Self care: is it more than just an Instagram-worthy catchphrase?
Self care. The phrase that took 2018 by storm. It went viral as a projection of aesthetically pleasing activities like face masks, bath bombs and shopping sprees, which is now what many of us think of when we hear the term. While such activities can be good ways of winding down every once in a while, they certainly don’t hit on the true purpose of self care: to improve our mental wellbeing through self-reflection and focusing on our feelings. Material things, such as candles and bath bombs, can actually end up masking these feelings by distracting us - which can make the situation worse.
Here are a few ways that you can incorporate proper self care into your routine, and be able to reflect and gather your thoughts to change your wellbeing for the better.
For the busy: mindfulness
Mindfulness is a process that involves psychologically bringing our awareness and attention to the world around us. While this might sound complicated, it simply refers to grounding ourselves and feeling in the present.
Many of us wake up early in the morning, immediately get ready to leave the house, and then must focus our attention on work throughout the day with the only breaks surrounded by talking and noise. This means that we have no time, from the minute we wake up to the minute we go to sleep, to simply stop and focus on just ourselves and our feelings, and nothing else.
Mindfulness helps to do exactly this, and has a profound effect on mental wellbeing. It’s much easier than you might think - apps such as Headspace, Calm and Stop, Breathe & Think have a range of recordings that talk you through the steps to bringing yourself into the present moment. I personally suffer from bouts of dissociation (a feeling of being completely disconnected from your body, and sometimes outside of it or not yourself) and have been recommended mindfulness practices like these: mindfulness is recognised by the NHS as an effective way of alleviating many mental illnesses.
Mindfulness doesn’t have to involve an app and a recording if you don’t want it to. Simply going through the senses, and picking out five things you can see, hear and feel is an effective and recognised way of grounding yourself throughout the day if you begin to feel overwhelmed; for some, it can help prevent panic attacks.
Even if you don’t suffer from a specific problem, mindfulness is still a great practice to incorporate into your day to help reflect on feelings you might have been too busy to notice. I do mine in the evening just before I go to bed, as I feel I can reflect on the day I’ve just had, but some people prefer to in the morning to feel grounded for the day ahead. Self care is about what finding what works for you.
For the desk-bound: yoga
While I understand that physical activity just isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, yoga is a great way of connecting with your body and creating time for yourself.
On average, people spend around nine hours sitting down every day - and this may be even higher for those in education. As a result of this, many muscles in the body are rarely used, and our minds can become unmotivated and unsettled from repetition. By practising yoga for just a few minutes a day, we can regain contact with our physical as well as mental wellbeing; the exercise has proven to decrease the secretion of cortisol, our main stress hormone.
Yoga is easy and accessible for everyone: all you need is a big enough space to stretch, comfy clothes, and some positions to practise, which can be obtained with a quick Google search.
There’s even a yoga club at HCC to go along to!
For the creative: journalling (or bullet journalling)
If you’re someone who finds the top corner of every page of your work adorned with scribbles and doodles, keeping a journal or bullet journalling could be for you. Keeping a journal, in which you can keep a physical log of your feelings, activities and things to do, is an ideal way to care for your mental wellbeing by helping your brain to process things it feels and experiences. There’s a huge online community of people who keep journals, with lots of ideas on fun things to include and ways to decorate (I personally love http://journalobsessed.tumblr.com as a place to find layout ideas) . Many people in this community keep bullet journals, which are like journals but have a set system of indexing and listing. If you like to stay organised, this system could be perfect for you, and there are lots of videos and blogs that take you through exactly how to do it.
For the hard workers: take a break!
Even if it’s half an hour on YouTube watching people test makeup, or drawing a picture, or even just laying doing nothing for a while, allowing yourself to step away from work for a period of time every day is absolutely vital. The society we live in is becoming more and more frantic every day, so getting into the habit of giving ourselves breaks and acknowledging the fact that we are humans, not machines, is an ideal form of self care in itself.
Of course, although these ideas are a great starting point to recuperate your thoughts, if you feel you are in a worrying mental place, it is always important to speak to someone you trust, whether it be a parent, sibling, friend or teacher.
