7 Simple Self-Care Tips For Dealing With Difficult Times
If you are going through a hard time, then you need to read this post for 7 self-care tips for dealing with difficult times.
Many of you might be experiencing a mix of other emotions due to the recent overturning of Roe vs. Wade. Hell, I cannot even come up with the words to describe how I feel. But, with everything going on, I wanted to share some simple self-care tips for dealing with difficult times.
When life becomes challenging, you must allow yourself to feel your emotions and make space for essential self-care. Our health can quickly become the last priority when greater things feel more urgent. It might even feel selfish to do a face mask and turn off the news when the world is changing, and our communities need us.
Aside from sharing resources, educating yourself, voting, and advocating for your rights, you must prioritize mental health and overall well-being. There will always be situations such as death, that you cannot control. But, how you practice self-care when you’re grieving or dealing with any difficult moment will determine your health moving forward.
Here are a few ways to care for yourself during these challenging times.
Self-Care Tips For Dealing With Difficult Times
- Detox From Social Media: It’s safe to say that social media is a primary source of information for most of us. Do yourself a favor and give yourself a break from the information overload! Log off social media, and put your phone away!
- Move Your Body: Exercise can boost your mental health and help ease stress, so fit any movement into your daily routine. For some added self-care bonus points, try calming activities that focus on relaxing the mind and slowing the breath, like these morning yoga poses or meditation.
- Journal: Journaling is one of the best tools for managing mental health, letting go of stress and self-discovery. Not only is it an excellent tool for learning to let go of stress, but it also helps you to reflect on the positive aspects of your life. Make gratitude and positive affirmation lists, reflect on your emotions, write down everything you can think of, and then reflect on these whenever you need a pick-me-up.
- Allow yourself to process how you’re feeling: There’s no denying that a lot has happened. Give yourself time to process you’re feelings and emotions. Rushing through these emotions will only make life more difficult, and cause undue stress on your mind and body.
- Maintain your routine as much as possible: Making everyday decisions gives you a sense of control and feels comforting as it is a familiar activity. Avoid making major decisions based on the stress you feel right now. Instead, try to complete your typical morning and night routines, and just take it one day at a time.
- Eat regularly and make healthy choices: Skipping meals, particularly breakfast contributes to fatigue, mood swings, and poor concentration. Healthy options (foods not high in simple sugars or caffeine) maintain your blood sugars and, therefore, your energy and attention.
- Create a safe space for yourself: With everything going on, it’s essential to have a space that makes you feel comforted and safe. So, create a safe space for yourself whenever you feel too overwhelmed or need a brief escape from reality. If you feel like you cannot create a safe space for yourself, then talk to someone who can help.
Final Thoughts
Taking the time to practice self-care, especially when the world seems so dark, will shed some light on your life and the lives of those around you. You can try incorporating a few of these ideas into your life and notice how you feel.
It’s okay to experience negative emotions when you feel like the world is ending. However, remember to give yourself time, be patient, and don’t make any decisions in an extreme emotional state.
I know things are not great, so if you need a friend who listens to you, I’m here for you ❤️ How are you feeling right now? Are you giving yourself time and space for self-care? Let me know in the comments.
Yes to staying off social media when you aren’t feeling great or dealing with a difficult situation. These other suggestions are really helpful! Thank you for sharing Riyah!
Lauren x
Thanks for reading and commenting Lauren, I agree that social media can cause more harm than good when you’re going through some tough times and staying off of them can really make a difference.
Love these tips Riyah! I have recently found gardening and being in nature to be very healing x
That sounds very peaceful, thanks for sharing.
Great reminder. Hiding my phone and not hopping on social media helps me process my thoughts. Also, connecting with friends and having a light hearted chat works wonders when I’m going through difficult times.
Getting away from social media definitely helped with improving my overall mental health.
A great list here. For me it’s moving my body, eating well and keeping my environment clean and tidy. It helps me so much!
Corinne x
Thanks for sharing Corrinne.
This is amazing advice, thank you. I’ve been switching off my phone for whole days at a time and it’s been marvellous for my mental health.
WOW that’s amazing. I need to start doing this.
This is very helpful. Social media seriously affects mental health. So, I just zone out of this platform when I want to be free of the information overload.
Hi Magdalene, I find it so hard to zone out of social media. I feel like I have to physically delete and sign off the app for me to get a break from it.
Great tips! Sometimes I go through “blue” periods where I feel like I am in a funk for a week or so, taking some “me” time, doing a little pampering and spending time with my family helps.
Spending time with family when you’re feeling “blue” sounds really nice. Thank you for sharing.
Some great tips! I especially like the last one, creating a safe space for oneself. For me, having a physical place I feel comfortable and sheltered in makes all the difference and allows me to relax, even when things get really difficult or confusing.
Thank you for reading and commenting. Creating a physical safe space is sooo important. I’m making more of an effort to create that space for myself.
eating healthy food (even though when I have difficult times I do want something sweet), moving a lot (way more than usual), and allowing myself to process it all is my key. I need to speak up about how I feel and what I need or it won’t work
I agree that speaking up when I need to and moving my body is definitely key to me surviving difficult times, especially when theses stressors involve family or loved ones. Thanks for sharing.
July is a difficult month for me every year, no matter what else is going on in the world on a larger scale. I’ve often found journaling and exercise to be really important in managing how I am feeling. Social media detox is also really helpful at times, because it can be such a negative place. These are great tips that I’m saving to make sure I keep taking good care of myself.
Awe I’m sorry to hear that July is such a rough month for you. Please make sure you’re doing something to put yourself first.
These are great tips – especially the one about allowing yourself to feel. I think too often we are given the impression that self-care is always about moving away from those feelings or making them go away. But, the healthy thing to do when faced with tough emotions is to actually feel them and work through them, not to just bottle them up for something more positive.
I love how you worded this Britt. Far too often we’re taught to simply ignore or avoid those negative emotions, but I feel like embracing, acknowledging, and allowing yourself to feel those emotions at the moment will help you to deal with those hard moments a lot easier.