Tap Into Your Creativity

It's easy to feel helpless when you're alone and needing comfort. Chances are you have more choices than you realize. Taking action to comfort yourself is empowering in general and adding something pleasurable into the mix is even better.

This is a list of my personal favorites ways to calm down when I'm upset. As an introvert and highly sensitive person myself, I'm available to help you brainstorm your own custom set of comforting, soothing, and recharging activities.

Let me know if you're interested in hiring me as your guide to explore and experiment with the kinds of self-soothing that work for y-o-u. Here we go:

1. Intently brewing and sipping one mug of tea over a period of at least 15 minutes, slowly taking in the smell, temperature, steam, and flavor.
2. Surfing Pinterest for pictures of adorable baby animals.
3. Reaching out to a few friends, letting them know I'm thinking about them and wishing them a nice day, good luck on a recent goal, etc.
4. Taking a brisk 10-minute walk followed by some quick yoga stretches. Walking makes SUCH a difference!
5. Free-writing all of the random thoughts I can muster.

When these options aren't available, I usually resort to an interesting book, a TV show/movie about quirky families (Casual, The Path, Weeds, Modern Family, Meet the Parents, Little Miss Sunshine, to name a few), or brushing my super fluffy orange cat.

Caring for Yourself as a Routine

Create a specific schedule for treating yourself (whether it's free or requires money); it's essential to practice it on a regular basis.

You're not selfish for designating periods of your day to healing and growing as a person. If you do this in a balanced way, it'll actually make it EASIER to help other people when they need you!

If you're an introvert, choose ways to recharge after being with people. As a highly sensitive person, tap into your intense sensory experiences and use them to your advantage.

While self-care isn't the only focus of therapy, it's a great way to prioritize your well-being outside of your sessions. If the only time you spend on yourself is in your therapy session, not much will change. The hope is that you take what we discuss and carry it out into your world, improving your bigger picture.

Discuss:

What are your favorite self-care activities? Please share the love and discuss your ideas with all of us in the comments section below. If you're more of Facebook fan, you can find me here.