Today I practiced self care by...

[Kaylee-RO]

Today I practiced self care by sitting outside in the sun on my lunch break! A bit of fresh air and sunlight goes a long way 

[A_Friend]

@Kaylee-RO That sounds so good right now, I am loving all of these posts on self-care so helpful for inspiration in the new year. Today I practised self-care by letting myself take rest in the morning rather working out as body needed.

[Kaylee-RO]

@A_Friend Love that self care method! Sometimes its so hard to stop yourself, take a breathe and just let your body rest...if you're anything like me sometimes it feels impossible haha  but it is extremely important, and you would feel 10x better about it tomorrow 

[A_Friend]

@Kaylee-RO It so hard for me to take rest and sometimes I still guilty when I do but after some self-awareness, I realised the harm I was doing and slowly broke the habit and remind myself when I feel guilty of how bad it felt after no rest for like a year when I was completing year 12.

[Kaylee-RO]

@A_Friend I completely understand that feeling! It is so nice that you have the capacity to reflect on what your body wants and needs. Sometimes when you're in a routine you can forget to slow down, but we also need to be able to recognise when it is important to. 

What kind of self-awareness methods do you have in place? I'm sure so many people could gain some direction from your experiences 

[A_Friend]

@Kaylee-RO Self-care for this has been to in the morning just taking a minute to breathe to decide whether can I workout or I need a day off or if I need a day off of work/study sometime soon if cant that day. Also increasing mindfulness to increase myself awareness, which means check-in with yourself throughout the day for that is when I snack before lunch, at lunch, snack again before dinner and after dinner. I also like to journal if I feel that some feelings have been bottled or maybe harder to cope with. Has anyone else found any self-care strategies that can help with allowing yourself to take a break and not getting overworked?

[musicfan_xo]

It's not today, but I'm getting a haircut tomorrow after AGES, I don't really like haircuts but my hair is too long and annoying (nearly down to my bum haha). I guess that's somewhat self care. I had an appointment today with a social worker but they rescheduled it to fit someone else in which is upsetting and I found it rude because I had to wait months for that appointment & I was feeling ok about going because it's someone to talk to, & then that, sigh. I can't see her now until Feb 25. @A_Friend 

[Taylor-RO]

Good luck for your haircut tomorrow @musicfan_xo And also, that sucks that your appointment got rescheduled especially if you waited for such a long time too. I hope the wait goes quickly for you.

[musicfan_xo]

@Taylor-RO thank you.

I know it sounds silly to get anxious over a haircut, but for some of these reasons, it's:

• New surroundings and new people (I've seen it in the town but never been in there).
• I haven't had my hair cut in ages because it's expensive (this place looks good but still cheaper than this other place I used to go to, but they're more pricey now because they've moved to another shop in the main street of town, and under a new name, although it's the same staff, a couple new members though).
• I don't like the hair in my eyes and wearing their cape, plus the mask thing (I do wear a mask everywhere I go though if you have to).

Sounds silly I know. I get anxious about small things, and I get very anxious when I'm around people, as I have a social phobia. I get anxious when people look at me, etc etc. It's hard for me to ignore and I feel claustrophobic and want to run and hide basically. I'm like this anywhere, anytime.

Sorry for rambling on and going off topic a bit here.

[Hannah-RO]

Hey @musicfan_xo that doesn't sound silly at all, new things can be scary and I think you're being really brave  I hope your haircut goes really well today, feel free to let us know how you go!