I said on Twitter last month that I wanted to start doing more personal posts on my blog; I kicked off this months selection of posts with probably the most personal post I’ve ever written and you know what? It felt good. It was scary. But it felt good having written it. This is my space on the internet after all – nobody else’s. Why can’t I talk about my private life, my personal problems and my own experiences?
I am all for self-care. Despite the fact it’s deemed a by-product of our generation and sense of entitlement, I can’t help but think, ‘why shouldn’t we be entitled to look after ourselves the best we can?’ And even, on occasion, before we look after anybody else. We are our own biggest commitment after all and we’re the only person in the entire world that we are stuck with forever so for that reason, I believe in self-care and its importance. But what I’ve been thinking about more and more recently is the actual self care “routines” we are often bombarded with which are sure to make us feel better and increase our mental wellbeing.
I am a 24 year-old female and I have a hella lot of trouble sleeping sometimes. Lack of sleep, insomnia or just general problems sleeping are usually associated with older people, right? Like menopause or health problems that occur later in life that might prevent people from falling asleep as easily and as naturally. It definitely sucks but older people have options to make night time more pleasant, like adjustable beds and riser recliner chairs for example which can make a huge difference to your wellbeing associated around sleep. But what about us young’un’s?
We can’t help the way our days go sometimes… They occasionally end up epically shite and it’s completely out of our control. But it’s still always important to start the day right because ya never know what might happen! I’ve put a lot more emphasis into starting my day right this year so I wanted to share some of the things I’ve started to do to have a more positive morning! Note: waking up at the crack of dawn isn’t one of them.
I am not here to repeat the utter tripe that started the whole #JustGoForAWalk frenzy on twitter a little while ago (if you don’t know what happened, basically someone said to the mental health community that their depression and anxiety could be cured by ‘just going for a walk’ – make of that what you will). As an anxiety sufferer myself, I know fully well that just ‘going for a walk’ does not cure all your mental health concerns. But… whilst it won’t cure you completely, walking, exercise and getting outside into nature and the fresh air can have a huge positive impact on your mental (and physical) wellbeing. From my own experiences, I wanted to share some of the ways me and my mental health has benefitted from it.
The notion of self-care is one that’s been somewhat pushed on us more and more, especially over what seems to be the last year or so. Before I started blogging, I can’t say I had ever heard the phrase “self-care” before in my life. That being said, I thing self-care is extremely important and if anything, the fact that it’s been talked about here, there and everywhere right now is a welcome reminder to all of us to take damn care of ourselves every once in a while.
