We often write, and you may hear, about “self-care.” However, this may leave you wondering: How do I “do” self care? Plus, there are a lot of ways that life gets in the way of self-care. For example: I am busy! Getting a massage takes time and money! I don’t know where to start!
Well, you’re not alone. Self-care can look like so many different things, and can be different for different people. Try to keep in mind that what works for one person may not work for another. With that in mind, here’s a list of ideas to get you started!
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has an Office of Adolescent Health (OAH). OAH is “dedicated to improving the health and well-being of adolescents.” One of the ways they’re trying to take action is through their Think, Act, Grow (TAG) initiative. TAG is a national call to action to improve and prioritize adolescent health.
Someone may exhibit one or more signs when they are suffering.
Photo Credit: http://www.changedirection.org/
Perhaps you’ve experienced these yourself or have noticed these in your child, or a friend or relative. Suffering can come to us in many ways – perhaps a close friend or relative has moved away or died, or perhaps mental illness makes life difficult on a day-to-day basis. Being aware of these 5 signs can be a helpful way to realize when you need to seek help your child seek professional advice or counseling.
How do you cope with depression and anxiety in the moment? Recently, there has been a movement in adult coloring books! Many people find the details of the images in the coloring book to be relaxing and meditative. Plus, you can find so many coloring books for so many different pictures! There have been a few articles published about the movement in the past year, and we liked this one in particular.
Depression can be a confusing illness. We often think having an illness means you have a runny nose, a stomach ache, or some part of your body is in pain. Usually you take some medicine, rest, and hopefully in a few days or less you are back to feeling yourself. However, depression may take time to evolve, and takes more time to recover from. This is because depression involves brain changes and sometimes those can take longer to repair.
Sometimes the hardest thing to do when coping with an illness is to take care of yourself. Or as many call it “Self-Care.”
Self care is not about indulgence, it’s about self-preservation – Audrey Lorde
Defining what self-care means is a personal journey. Sometimes self-care may look like a long hot bath, other times it may mean taking a long walk, playing a sport, painting, doing yoga, or journaling. Taking time to discover what helps you get through the tough times and difficult moments is an major part of the journey to living well. Taking care of yourself is important as a parent, it allows you to clear your mind, rest, and be able to take on life!
It’s also important for adolescents to engage in self care for themselves – this may look different from your forms of self care.
Sometimes people feel really alone, that they need to get everything done, or care for everyone else’s needs before their own. This isn’t healthy. Taking time to rejuvenate and being honest with yourself about what you can and cannot accomplish are key in becoming a healthier person.
What activities do you participate in for your own self-care? Do you struggle with self-care? Does your adolescent do any self-care techniques? Please share with us below!
We like Headspace because it breaks meditation and mindfulness practices down into easy to digest pieces (and there’s science behind its design)!
Sometimes it can feel very daunting to try something new like mindfulness meditation, but Headspace makes it really easy to understand the benefits and to try out sometime new!
The app is free, so give it a shot!
Tell us what you think? Did you like the app? Have you tried it before? Would you suggest something like this to your adolescent?
We previously posted about mindfulness. However, as we start into summer, we thought we could use a small reminder (it’s only 10 minutes!) about ways to practice mindfulness over the extremely busy upcoming months.
The Smiling Mind app is a free app for iOS and Android that has meditation exercises geared for age groups! We think this is really cool because meditation for a 10 year old is not the same as for a 19 year old or 26 year old or even a 50 year old.
When you download the app you can sign up with your email or sign in with your Facebook account. Once you pick your age range then you can begin the “programs” that are pre-set in the system.
After your session with the app checks in with “how you are feeling now” to help you track what meditations work best for you.
Overall we think this app is really useful and accessible.
Let us know what you think! Did you download and try the app? Do you use another app? Would you recommend this app for your child? What do you prefer?
