Additional authors: Amanda Conley and Vicki Mejia-Gewe
*Disclaimer: While Shirley has a Ph.D. in Social Psychology, that is not a clinical degree and she is not a mental health professional. All views are our own and based on our personal experiences and what works for each of us, and will not necessarily work for everyone, so should not be considered a substitute for medical advice or diagnosis. We are not health or mental health care professionals. If you do need help in a medical or mental health area, please reach out to the appropriate professional.*
Muffins
Last time, we discussed balance, health, nutrition, and self-kindness for self-care. In this article, we cover additional ideas for self-care.
Indulgence, treats, and rewards
Sometimes, self-care means indulging, treating, and rewarding yourself with little or bigger things to make life more enjoyable, or at least easier/more comfortable.
- Retail therapy
- Massaging computer chair
- Hot chocolate maker/milk frother
- Fuzzy blankets/slippers
- Nothing says comfort like warm and cozy
- New clothes
- One day we’ll leave the house and be embraced by the outside world again
- Indulgence (also see Nutrition part in previous article)
- Ordering favorite meal
- Making/buying/eating that sweet or less-than-healthy food (in moderation)
- Binging on a favorite show, movie, comic, etc.
- Extended game time
- Celebrating the little things — Recognizing accomplishments, however big or small, can reinforce continuing to accomplish more. That’s where even small rewards can help.
- During the final summer of my Ph.D., I made it a point to go get gelato with a friend every time I finished a chapter of my thesis. It gave me something to look forward to, even when it felt like an endless overall task, because it celebrated the milestones. And yes, I did this even that time I finished at like 9:30pm and STILL had a lovely friend go with me.
- Longer showers or baths (when/where possible)
- Embodiment of warmth, which can help some with feelings of loneliness
- It can be relaxing
- Maybe add some bath bombs or bubble bars to it for some added fun
Personal development
The extra time, along with the experiences of this year, can provide a prime opportunity to look inward and self-evaluate where we are and where we’d like to be in different areas of life.
- Coaching or self-coaching
- The Wheel of life worksheet allows you to do a self-assessment of different dimensions in your life to see them as parts of a whole and how they work together. After this, you can choose which area(s) you’d like to work on and how you can do that, developing a plan to do so.
- Learn a new hobby/skill, or stretch/build upon a current one
- Google it!
- YouTube
- LinkedIn Learning
Hobbies
What do you enjoy doing? What would you like to try? Below are some hobbies we enjoy.
- Reading/audiobooks
- Unlike most, reading more isn’t necessarily one of my goals usually (I read a lot of articles and such very regularly). However, I have had a goal to become more creative (explore creativity? However you want to word that), and haven’t felt like I’ve had the time or venue to do this. After a conversation with a friend who is a professional coach and identified creativity as an area for growth for me for the future, I suddenly realized that the content of my reading has vastly changed these past months. Now I read a lot of recipes (to stretch or further develop baking skills, to use up ingredients, or to find ways to do things more easily/efficiently) and a lot of Webtoons.
- Webtoons has been a wonderful world in which I can immerse myself in varied stories, different worlds, and very different genres. I started reading the site a couple years ago with 3 comics but this year have added a bunch more, including new ones that only recently started. These provide a necessary escape from being overconnected to this year’s trainwrecks. These have also been great for conversations with friends who also read the same stuff, plus make me feel connected with the comment communities for these webcomics (never thought I’d say that line).
- See Sheri’s recommendations for the year.
- Webtoons has been a wonderful world in which I can immerse myself in varied stories, different worlds, and very different genres. I started reading the site a couple years ago with 3 comics but this year have added a bunch more, including new ones that only recently started. These provide a necessary escape from being overconnected to this year’s trainwrecks. These have also been great for conversations with friends who also read the same stuff, plus make me feel connected with the comment communities for these webcomics (never thought I’d say that line).
- Audio formats
- Audiobooks
- If you’d like a starting point, Vicki recommends these mysteries to make you laugh. However, she has also reviewed many other audiobooks on FGN and Audiofile if you’d like more suggestions.
- Podcasts
- Audiobooks
- Unlike most, reading more isn’t necessarily one of my goals usually (I read a lot of articles and such very regularly). However, I have had a goal to become more creative (explore creativity? However you want to word that), and haven’t felt like I’ve had the time or venue to do this. After a conversation with a friend who is a professional coach and identified creativity as an area for growth for me for the future, I suddenly realized that the content of my reading has vastly changed these past months. Now I read a lot of recipes (to stretch or further develop baking skills, to use up ingredients, or to find ways to do things more easily/efficiently) and a lot of Webtoons.
- Writing — Maybe you wanted to start or continue with a blog. Maybe you’ve wanted to author a book. Channel your interest and creativity and see where it leads you.
- Wax seals — because they are just so neat and beautiful.
- Crafting
- See Vicki’s Crafting between the Chapters series for some ideas.
- Drawing/creating art
- Even if you aren’t good at it
- Puzzles
- There’s been an increase in the number of puzzles people have been doing since the quarantine started. I’ve particularly noticed this among extroverts (could there be a correlation here?).
- Baking
- I know it’s a quarantine cliché, but I have been stress baking since my Ph.D. over a decade ago, and it has been extremely helpful, especially in dealing with grief. I only started using yeast during the pandemic, and considering how nervous I was about it, definitely needed handholding. Especially for beginners, I’ve found Bigger Bolder Baking to be very helpful, as I needed to have confidence built before continuing, to see if I was even willing to commit to this expanded hobby again.
- Baking is also great for channeling the mad scientist spirit within some of us, versus the more creative one on others. While I don’t identify at all with being creative, I do love the opportunities to experiment and compare results via different methods, and baking is a great (and usually delicious) area for it. It’s also an opportunity to learn and develop (ignore the smoke detector’s judginess, though, unless there’s an actual hazard, of course).
- Also see Tori’s Holiday Treats from Around the World for some additional ideas with some interesting backstories.
- Movies/shows
- Binge watching and catching up on shows in queues, or reexamining familiar in a new light
Hope you enjoyed these additional ideas to expand your self-care toolkit. Join us next time for the final article in this series, which will cover the social aspects of self-care.
