The world feels like it’s spinning so fast and I’m stuck on slow motion. I’m laying in my bed, looking at the ceiling and wondering why I feel so horrible. My back starts to ache from laying on it, but moving a single muscle seems like too much energy to exert. It’s in moments like this that I need to remember to take care of myself – even when it seems impossible. So I’ve decided to jot down a few simple self care tasks I can (hopefully) complete when I’m stuck in the pits of depression.
1 ) Maintaining a Sleep Schedule
When I’m depressed I either sleep too much or too little, but sleeping a consistent 7-8 hours truly makes me feel better. It helps if I go to sleep and wake up at the same time and an excellent tool to use for that is in the clock app on iPhones. There’s a button at the bottom titled “Bedtime”. You set what time you want to wake up and how many hours of sleep you would like to get. It will set a morning alarm and a reminder at night for when you need to go sleep. I set my reminder at night for 30 mins before I want to be asleep so if I’m not feeling tired, I can take my sleep medication prescribed to me by my doctor. Adequate sleep can make a huge difference!
2 ) Maintaining Skin Care Routine
Sometimes just cleansing my face with micellar water is enough to make me feel relatively clean which is a huge boost to my mood. One of the worst parts of being depressed (for me) is the fact that I don’t take enough showers or wash my face often enough to feel clean. The dingy feeling only worsens how I feel, so cleaning my face on a regular basis is a good starting point for me. It’s not as time and energy consuming as a shower, yet I still get that clean feeling. If I leave cotton pads and a bottle of micellar water by my bed, I can even get a clean face while still laying in bed!
3 ) Taking My Medication
When I am really depressed, I tend to forget to take my medication which only makes things worse. I like to set a reminder for myself in the “Reminders” app on my iPhone so that I can take it at the same time every single day. The best part about the reminders app vs an alarm is that you have to physically check off “completed” before the notification will go away on your phone. When I got to unlock my phone and still see that notification still sitting there, it’s reminds me AGAIN that I still need to take my meds.
4 ) Getting Out of Bed
This is SO difficult for me when I’m really depressed. All I want to do is lay down in the comforts of my bed, but I do know I’ll feel better (usually) if I just get up. I make myself get up and go make a cup a coffee. Go sit outside for an hour and enjoy the sunshine. Go for a short walk around the block (this one is the most difficult but helps tremendously). I just have to do something that isn’t in my bed. Sometimes just going to the living room and watching tv on couch is better than being in my bed.
6 ) Purging My Social Media
I frequently do this, but still a good reminder to PURGE everything and one that isn’t helping my mental health. I delete toxic social media friends, unfollow social media pages that trigger me, and just make sure my feed isn’t constantly contributing to my depression. I look at that feed daily. Multiple times a day. It’s my responsibility to make sure it’s free of negativity and toxicity.
7 ) Drinking Enough Water
Not drinking enough water makes me physically feel miserable which can influence my mental state as well. In order to best take of my body, I have to keep it properly hydrated!! It’s easy enough to keep a water bottle by my bedside…refilling it is the difficult task, but I need to get up and move periodically anyways!
8 ) Drinking a Cup of Herbal Tea
A steamy hot cup of lavender chamomile tea really soothes my soul. It’s especially nice at night before I want to go to bed thanks to it’s calming properties. But I also like to drink herbal tea through out the day. The warmness of the tea is what I find really calms me down. It sometimes seems like such a chore to get up and make a cup, but I do always feel better when I’m sitting and sipping on a cup of tea.
9 ) Coloring in a Coloring Book
I love to color. I always have and probably always will. It really allows my mind to stop thinking about how awful I feel and refocus on creating something beautiful. I have several mindful adult coloring books and plenty of color pencils and crayons, so I really just need to go pull them out and get at it.
10 ) Writing It Out
Writing is my absolute favorite thing to do. I love to write and it’s also therapeutic for me in a way. When I’m feeling overly anxious, I like to try to capture the feelings into a poem. For some reason, writing down my feelings down on paper makes them feel more “physical” than them just being all in my head. When I feel like they are physically down on paper, I can chose to close the book and walk away when I need to. Might sound a little weird, but it works for me!
So, anyways, this is my reminder list for self care things I can do even when I’m feeling really miserable. Hopefully by writing them down, I can be more encouraged to do them and maybe someone else will be able to get ideas of things they can as well!
My Sincere Ramblings 
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