Self Care Is a Must!

Happy December, everyone!

It’s been a long time since I’ve written a post but I am BACK !! This past month or so has been a pretty difficult and transformative time for me; I was facing a particularly difficult time for myself mental health wise while keeping up with consistently demanding coursework. I’m still trudging through finals season, and I’ve come up with some ways to make sure that self care remains a priority during times of stress.

SO, instead of a book recommendation this week, I have a fun and easy way to give yourself effective positive feedback on things that are important to you on a daily basis. Essentially what I’ve done is print out a block calendar for the month of December. I have always loved stickers, and I have a certain nostalgia for when teachers used to put those tiny little star stickers on a homework assignment or test that I did well on. I bought a set of those exact shiny little star stickers, and I’ve assigned each color of star (there are 5) to an activity that I can strive to accomplish daily. When I successfully accomplish one of these things, I put the corresponding color sticker on that calendar block.

This is where your own personal needs come in; for myself, I’ve chosen stickers to reward myself for every day I’ve exercised, drank at least a liter of water, eaten well, read for pleasure, and taken off my makeup before bed. These are all things that make me feel more like a person and a functioning adult. No one ever rewards me for these things except for myself and my own feelings of accomplishment, so depicting this positive feedback in a physical and quantifiable way on a calendar gives me both pride in myself and encouragement. The ability to self motivate and encourage yourself and to be your own biggest fan is at the root of what people look for when they work on “self care.”

I’ve only been working on this for a couple of days now, and it is super difficult to get every single star every day. I’m very busy, and while my tasks seemed simple and quick when I first made my list, I’m realizing how little I prioritize these things in my daily life. I’m working on making a shift in how I take care of myself, and I hope by the end of the month I’ll have a beautiful and bright constellation of star stickers to be proud of. I hope this will give you all something to think about and maybe even try yourself!!

I’ll update y’all in a couple of weeks and we will see where I’m at then, hopefully with a good book recommendation as well 🙂

Love always,

Abby ❤