One of the most difficult things to deal with surrounding depression and anxiety is a sense of self care. For me my process began with trying to improve my diet, my personal grooming and finding activities that I could focus on without doing things like foraging while I did so.
YouTuber Anna Akana posted a recent vlog focused on her own self-care approach and made some very good points.
Self-care means different things to everyone. For some people it’s confronting fears head on, for others it’s finding alternative ways to cope or fortify yourself mental health-wise. One of her points that struck a chord with me in particular was knowing when to pass on a social outing. I’m generally not a social butterfly so some of the typical ‘hanging out’ options that most folks think nothing of don’t appeal to me. That’s not to say that I don’t interact with friends and socialize, it’s just usually a more specific ‘thing’ that we’re going out to do. Meals, movies etc with a focus is usually how I engage with friends. For people struggling with anxiety however the act of going out in a crowd and with friends can sometimes be more stress inducing than relaxing. I think on some levels it’s hard to describe to friends that smaller-interaction is easier.
Good habits however should never be excluded from self care. Exercise, diet, hygiene should always be a component of your regimen. It won’t always be easy to identify what should or shouldn’t be in your self-care plan but make that effort, try things. Take the time to see what works for you, what you can sink your teeth in that has positive benefits and work on it.