Self care doesn’t have to be glamorous, or pretty, or Instagram-worthy: it just has to work for you.
Abs Epstein, Year 13
Here are a few ways that you can incorporate proper self care into your routine, and be able to reflect and gather your thoughts to change your wellbeing for the better.
For the busy: mindfulness
Mindfulness is a process that involves psychologically bringing our awareness and attention to the world around us. While this might sound complicated, it simply refers to grounding ourselves and feeling in the present.
Many of us wake up early in the morning, immediately get ready to leave the house, and then must focus our attention on work throughout the day with the only breaks surrounded by talking and noise. This means that we have no time, from the minute we wake up to the minute we go to sleep, to simply stop and focus on just ourselves and our feelings, and nothing else.
Mindfulness helps to do exactly this, and has a profound effect on mental wellbeing. It’s much easier than you might think - apps such as Headspace, Calm and Stop, Breathe & Think have a range of recordings that talk you through the steps to bringing yourself into the present moment. I personally suffer from bouts of dissociation (a feeling of being completely disconnected from your body, and sometimes outside of it or not yourself) and have been recommended mindfulness practices like these: mindfulness is recognised by the NHS as an effective way of alleviating many mental illnesses.
Mindfulness doesn’t have to involve an app and a recording if you don’t want it to. Simply going through the senses, and picking out five things you can see, hear and feel is an effective and recognised way of grounding yourself throughout the day if you begin to feel overwhelmed; for some, it can help prevent panic attacks.
Even if you don’t suffer from a specific problem, mindfulness is still a great practice to incorporate into your day to help reflect on feelings you might have been too busy to notice. I do mine in the evening just before I go to bed, as I feel I can reflect on the day I’ve just had, but some people prefer to in the morning to feel grounded for the day ahead. Self care is about what finding what works for you.
For the desk-bound: yoga
While I understand that physical activity just isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, yoga is a great way of connecting with your body and creating time for yourself.
On average, people spend around nine hours sitting down every day - and this may be even higher for those in education. As a result of this, many muscles in the body are rarely used, and our minds can become unmotivated and unsettled from repetition. By practising yoga for just a few minutes a day, we can regain contact with our physical as well as mental wellbeing; the exercise has proven to decrease the secretion of cortisol, our main stress hormone.
Yoga is easy and accessible for everyone: all you need is a big enough space to stretch, comfy clothes, and some positions to practise, which can be obtained with a quick Google search.
There’s even a yoga club at HCC to go along to!
For the creative: journalling (or bullet journalling)
If you’re someone who finds the top corner of every page of your work adorned with scribbles and doodles, keeping a journal or bullet journalling could be for you. Keeping a journal, in which you can keep a physical log of your feelings, activities and things to do, is an ideal way to care for your mental wellbeing by helping your brain to process things it feels and experiences. There’s a huge online community of people who keep journals, with lots of ideas on fun things to include and ways to decorate (I personally love http://journalobsessed.tumblr.com as a place to find layout ideas) . Many people in this community keep bullet journals, which are like journals but have a set system of indexing and listing. If you like to stay organised, this system could be perfect for you, and there are lots of videos and blogs that take you through exactly how to do it.
For the hard workers: take a break!
Even if it’s half an hour on YouTube watching people test makeup, or drawing a picture, or even just laying doing nothing for a while, allowing yourself to step away from work for a period of time every day is absolutely vital. The society we live in is becoming more and more frantic every day, so getting into the habit of giving ourselves breaks and acknowledging the fact that we are humans, not machines, is an ideal form of self care in itself.
Of course, although these ideas are a great starting point to recuperate your thoughts, if you feel you are in a worrying mental place, it is always important to speak to someone you trust, whether it be a parent, sibling, friend or teacher.
Self care doesn’t have to be glamorous, or pretty, or Instagram-worthy: it just has to work for you.
Abs Epstein, Year 13
The Butterfly
A short story submission.
