Tag Archives: anxiety management

30 Days of Self-Care Summary

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Thank you so much for following #30daysofselfcare – I hope you found a handful of ideas that you’ve already tried or that you’re looking forward to trying out. Remember, you don’t have to do them all in one month. You don’t even have to do all of them. Just pick the ones that speak to you and maybe make a practice of doing them once or twice a month.

I’ve put them all together in this full 30-day compilation so you can bookmark it or save it somewhere to refer back to whenever you feel like you need a little pick-me-up.

Take care of yourselves!

graphic featuring 30 days of self-care suggestions

Self-Care Day 21

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I tried to look up some different breathing exercises for this post and there. are. so. many.

My personal favorite is just a nice deep breath, hold it for a moment, and let it out slowly. Long, slow exhales can stimulate the vagus nerve and send a calming message to your nervous system. In turn, this can lower your heart rate and blood pressure.

There are different breathing exercises out there for helping with anxiety attacks, stress, and calming… as always you can do a little research to find different techniques that suit you.

Self-Care Day 18

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Take a News Break

Every. Time. The news is on tv, my phone, my laptop… my shoulders creep up around my ears, my jaw gets all clenchy, and I’m certain I can feel my blood pressure rise.

Of course, there’s so much going on these days “My desire to stay informed is currently at odds with my desire to remain sane.” – to quote a cartoon I saw a few years ago. But, as I’m sure you know, all that jaw clenching and blood pressure raising isn’t great for you.

I live with a news junkie, so it’s not easy to take a break from it. The main thing I try to do is make sure I’m avoiding the news for at least an hour or so before I go to bed. Sometimes this means I just get up and leave the room if the news starts playing on my TV.

I also tend to try not to read the news while I’m at work unless there’s some big breaking news thing I want to pay attention to. It helps me stay better focused on what I’m there to do, which is to give a restorative massage.

Pick a day or a time of day and turn off the news. You can catch up tomorrow, or later. Fill the time with something positive, or just focus on your to-do list. Watch something funny as a “palate cleanser”. You might notice your shoulders lowering and your jaw feeling a tad less clenchy, and your body and brain will thank you for it.