One of the crucial statements an air hostess will tell you, during the aeroplane safety talk, is ‘please fit your own breathing apparatus before assisting others’. This is an important metaphor, when considering self care. For, when we do not care for ourselves we are then incapable of caring for others. Self care is vital to our wellbeing, but what exactly is self-care and do you need ideas for self care?

Why Self Care is more than just bubble baths..

As we have all had such a stressful year, it is important to prioritise ourselves. 

Whilst the classic image of someone practicing self-care is them lounging in a bubble bath with a face mask, self-care is a more complex matter encompassing every aspect of our daily lives. In psychological terms, self-care is providing adequate attention to one’s own physical and psychological wellness. Beyond being an aspirational goal, engaging in self-care has been described as an ‘ethical imperative’ (Norcross & Barnett, 2008). However, if self-care is an ethical imperative, why are so many of us feeling burnt-out, stressed out and overwhelmed?

True self care involves sacrifice, honesty, community and commitment to making decisions in your best interest.

finding balance..

Whilst at school, university or work, it can be difficult to find time amidst the, at times, overwhelming workload. Utilising techniques such as the pomodoro method can be an effective way to manage your time in a productive manner and eliminate procrastination as well as enforcing breaks. However, it comes down to prioritising yourself and your own wellbeing. Self care is not a quick fix, it is an ongoing commitment to yourself. Which, over-time, will become second nature and an essential part of your day. 

keep it simple..

Whilst it can be easy to overcomplicate self-care by attempting an elaborate routine which could take hours to complete, it is important to find simple methods which work for you. Start with your most basic needs and pay attention to what your mind, body and soul needs. Self-care can be as simple as spending 5 extra minutes drinking your coffee in the morning, or spending time every night reading for pleasure. It is important to use the resources available to you, in order to create a self-care routine which is unique to yourself.

technology..

One of the advantages of technology is that it has made the world of self-care accessible to everyone. Below is a list of apps which can be helpful to add to your self-care routine.Calm

Headspace

Provides a range of guided meditations of varying lengths aimed at assisting with different areas of life including stress and sleep meditations.

Calm

Can help you master your breathing as well as providing a range of guided meditations.

YouTube

There are a range of guided meditations on youtube. Try searching ‘leaves on a stream guided meditation’ for help with letting go of negative thoughts.

Colorfly

A great way to engage in mindfulness practices is to colour in pictures and forget about other problems for a while.

Self care, you got this..

To conclude, self care does not have to be complicated but it is essential. No matter what you do, the most essential thing is that you complete your self-care routine with yourself as the main priority in mind.

For more information;

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/personal-best/topics/?q=Self-care

https://schools.au.reachout.com/articles/developing-a-self-care-plan

What is your “Take Away on Self Care”

• Self Care combats feelings of burnt-out, stressed out and overwhelmed
• Self Care requires strategies, self discipline and is an ongoing process
• Self Care can be small but effective changes to your day
• There are apps to use as tools to help with self care

Want to know more about Self Care at Unity Studios?

In our Individual Skill Building mentoring programs at Unity Studios we meet you where you are at and our programming assists you with mentoring in regards to planning, organisation and prioritising self care. For more information, click here.

About the Author, Sophie Limbert

Click here to find out more about Sophie as a mentor, School Counsellor and Teacher.

About Unity Studios

Unity Studios operates from Penrith and the Lower Blue Mountains. People can book one on one or group sessions, face to face or online via ZOOM. 

We deliver a raft of different programs for all ages and abilities. Our focus is on mentoring, assisting participants to appreciate their authentic self. We want our participants to leave us richer for the experience.

We want you to be empowered to be “unapologetically you”.

To learn more about our programs and the Unity Studios philosophy click here.

Express your interest in our programs

Click “EXPRESS YOUR INTEREST” above and you will be taken to a login screen where you enter the following –

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How are you feeling as the bears disappear out of the windows?  

How do you lift your mood on your walk, now that the rainbow chalk in your neighbours driveway that once brightened your day hasn’t been replaced after it rained last?

To be honest, the first part of isolation due to COVID – 19 was held together with the feeling of connection by counting “Bears in the Window” and rainbow chalk drawing in our local area. 

These “small” events gave our family a sense of belonging and connection to our fellow man. The time brought rise to the saying, “we are all in this together”, and the reality of isolation inspired the title of Unity Studios latest art exhibition, “Together: apART”. 

