Are You Actually Bad At Self Care? This Assessment Will Tell You the Truth.
This assessment really helped me put into perspective how I actually am at self care. I hope it helps put things in perspective for you too!
People who say “self-care is an annoying buzzword” are probably saying that because they don’t understand its importance and/or are completely blind to what it truly means to care for one’s self.
If you’re bad at self-care, I bet you you’re doing WAY better than you’re giving yourself credit for. Want to find out? Here’s a quick and easy self-care assessment you can do right now.
Here are the instructions:
Rate yourself under each category and point with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. Using the scale below, rate the following areas in terms of frequency: 5 = Frequently 4 = Occasionally 3 = Rarely 2 = Never 1 = It never occurred to me.
Then at the end of each category, count up the total.
here’s how scoring works:
Physical score = 35 or less needs work
Psych score = 30 or less needs work
Emotional score - 30 or lework
Spiritual score = 35 or less needs work
Take the assessment, add up your points, then, come back to this post or the TikTok video and tell me in the comments what your scores are!
What is self-care?
Self-care is not synonymous with self-indulgence or being selfish. Self-care is all about being able to take care of you before you take care of others. We cannot attend to any of our tasks if we’re working with a glass half full. We must fill our cup to it’s fullest before we dive into a week’s worth of tasks, working, kid pick-up, etc.
Why is self-care important?
Self care is important for a variety of reasons. The reasons why self-care is important for me are probably very different for you. For me, it’s important because it forces me to pause and take a minute to recognize how tired I am, and have internal discussions with myself on how I need to re-prioritize some of my tasks. Self-care for me is also me taking myself to the doctor, chiropractor, neurologist, and therapy each week. Self-care is also a teaching moment for myself and kids–I grew up not prioritizing my needs ever and just being a non-stop doer. I don’t want my kids to deprioritize themselves so by teaching myself to care for me, I’m setting the best example possible for my kids.
Outside my personal “why” for all of us–any of us–self-care is a vital part of taking care of our mental health. This is especially so, when it comes to a mental health flare-up. "Flare up" is a gentle way of saying, "My symptoms and mental illness are showing up really strongly today." When you're having a flare up, it's crucial to do things that will help you regulate yourself, your emotions, and be mindful of what you're going through.
Oftentimes when we're having a mental health flare up, we completely forgo anything to do with caring for ourselves, emotionally and physically. So becoming intentional with self-care habits during a mental health flare up will help us lay the ground work for on-going self-regulation practices during our next flare up. If we don't take care or ourselves when we're struggling, we will set the expectation for ourselves in the future we are incapable of anything–which is untrue.
Self-care in the midst of a mental health flare up feels impossible. It can be very reasonably difficult to find the motivation to act on your needs and that’s totally valid. So, rather than forcing yourself to adhere to a rigid self-care routine…
Give yourself some flexibility
Allow yourself to try doing just one thing
Give yourself some emotional grace
Phone or text a friend about your struggle and ask for positive reinforcement
Here’s the bottom line…
Bottomline, if practicing self-care during a mental health flare up isn't working, here are other resources you can turn to...
Suicide Prevention Hotline
Dial 988
National Alliance on Mental Health
The NAMI HelpLine can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET.
Call 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), text "HelpLine" to 62640 or email helpline@nami.org
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