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Self care ideas/boxes
Jellyelephant
Posts: 1,908 Extreme Poster
hey guys!
I never used to believe in self care to help to help me I thought professionals were trying to fob me off but my therapist Meg has been showing me how it can help. I have been using self care to sooth myself and help my mood. I have a scheduled few hours in the evening where I do self care, this might be washing my hair, putting clean sheets on my bed, colouring, listening to music, lighting a nice candle etc.
One thing that that I love is my self care box. This is a box filled with self care/distraction stuff - it’s so helpful when you’re feeling bad because you don’t have to think about what to do etc because you can just look in your box and pick something. In mine I have fidget toys/stress balls, face masks, moisturiser, nice scents, colouring, puzzles, self harm distraction lists, photos etc. I just look in my box and choose something to do and it’s so useful!!!
I thought you guys could comment and let us know what you guys put in your boxes? Or what you do for self care? What helps you?
Xxx
I never used to believe in self care to help to help me I thought professionals were trying to fob me off but my therapist Meg has been showing me how it can help. I have been using self care to sooth myself and help my mood. I have a scheduled few hours in the evening where I do self care, this might be washing my hair, putting clean sheets on my bed, colouring, listening to music, lighting a nice candle etc.
One thing that that I love is my self care box. This is a box filled with self care/distraction stuff - it’s so helpful when you’re feeling bad because you don’t have to think about what to do etc because you can just look in your box and pick something. In mine I have fidget toys/stress balls, face masks, moisturiser, nice scents, colouring, puzzles, self harm distraction lists, photos etc. I just look in my box and choose something to do and it’s so useful!!!
I thought you guys could comment and let us know what you guys put in your boxes? Or what you do for self care? What helps you?
Xxx
The sun will rise and we will try again
4
Comments
Ahhh so for me I have 2 tangles- ones and blue pink and clear one ( from The works ) and one is a flowery one (from Wish ) , I also have a Infinity cube and a worm thing ( both from tiger ) , a pink sensory calm down bottle I made with the children at Sunday club and I’m also waiting for some little mesh tubes with marbles in to come from Wish . Ohh and I have a tin of rescue remedy
Ill take a photo of it all when I get home
In mine I have:
-A face mask
-chocolate
-a spiritual stone thing
-hand cream
-mindfulness book
-CBT book
-Mini note pad
-Crayons
-Colouring book
-Self harm first aid kit
Going to add in some more stuff that I see other people have too 💗
It's basically an over-the-counter topical ointment that you can use for mild pain relief. I use it on my temples to soothe tension headaches but it's good for all sorts of things like chest congestion, muscle strain and aches.
~Colouring book. ~body butter
~Happy mail. ~wrist band
~rainbow journal. ~ chewing gum
~plain paper and pen ~Streachy man
~calming down cards. ~ sensory bottle
~lip gloss and butter
~Hand gel
~rescue rem
~Jacobs ladder
~ 2 tangles
And I have things that i will not use like a make up brush, headphones (think theyre acrually broke lol) and thats not because i actually use it its to remind me of things i like and my idenitity ect
when i thought my whole idenity was "disgusting" i had two boxes. One was purely self care and distraction boxes and sensory stuff.
The other was things that i could idenitfy myself with and things i enjoy doing. So i had my bike keys, headphones and make up brushes ect and everything like doing. And i also had achievements for things ive done and remind me ofgood stuff and to think more about my idenity and take ownership of pride.
I really like that idea about putting things in that remind you of your identity, i'll have to try that
So in my sad box I have things that usually make me happy and remind me of reasons to stay alive. So things like photos of my family and friends and happy memories, snacks healthy and a less healthy ones including something sour for grounding purposes, nice smelling things like candles, distraction games like rubix cube. I also have playlist which I listen to, like a few different ones depending on level of sad like a playlist to stop crying (like rap/grime since I find it hard to cry to it), a motivational to carry on going and living, sad one if I feel like crying to let it out of my system, EDM to get me feeling "pumped".
Angry/ Stressed box: essential oils such as lavender and peppermint, fiddly toys/games such as stress ball, slim or tangle, little notes reminding me to focus on my breathing. Playlist wise a range of mediation walk throughs, calming music or lo-fi music.
A distraction box: When I'm feeling in a weird way which feels like I'm stuck in a zone which might lead me to sad or annoyed. I have things that distract me such as colouring book, quiz book, some of my favourite recipes to go and make something, my dogs lead to go for a walk.
Them different boxes seem like a really good idea, i'll have to look into that
Them different boxes seem like a really good idea, i'll have to look into that
I've got theirs two stress larma and unicorn which I name self harm prevention duo at the moment, still sorting out an box but it's finding stuff that isn't working to mess around with my medication
I just wanted to say I love this thread - what a great idea! I think I will go and make my own self-care box now so thank you all for the fab ideas of what to include