From there, you can fall into a bit of a spiral, and before you know it, you’re feeling awful more often, and dwelling on things.
While healthy management of emotions means that there has to be room for you to work through all of the stages of them. With space, support, and acceptance.
But you also need to take care of yourself as best you can.
That is where self-care comes into play.
“As important as it is to have a plan for doing work, it is perhaps more important to have a plan for rest, relaxation, self-care, and sleep.” ― Akiroq Brost
You can do some things that can make you feel a little bit better, and nourish you a bit too.
Cry
This is really important. You don’t need permission to cry, but often we don’t always feel like we should be crying – depending on the situation. But crying gives you a really healthy release of emotions. When you bottle up sadness or upset, it can turn into something you can no longer let go and be free of.
Write
When you write for fun, you are giving yourself a huge gift of an outlet. Writing in a journal regularly enables us to get our thoughts out on paper – which means they often aren’t so heavy to carry in our minds.
Having a journal nearby to write thoughts and feeling down as they happen can make sure that you don’t get overloaded.
One of the great things is that there are no expectations to write or share if you don’t feel like it. You can do it when you feel like you can.
Sleep
When we are going through something traumatic or painful, we can have an overwhelming urge to sleep. Or the opposite and sleep escapes us. If you have the opportunity to sleep and feel like you can, get as much rest as possible. If you can’t sleep then try to minimize the energy you are using during the day and listen to calming music or sleep stories to help your mind slow down a little bit.
Memories
One of the most important things that we can do during particularly sad times is to keep memories alive. Even when we aren’t feeling great, thinking about the great memories we have about someone, or something can bring a lot of comfort and joy to us. Photos, talking about memories, and even something precious like cremation necklaces for the ashes of a loved one can bring a sense of peace and joy.
Time
This might be the most important one. Giving yourself time to process and heal. When something impacts us emotionally and mentally, if we try to rush to ‘feel better,’ we miss out on vital steps in the healing process.
When it comes to self-care, it is a vital part of us feeling good and being able to process and work through things that are going on in our lives that have made us feel less than great.
BY TECHIE MAMMA