For me, each day has had it’s ups and downs. My family has been largely unaffected by the crisis, and so we have come to somewhat enjoy our isolation. Despite the heartache and compassion we feel for others suffering in this time. 

The necessary isolation was dubbed, “homelife” by a member of the Unity Studios family. This was indeed a more positive way to describe and discuss isolation to youngsters, calling isolation, homelife instead. This terminology was adopted by our mentors and many families who belong at Unity Studios. 

Why? Why has it been so important to be selective around our language at this time? 

The answer can be found by exploring the revised version of “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs”.

Believe it or not; the bears in the windows, the rainbow chalk on driveways and footpaths, bin outing movement, viral tiktok dances and trends, ANZAC Day, drive by birthday celebrations, ZOOM meetings, facetime and calls with family and friends are the things that have gotten us through as a society. 

Without these community driven happenings, we would potentially not feel belonging and love, feeding our social needs. Humans on the most part are wired for connection and geared toward social interaction. Not addressing social needs makes it impossible to achieve esteem needs such as, managerial responsibility; ordering the day to day runnings of our lives or cognitive needs such as grasping knowledge and meaning. 

So when you ask yourself why can’t I get my stuff together? The answer lies below – 

You cannot expect to successfully manage the day to day running of your life, assimilate new information and learn if you are first not addressing your biological/physiological, safety needs and your social needs. 

The devastating impact of COVID- 19, has us for the most part, spending most of our time and energy on addressing our biological/physiological and safety needs. 

Once these needs are met, we can get about attending to our social needs and perhaps even move up to the higher needs that involve feeling confident, learning, appreciating beauty/feeling gratitude. 

It would be unrealistic to expect everyone right now to reach self actualisation; to realise their personal potential or further; transcendence to help others achieve self actualisation.

 

For this reason, it needs to be said, look after your basic needs, stay connected to your fellow man and measure your expectations of yourself at this time. 

I will leave you with this gem of a quote that has gone viral by Melissa, at mellowdoodles.com.  

“Look how much you’ve already managed to adapt to. Look how resilient you’ve already been. There’s no “right” way to respond to this because it’s never, ever happened before. Give yourself some credit. There’s no one in the whole world who has this figured out yet. So it’s absolutely okay if you don’t either”. ~ Mellow Doodles

If you’d like to know more about mentoring for all ages and abilities at Unity Studios, click here – https://unitystudios.com.au/academic

 

 

Other source used to write this blog – CT2 Paper 1 – Maslow Hierarchy of Needs

S McLeod – Simply psychology, 2007 – highgatecounselling.org.uk

 

COVID – 19 has been a challenging time for everyone.

While we are “all in this together”, we are all having unique experiences dealing with being in isolation, or what many of the participants at Unity Studios have come to know as “homelife”.

We are all missing parts of our lives we used to have. It is important to acknowledge what we are missing and feel the emotions these realisations bring.

To put an even further positive spin on these emotions, we are encouraging you to create your own planning jar for you or your family. This planning jar validates what you are missing and helps you realise that one day you will get to do what you miss again.

What is a planning jar? 

A planning jar has a very similar idea to a gratitude jar. The difference is that instead of putting in the things you are grateful for, you put in the things that you are looking forward to doing. 

Every time you think of something that you wish you could do, but can’t at the moment because of staying at home, you can write it on a sheet of paper and put it in the jar. 

This can help remind us that what we are experiencing will finish at some point, and that we have lots of things to look forward to! Then, when life returns to normal you can open up your planning jar and work through your pieces of paper, doing all the things that you missed and had hoped to do. 

Ready to start your planning jar? 

1. Find a jar you would like to use. 

2. Label your jar Planning. 

3. Gather a pen and paper to put near your jar. You might like to use post it notes, a notebook with pages that tear out or cut up pieces of paper to the size of your choice. 

4. That’s it – you are ready to go! You can fill your jar whenever you need.

Thank you to Rebecca Innes, one of our Primary Teacher/Mentors for putting together this activity!

If you are struggling with isolation and would like to book a mentoring sessions via ZOOM with us at Unity Studios Online, please get in touch by emailing us at admin@unitystudios.com.au or calling our Director, Cass Jensen, on 0466580175