The noise around me blurred into a whirlpool of distortion and emptiness. My friends’ words no longer soothed me and my grandad’s scarf no longer loved me. I felt alone; empty, heavy. A strange sensation: my mind was hollow and dead, but my heart was like a butterfly caught under a stack of bricks that rose a mile high. I couldn’t understand why I felt this way and I sure as hell didn’t understand how. I just wanted it to stop.
‘Amber - Amber!’ Lucy’s words echoed from her mouth like a megaphone was held up to it.
Her eyes stared me up and down curiously as I replied, ‘I’m fine.’ A smile forced its way onto my face, but soon disappeared as I fell back into my suffocating trance.
‘She’s just moody.’ Through all the chaos and blurred words I heard Maisy. I wanted to scream at her. Me? Moody? She hadn’t spoken to me all day and yet she thought she could pass judgement on my mood? With just enough energy to mutter a sigh, I left her alone and returned to my empty thoughts.
I was in the middle of doing nothing - as usual on a Monday lunch - when Cam said, ‘Are you alright?’ Finally! The words I had been waiting to hear all day. A chance to open up. A chance to explain how heavy I felt. I hadn’t realised that even before I’d opened my mouth my cheeks were wet, my eyes were red and my chin was trembling.
‘I...think I need to sort myself out.’
I ran from the room and into the toilets. Hoping, praying, wishing they wouldn’t follow. It was when I was alone - free - that I wept. Tears poured from my eyes and my nose ran wet. My hair stood on its ends. My lips dried. My mind ached. I was finally free to do what I longed to do. Cry. I thought it would help. I thought my heart would get lighter. And yet with every drop of salted tear that fell from my eye, another brick lay upon the butterfly. I would never be free.
Amelia Lorrimore, Year 11
If you are feeling overwhelmed, don't suffer in silence! Speak to someone. Share your feelings and work with others to find a positive way forward.
Form tutors, pastoral managers and heads of year are all here to help - as are your subject teachers. Let them know how you're feeling and ask for their help if it's all getting too much.
The noise around me blurred into a whirlpool of distortion and emptiness. My friends’ words no longer soothed me and my grandad’s scarf no longer loved me. I felt alone; empty, heavy. A strange sensation: my mind was hollow and dead, but my heart was like a butterfly caught under a stack of bricks that rose a mile high. I couldn’t understand why I felt this way and I sure as hell didn’t understand how. I just wanted it to stop.
‘Amber - Amber!’ Lucy’s words echoed from her mouth like a megaphone was held up to it.
Her eyes stared me up and down curiously as I replied, ‘I’m fine.’ A smile forced its way onto my face, but soon disappeared as I fell back into my suffocating trance.
‘She’s just moody.’ Through all the chaos and blurred words I heard Maisy. I wanted to scream at her. Me? Moody? She hadn’t spoken to me all day and yet she thought she could pass judgement on my mood? With just enough energy to mutter a sigh, I left her alone and returned to my empty thoughts.
I was in the middle of doing nothing - as usual on a Monday lunch - when Cam said, ‘Are you alright?’ Finally! The words I had been waiting to hear all day. A chance to open up. A chance to explain how heavy I felt. I hadn’t realised that even before I’d opened my mouth my cheeks were wet, my eyes were red and my chin was trembling.
‘I...think I need to sort myself out.’
I ran from the room and into the toilets. Hoping, praying, wishing they wouldn’t follow. It was when I was alone - free - that I wept. Tears poured from my eyes and my nose ran wet. My hair stood on its ends. My lips dried. My mind ached. I was finally free to do what I longed to do. Cry. I thought it would help. I thought my heart would get lighter. And yet with every drop of salted tear that fell from my eye, another brick lay upon the butterfly. I would never be free.
Amelia Lorrimore, Year 11
If you are feeling overwhelmed, don't suffer in silence! Speak to someone. Share your feelings and work with others to find a positive way forward.
Form tutors, pastoral managers and heads of year are all here to help - as are your subject teachers. Let them know how you're feeling and ask for their help if it's all getting too much.