8 self-care ideas for bad days
Recently, I’ve noticed that bad days became more frequent than usual. Is it happening because of 2020? I don’t know, but now we have to find a solution on how to care for ourselves especially on a bad day. There are many reasons that could influence our mood such as a bad-hair day, stress, too many expectations, or simply just a bad mood. Don’t worry, everything is fixable! It is absolutely okay to sometimes feel bad, but the only person who could help feeling better is you.
Self-care is a way to protect our health and take an active part to improve our own well-being. I’ve divided my suggestions into two categories: physical self-care and mental one. Physical self-care focuses more on the tangible actions we could take to take care of our bodies. Mental self-care is more about feelings and mind-related activities to make us feel better. At the end of each chapter, there are “making it easier” bonus parts for a really bad day. So here are the 8 self-care ideas to improve your bad day.
Physical self-care:
Take care of your basic needs. First of all, every human being needs to eat some food, drink a glass of water, and breathe fresh air. Try to remind yourself of any basic stuff you could easily forget on a stressful day. I keep my smartphone to-do checklist with a food and water tracker as well as a supplement tracker. Easy to look at, always in your hand, and makes a beeping noise to remind you to do something.
Freshen up. Taking a warm bath/shower could help you relax mussels, make your body clean and fresh. Adding facemasks, salts, or other nice stuff will lighten your mood and make you feel more comfortable in your body.
Take a nap or a meditation break. Sometimes all you wanna do is sleep. And that is totally okay! If you feel that you have to recharge, take a power nap (the normal sleeping cycle is 45 minutes, so I suggest calculating the time for a nap in those intervals to feel fresh). If nappy-nap is not an option, your best choice is a quick meditation session. Even if you don’t know how to meditate, try a guided meditation to recharge, and stop anxious thoughts.
Move your body. Exercising has been proven to improve your mood. Happy hormones wait for you! Sweat the stress out and thank yourself later. If exercising at home is not your thing, take a quick walk around the block, breathe some fresh air. The fastest way to move your body, in my opinion, is to shake it up and stretch a bit. Relax your mussels and shake out the stiffness to let your blood flow better.
Making it easier:
Dry shampoo is your friend and a splash of water in your face, too.
There is no shame in ordering food, junk food is sometimes better than no food at all.
Chewing gum after food is ½ of the mouth hygiene on a bad day.
Let yourself do nothing, literally nothing at all. No phones, books, or any other activity. Just lay down or sit in a quiet place for a moment. In a matter of half an hour, you will eventually want to do something.
Mental self-care:
Journaling. I’ve already talked about it in my previous blog post about mindfulness. Journaling can help you find better solutions for problems, understand your feelings clearer, and identify what is going on inside your head.
Express yourself. Crafting is an amazing way to relax your brain and let the energy flow in a creative form. Knitting, crocheting, painting, pottery making, watercoloring… So many ways to express your feelings. In the worst-case scenario, put your creation in a drawer where no one will ever see it.
Talk to someone. Call your loved ones, if you cannot see them physically, and talk with them about anything. They will understand and help you as much as they can. If you don’t feel comfortable talking to people that you know, you can always chat with others on many different websites. One that I personally know is 7 Cups(https://www.7cups.com). It is free to use if you need any help or you don’t have anyone to talk to.
Change your mindset. Now take a moment and look at the big picture. Stuff happens all the time. It is likely that you have already been through something like this and overcame it. Sooner or later it will be better, maybe not today, but soon. Be proud of who you are and all the best things you have already achieved. Don’t worry, just keep going.
Making it easier:
Open your windows and blinds, let some sunshine in.
If talking to a real person feels too hard, talk to a chatbot, or identify how you feel with a mood tracker.
Sometimes crying helps for a bit, don’t bottle all your feelings up.
I hope that those techniques helped you feel better at least a little bit. Bad days happen to all of us, no matter where are we coming from or what flavor of ice cream we prefer. You can always overcome stress and anxiety and feel better. Don’t forget to look ahead and at least be curious about what is going to happen in the future. Take care!
