Importance of Self-Care

 Importance of Self-Care

Self-Care? What exactly is Self-Care?

Self care is care provided by you for you. Its about identifying your own needs and taking steps to meet them. It is taking the time to do some of the activities that nurture you. Self-care is about taking proper care of yourself and treating yourself as kindly as you treat others. Self-care is an activity that you do voluntarily which helps you maintain your psychical, emotional and mental wellbeing. It can help you feel healthy, relaxed, and ready to take on your work and responsibilities.


Why is Self-Care so important?
There are lots of reasons why self-care is important but here are a few main reasons.
It keeps you healthy 
Self care can help you stay healthy! Physical stuff like exercise can be a great form of self care for various different reasons. It keeps you strong, burns of nervous energy and gives you some time to forget your responsibilities or things that stress you out. Self care doesn't have to be psychical either, taking time out of your day to do something you enjoy like watching a film or reading is also a great way to distract your mind and body from things that mind be causing you stress.
It helps you 'recharge' 
Some people use self-care as a way to unwind and destress after a long day or week. Taking a relaxing bath, meditating or even taking a nap can help people catch up on rest and 'un-plug' themselves from the outside world.
It can help you manage health issues
Self-care sometimes is a way of coping with physical or mental health issues. People with Mental Health issues will use self-care strategies to cope with symptoms that can be overwhelming, and to make sure that they can live their lives as fully as possible.

So here are some of my ideas of self-care;

1. Treat Yourself
2. Mediate
3.Write a Journal
4. Do you nails
5. Read
6. Take a bubble bath
7. Take a nap
8. Apply a face mask
9. Color in
10. Burn a candle
11. Find a new hobby
12. Do yoga
13. Bake
14. Go to bed early
15. Go on a drive
16. Have a spa day
17. Listen to music
18. Draw
19. Turn off your phone
20. Go for a walk
21. See a friend
22. Mindfulness
23. Go cloud watching
24. Have a distraction box
25. Buy a magazine
26. Exercise
27. Watch a movie
28. Go for a coffee
29. Forgive yourself
30. Wrap up in blankets
31. Learn something new
32. Watch youtube
33. Cuddle your pet
34. Learn to knit
35. Go to a party
36. Spend sometime outside
37. Eat well
38. Go to the gym
39. Get rid of negative people

40. Draw

41. Allow yourself to cry

42. Take a long shower

43. Use a bath bomb 

45. Go to the park.

46. Dance

47. Create your own blog

48. Go to the library 

49. Declutter your bedroom 

50. Call a friend 

So there you go! There is so many different activities you can do to take care of yourself, self care is an act of survival and everyone deserves to have time to themselves. Participating in self-care can help with various different things, it can help with stress and also helps you refocus your energy.
I hope this post has helped you get some ideas on how to take steps to improve your self-care.

I hope your well,
Leah x

If you have any suggestions for posts you would like to see please comment or message me! x 

Learning How To Cope With Mental Ilness

Hi all,

 I'm so so happy to be back and posting again! But before I get going with this post I think its best if I do a bit of an update to why I have not been active for a few months. Since about February my mental health has been quite wobbly, which has impacted on my education quite significantly  this has then led to me being homeschooled again for the majority of the time. As I have exams coming up in the summer I have been pretty busy with revising and trying to prepare myself for these exams as best as I can! I don't want to ramble on as I'm excited to get going with posting again, If you have any suggestions on subjects you would want me to talk about either comment on this post or message me!

Learning how to cope with mental illness...
 Living with a mental health problem can often have an impact on day to day life, making things others might not think about a bit more difficult.

When I think about my journey through my illnesses I find it quite difficult to see anything positive. It has been a painful, sad and confusing time, and left people around me filled with constant worry. My journey has been, and still is a long process. I've been under Mental Health services for five years, five years of being involved with different teams and seeing various Psychiatrists,Psycholgists,Therapists,Nurses and support workers.
But after a recent conversation with my Doctor I said that I wouldn't change what has happened, and your probably thinking why?
The answer is that,  I will never be the person I was before I became unwell, I will never get that Leah back. Yes in someways that is quite sad however my struggles with mental health have made me into the person I am today. It has taught me so many things, and Ive have met so many incredible people! My knowledge of Mental Health is continuing to grow and this next bit in my opinion is one of the first steps on 'Coping with Mental Illness'.

Accepting your Diagnosis; Accepting your diagnosis in my opinion is key to recovery. While it is hard it is the first step to recovery.
Understanding Your illness; learning about your illness can be very beneficial, learn what your triggers are and learn to notice when you need to ask for help.
Coping skills; Having a list of your own personal coping skills on hand is always helpful for when you are struggling.
Keep a journal; Keeping a diary isn't for everyone, but if you haven't already tried I would definitely  give it ago! Getting whatever is bothering you out can be a massive weight lifted.
Mindfulness; Mindfulness again doesn't work for everyone but it is helping more and more people and you never know it may just work for you.
Distraction list; Having a list of distractions e.g. Taking a bath, Painting nails, Baking etc etc can be a massive help for when your going through a roof patch.
Keeping busy; Keeping yourself occupied is always helpful, you could keep busy by, seeing family or friends, going on a walk, and maybe set yourself some goals for that day.
Socialising; Socialising can sometimes be really hard if your struggling with your mental health, you might find yourself becoming isolated and spending less time with people and more time on your own. But socialising is a massive part of recovery, and you will usually feel slightly better once you have done it.
Positive people; Surrounding yourself with people who make you happy will automatically give you a sense of positivity. Some people just give off positive vibes, and if you are surrounding yourself with them types of people you will kind of absorb that positivity!

This next one is definitely one of most important ones. Hopefully most of you will you already be receiving professional help but if you aren't,  I can't express how important it is to do so.
If you are wondering how you go about seeking help you can do this by, visiting you GP.
Your GP will most likely refer you to a service known CAMHS (Child and adolescent Mental Health service) this is a NHS service for young people under the age of 18. If you are over the age of 18 your GP you refer you to CMHT (Community mental health team).
Once you have been referred to Mental health service you will have access to a range of different treatments.
Therapies including;
CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy)
DBT (Dialectical Behavioural Therapy)
CAT (Cognitive Analitcal Therapy)
EMDR ( eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing)
Psychotherapy
Family Therapy
Art Therapy
Medication is also an option however not everyone will want or need medication, however in some cases medication can help a lot with recovery and help you to become more stable. Medication isn't a cure, it is a small part of aiding your recovery. Psychiatric Medication such as Anti-Depressants, Anti-Psychotics etc etc will only be prescribed by a psychiatrist. They are used to help treat and reduce symptoms.


Everyone will have their own coping mechanisms and their own ways of managing their illness but I that hope this post has helped and give you some ideas of how you could manage you illness better.
Thank you for reading,
Leah x