These trying times - taking a collective moment for self-care

February 1, 2018 2:28 PM

A collection of useful links for different aspects of self-care. Exactly what it proclaims to be.

Self-Care Information:

Self-Care Wheel for checking out the different areas

Using Micro Practices for Self-Care

Taking care of your inner self:

Practice for Developing Kindness Toward Yourself

How To Locate Your "Felt Sense"

The 5 Step Self-Holding Exercise

For when you feel awful:

You Feel Like Shit: An interactive guide to self-care (for when you're deep down in the trenches)

We All Fuck Up: The Importance of Loving Yourself Even When You Disappoint Yourself

Media:

Tropical surf ebbing

The sounds of a frozen ocean (10 hours of ice floes moving and cracking)

The Happiness Frequency (2 hours of music)

A printable finger labyrinth

A Super Basic Budget Worksheet (yay for practical self-care!)

And for more ideas:
Self-Care Ideas for a Bad Day from The Mighty

posted by fairlynearlyready (12 comments total)

This seems like a good place to share some self-compassion meditations.
posted by ourobouros at 2:53 PM on February 1, 2018 [5 favorites]

I needed this today. Thank you.
posted by Salamander at 4:47 PM on February 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

Good computer habits for self-care!

Workrave is amazing.

It's described as an RSI prevention tool, but omg, it should totally come automatically with all computers. You can set how often you need breaks from the computer, as well as how strict it needs to be about making sure you take those breaks.

(Bonus: if you love their labor of love, they'd like you to donate to the EFF, not them)

Also f.lux to adjust the light on your computer based on the time of day, so the computer doesn't keep you up at night.
posted by aniola at 6:50 PM on February 1, 2018 [5 favorites]

I found that graphic to be really stressful and basically just another self-maximizing demand
posted by thelonius at 6:54 PM on February 1, 2018 [3 favorites]

God, I wish I could bury my cynicism and drop my walls enough to engage with practices like these. Lord knows I’m a perfect customer for pretty much all of it. But, try as I might, I just can’t maintain a serious attempt. All the interior negatives they’re designed to counter eat them alive.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:19 PM on February 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

Fairlynearlyready what a great post! And much work into compiling all those great resources. I will be passing some on and consulting many myself. Thank You.
posted by smudgedlens at 7:52 PM on February 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

I just can’t maintain a serious attempt

I'm right there with you a lot of the time, and some cynicism is healthy.

When I have succeeded with things of this nature it is by pretending it is summer camp. "Well fuck. I guess we are all making marshmallow tinker toys now. I'll make 'em too, but I'll be surly and sulky about it the whole time."

A lot of this shit still works even if you grumpily half ass it.
posted by poe at 2:23 AM on February 2, 2018 [11 favorites]

A lot of this shit still works even if you grumpily half ass it.

THIS. Self care is incremental and habitual. Whatever small thing you do helps; you don't have to 'win' at self-care, too.
posted by LMGM at 4:14 AM on February 2, 2018 [5 favorites]

I completely agree with grumpily half-assing it! Sometimes that is the only way that I can make myself do some of the things that I know are good for me, especially things like meal planning or cleaning/organizing. A little is better than none, even though Instagram may make it seem like a competition, we don't have to compete.
posted by fairlynearlyready at 8:45 AM on February 2, 2018 [2 favorites]

Affordable acupuncture can really help.
It was the 'people's medicine in China; here it can be real spendy unless you're lucky.
posted by Mesaverdian at 11:39 AM on February 4, 2018

Ok the theme of half assing this stuff, fake it till you make it. Use it as a weird science experiment. I teach large groups and one time this very damaged group who had become so angry with one another they could barely be in the room, felt pressured to be 'fake positive' towards one another BC that's what you're meant to do in this scenario. By the end of four hours of this they had all forgotten they ever didn't like one another because the feeling of being supported and supporting one another is better than the alternative. So I maintain, fake it, and see what happens.
posted by Augenblick at 9:29 PM on February 4, 2018

Bunk speaks truth, here: I tell folks, “Study that if you want to study what intent is,” because everyone understood exactly what we were doing at every moment, even though we were using just that one word or [a] variation thereof.
posted by rmd1023 at 7:47 PM on February 13, 2018