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Looking after ourselves

Margot
Senior Contributor

Creating Self-Care Projects

Creating and maintaining a self care plan can feel overwhelming. However, having a good sense of what we can do to look after ourselves is fundamental to looking after our mental health and wellbeing. 

 

Rather than being a one off plan that we write up and store away, self care is more like a lifelong project that we create and recreate in order to support our changing self care needs. 

 

So how do you create a self care project? Here are a few creative ideas to get you started...

 

Make a self-care collage

Use magazines, newspapers, old letters, pictures or any kind of medium. Cut the items down to size and glue them randomly onto large heavy paper. Post the paper some place where it will be seen and use it to boost your mood. 

 

Compile a playlist for every mood

If you're into music, this might be particualrly appealing. You can organise your music library on your computer or your phone - or perhaps even write a list of songs you can listen to boost your mood. You can title the playlist according to the emotion it represents or according to how you'd like to use it e.g. "to help when I'm feeling angry"

 

Design self care cards

Use white or coloured paper to cut out index cards. On one side of the card, write something inspirational or uplifting and decorate the other side with pictures or a collage. When you're feeling low, you can pick out a card (without looking) and read it as a prompt for reflection. 

 

Create a self care jar

Decorate an old empty jar using coloured paper, stickers, or paint. Fill the jar with strips of paper containing postive affirmations, coping statements, inspiring quotes, or positive notes to yourself. Pick one out every day or as needed.

 

Now, it's your turn! What self care projects have you found helpful? Look forward to hearing your ideas! 👩‍🎨

56 REPLIES 56

Re: Creating Self-Care Projects

this is a great thread! @Margot i dont really have any suggestion but i do have ideas now thanks to your suggestions! will be interested in hearing what others do too

Re: Creating Self-Care Projects

Thanks @Margot - this is a great idea

 

I have a lot of things I do now but when I was going through bad years I did a lot of scrap-book-work

 

I still have these and it is interesting to read back

 

I would go through newspapers and magazine and paste anything I liked and often wrote captions - as indeed I do with my pics in the forums.

 

Some things are obvious - other things with coloured work is creative - a sort of art - 

 

Any joke or short story that occurred to me would be put in there and I wrote poetry and some of those a pasted in my scrap books too

 

I did this for years and there is the story of my life - not as a journal but just as scraps I am glad I collected

 

And no one had better trash Granma's scrap books - they date back over 20 years now and have a degree of historical value

 

So it was fun doing it and now fun reading them again - and again - 

 

Dec

Re: Creating Self-Care Projects

That's incredible @Owlunar And how lovely to have that to look back on too. Imagery and creative projects like that can be so powerful in helping us to connect back to our earlier selves. 

 

What do you think helped you to prioritise and sustain your creative self care projects over the years?

Re: Creating Self-Care Projects

Hi @Margot

 

I started studying after my son started school and my daughter was in kindergarten - it was not a popular decision but after I got my HSC I was encouraged to go to university and with needing to work and have the essential care of my son with MI it took me twelve years to do a 4 year Honours Degree - and during that time my son died - my studies kept me going and I am always pleased to read of anyone studying anything

 

My daughter is highly intelligent but not an academic like myself - she did a gardening apprenticeship before her family and now she is a horticultural advisor - I love it that she chose her own path

 

After my studies I started the scrapbooks - I was qualitified to teach at TAFE when I injured my spine and this was a major blow and scrap books with captions was one way to exercise my satire and I still laugh at my own jokes reading those scrap books

 

All my life I have been aware of an inner light - possible my faith - and this has kept me from being dragged under during the worst years - it's a gift - and if there were times when it could not overcome my depression and anxiety it sustained me

 

I have a sense of humour too - what would I do without that

 

Thanks @Margot

 

Dec

 

 

Re: Creating Self-Care Projects

scrapbooks are a great idea @Owlunar im sure you would have many cool things in there!

Re: Creating Self-Care Projects

I have indeed @outlander

 

I have news clipping of events that I have otherwise forgotten and some of them are historical now

 

I stopped when I got my cat - she had the quaint idea that the bits and pieces of what I was working with were for her to play with - maybe I will start it again when she has gone but then - who knows - I have had many hobbies in my life

 

Dec

Re: Creating Self-Care Projects

you do indeed have many hobbies @Owlunar its great to see and good self care too!

Re: Creating Self-Care Projects

What an incredibly difficult experience @Owlunar Sounds as though you found a way, amongst it all, to channel some of those experiences into creative self care projects. It's a real skill to be able to do that. 

 

Do you have any creative self care projects @outlander or perhaps something you're interested in trying?

Re: Creating Self-Care Projects

i was making a coping book @Margot i havent been doing it for a while though. Making it in itself is is self care because im enjoying it but the pages are filled (being filled) with things that i find soothing, or ways to cope for example of my favourite flowers are roses so i have some pictures of roses as well as getting a rose scented piece of paper so it also has abit of a smell too. another is some of my favourite pics from my travels (even though i dont travel very far) and theres a flower and a few shells from one of my trips as well. other pages have the name of my forum friends, pics of my favourite items, colours, a few lists of coping strategies but they are styled writing so it doesnt look plain.

@Sans911 had started me on it so she might be better at explaining it than i am!
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