolled – other times it’s almost akin to hitting our head on a brick wall over and over again, with the expectation that we can eventually get through.. But at what cost to ourselves.
Radical Acceptance is about letting go of the need to control the reality or the world around you, and instead allowing things to be and accepting them as they are. This doesn’t mean that you approve, accept, forgive, or are happy about the event, but it’s accepting that it’s something beyond your control, that you can’t change, and in trying to change it – You do more damage to yourself and create more suffering than helping yourself.
Journaling for Anxiety and Stress Relief
Journaling is a great way to release excess anxiety and notice patterns of thoughts and behaviors. It is also a way to externalize our thoughts; which gives us the ability to better tap into a wise mind and counteract our inner critic. See this blog for more ideas on how to journal and get some prompts to start your journaling journey!
