Resources

Self Care

We all know what it is and are mostly terrible at it!

The biggest myth is that it needs to be a massive event, treat, fanfare…. when really it can just be 5 minutes having coffee in the sun before the daily routine starts.

Here are a few little things we love (and honestly try practice ourselves)

• Acknowledge your emotional resource level BEFORE you start your day - and stop lying about being at 100%

• We love the Spoons Theory when thinking about mental health resources (read more about it here)

• Fill your cup each day with something for you

• Fake it til you make it: Unfortunately our brains aren’t built to reward us for things we haven’t done. So sometimes we have to do the things that we know keep us well.

• Find your 8 minute person. An idea originally apply to business meetings can actually help with connectedness.

• Be gentle with yourself and give yourself a bit of permission for things to not okay for a bit.

Sleep

We are not going to suggest sleep hygiene or developing a routine or no caffeine etc, because if you are asking us about sleep, good chance you have tried them all.

Instead here are a few things we’ve found helpful.

• If pitch back rooms or and a silence house some smart TVs have an ambient setting. This plays different images at a low light with ambient sounds.

• White noise, pink noise and the unfortunately named brown noise. We find a lot of clients with ADHD find brown noise helpful as it has an electronic hum in the background.

• Boring and monotonous tasks at the end of the night can help

• Learn your natural circadian rhythm. While it’s commonly accepted we need an 8 hour block of sleep - that doesn’t work for everyone. We actually have a lot of clients who work better with polyphasic sleep - 2 or more, small chunks of sleep rather than one big block.

• Talk to your GP about possible short term pharmaceutical support

Gratitude + Perspective Taking

Most of us hate to admit it, but sometimes saying nice things about ourselves can go a long way.

• Keep a “small wins” journal.

  • This strategy was suggested to Mon by Natasha of Private Practice Alliance. She suggested each day jotting one thing down that went well, that you liked, that was fun… anything.

  • At the end of the week, the month, or just when things feel like they aren’t going well, look back on your entries. We have a tendency to overemphasise the negative and quickly forget good things are happening.

• Looking at all sides

  • when in a situation we often forget not everyone has the side view, perspective, understanding - and honestly that a good thing

  • Next time you are caught worrying about an interaction, take a step back and look at the action/words, what others might see, what others might feels - both from the positive and negative perspective.

  • This will give a much clearer picture and assist in planning the next step

• Looking Back

  • We forget how far we’ve come, especially when things are tough

  • FutureMe offers a fantastic (and free) way of sending yourself a letter for the future.

  • Simply jump on online, write want you need to and select your preferred timeframe.

  • FutureMe will email your email when the time comes.

  • FutureMe also has a paid option which offers a few more features.