Self care bullet journal ideas

STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING RIGHT NOW.

Take a deep breath in – and take a deep breath out! Its mental health awareness week this week in New Zealand and because of that I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to talk about mental health in journaling, self care and all the good stuff!

I have also made a cute self care printable for you to use 🙂 woohoo! Journaling self care spreads for mental health are hard to come by – why? because there is a stigma around mental health that is absolutely atrocious!

Now if you are looking for reasons why journaling is amazing for your mental health? Check out this post here!

Mental health seems to be surrounded with this shroud of judgement that comes in all shapes and sizes and forms. From “oh, you have anxiety? what do you have to be anxious about? your life is perfect?”

My story? I lost my mother to depression, and my ex husband had severe depression that I couldn’t help him with at all, and he is still on that journey. For me, I have struggled deeply with ups and downs and usually throw myself into projects to distract myself. It comes from the PSTD of seeing my mother, and the tsunami of emotions that came after that.

Why is journaling great for your mental health?

Science has shown that tracking your emotions, and journaling and reflecting is excellent for your mental health. I wrote about this earlier this month with regards to getting kids into journaling earlier, reasons tracking your mood is a good idea (reasons there are all those awesome mood trackers around) there are so many other reasons that journaling is great for your mental health, and a quick google search will bring back thousands of results. I actually read a great article on 83 reasons journals are great for your mental health

Self Care and why you should CARE

So let’s talk about self care, and what this really means. Self care, is just that – taking care of yourself. For me the logic behind self care is simple; I can’t do my job and be a good mum if I am not well myself. If I am not well, my life is not well, and if my life isn’t well, my son will not be well cared for, so for me personally, I am very careful to exercise self care.

I really liked this definition of self care from The Law of Attraction

Self-care is a broad term that encompasses just about anything you to do be good to yourself. In a nutshell, it’s about being as kind to yourself as you would be to others. It’s partly about knowing when your resources are running low, and stepping back to replenish them rather than letting them all drain away.

Self care can be as simple or complex as you need it to be, from a simple bath, to a cup of tea.

10 self care ideas anyone can do

Use your bullet journal to block out time for “me time” or scheduled down time
Create a day a week that is your self care day eg. “Tuesday is my tea in the sun day”
Spend some time decluttering or give away clothes you don’t use to your local opshop
Consider developing a morning or evening ritual
Write down one thing a day that made you happy or that you are grateful for
Create some creative time through colouring in, or doodling
Phone someone you haven’t spoken to in a long time
Get yourself a physical check up
Have a long bath with your favorite music or tv show
Have a dance party while you cook dinner