We all feel down sometimes. For some of us, mental illness and other life problems can make us feel down pretty often. That's why every girl needs ways to practice self-care when you're in a funk.
Self-care is an essential part of helping ourselves get through these hard times. But, let’s face it, self-care can be really hard. Not everyone has the patience or the strength to prepare a healthy meal, a special homemade exfoliating scrub to put on in a warm bubble bath, read a book, or accomplish an art project that you’ve wanted to do for awhile. These are classic self-care techniques, but sometimes simpler methods of self-care are needed.
So, I’ve put together a list of simple self-care practices that you can use in your day-to-day life to help you balance your mind, body, and environment when you’re feeling down. Here are the best ways to practice self-care when you're in a funk.
One of the best ways to practice self-care when you're in a funk is to make your bed. A made bed can make all the difference in improving the atmosphere of your space. It can make a grungy space feel suddenly clean, even if you do nothing else to tidy up. Making your bed also makes you feel like you have a little bit of control over your life. When your space is in order, your mind is ordered as well.
If you have the strength, cleaning your entire space instead of just making your bed is a fantastic way to practice self-care. This doesn’t have to be an in-depth cleaning. No dusting, mopping, or sweeping is needed if you don’t want. Just simply pick items up off the floor and straighten the look of your space to bring order to the world around you.
Sometimes, we can feel so low that we don’t take care of our bodies properly for days (or weeks, if you’re prone to depression). A great first step in practicing body self-care is to brush your hair. Run the brush through your hair, making sure to get all the tangles out. This can also work as a meditative exercise.
It can be hard, but taking a shower is one of the best things you can do to practice self-care. You don’t have to do much - shaving your legs is optional! Just make sure you get clean and put on a nice clean pair of clothes afterward.
Your body needs nourishment to survive. However, when you’re feeling down, making a full meal can seem really hard. So, eat something easy, like a piece of fruit, a bowl of cereal or a protein bar. It doesn’t need to be fancy, it just needs to be food.
Your body is made up almost entirely of water, and you can only go three days without it. Drink one full glass of cold water. This will also help you feel full and maybe a bit more energized.
If you’re on any medications, whether they’re for mental illness or some other health issue, you need to take them. You were prescribed them to make your body and mind feel better. Use that glass of water we just talked about to take your medications, and you’ll be practicing two methods of self-care in one!
Going outside and getting some sun, or even just feeling the rain on your skin, can drastically improve your mood. Walking outside is also a good form of exercise, even if you don’t necessarily have the motivation to exercise.
Animals can go a long way in making us feel better. In fact, studies have shown that the act of petting an animal can lower blood pressure, and the vibrations of a cat’s purr are believed to be naturally calming.
I don’t know about you, but listening to some music always puts me in a better state of mind. This music can be as sad and as dark as you want when you’re feeling down. There’s no better feeling than listening to music when you're feeling down.
Friendship, especially female friendship, can be the most healing and validating thing in the world. Your friends are there to help you when you feel down, and they might even make you laugh or completely turn your day around. You don’t have to go out and see them if you don’t have the motivation. Just a simple text will suffice and could go a long way toward making you feel better.
This step in self-care is a little less simple than all the other ones on this list, but if you can do it, mediation can go a long way in balancing your mind and improving your mood. You can even meditate lying down, so try it out if your mood allows!
Sometimes, you just need to allow yourself to rest. Let yourself take that three-hour nap that you’ve been putting off for so long. It’ll be good for you.
That being said, if you sleep too much, a great form of self-care can be forcing yourself not to sleep during the day. If you’re the type of person who beats yourself up for taking too many long naps, try going a day where you don’t take any naps and see how your mood improves.
This is a more complicated self-care task, but journaling consistently can help you get your frustrations and worries out. Journaling is naturally cathartic, so give it a try.
If all else fails and you cannot do any of the self-care techniques listed above, just breathe. You will be okay, today will end, and tomorrow will bring hope. Here’s to feeling better.
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