Ulcerative Colitis
What are some of your self-care practices?
Updated January 17, 2022
in Ulcerative Colitis
Self-care is so important yet not always practiced. Lately Ive been revisiting self-care practices and working on adding self-care time on my calendar like I do dr appointments and work.
I enjoy a nice hot bath with aromatherapy bath salts and sometimes a candle burning, listening to good playlists on loud speakers when I want to uplift my moods, calling good friends with stimulating conversation, listening to an audiobook and binge watching a good show comfortably in bed.
Do any of you have a self-care routine or find yourself putting it on the back burner?
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Care Partner of Adult
My little oasis at home is on my front porch. I'm about to sound like an old lady, but I have a rocking chair that is so comfortable, and I love to chat with friends on the phone while appreciating the tranquility of my property. I'm lucky that way and treat myself to a front porch rock when I need to take care of ME.
I avoid dairy and gluten, drink bone broth, consume manuka honey, and get acupuncture. I find that this holistic practice (in addition to the unfortunate meds) keep my gut in check...generally.
I am working on making my home more of an oasis. The pandemic has definitely made that a necessity!
I haven't tried bone broth but I heard it has great benefits. I used to do accupuncture, laser acupuncture actually. I enjoyed that but she was soooo far out and it was costly and to far out to be able to manage on a regular basis and then I just fell off the routine.
Patient
I would not say that I have mastered self-care by any means, but I have finally given myself permission to sit my butt on the couch and watch as much TV or read as many books as I want without guilt.
I worked really hard to remove the "lazy" narrative from my world. I'm an introvert and a home body, so I like reenergizing in this way. It also gives me time to enjoy my animals, which also feels like self-care.
I just learned that my version of self-care doesn't often look like how other people's does and that's ok too.
When my son got sick and was eventually diagnosed with CD I started journaling. Journaling is a simple and science-proven method to keep track of your health and your family’s health.
Care Partner of Adult
@HHausenblas ...and the Health Tracker feature here on IBDLyfe could be a great supplement to that journaling process :-)
It might. but I also like writing it down in a journal
I think the key thing that stood out for me is that "my version of self-care doesn't often look like how other people's does and that's ok too". This right here is important! Also when you talked about the lazy narrative that striked a thought about how people always are trying to call someone lazy and it has so much negative connotation behind it. It used to annoy the mess out of me when people used to say I was lazy if I needed to rest for a day and work from my bed on my laptop when I was in school and should be using my time however they saw fit through their lenses. It felt like lazy was just thrown around casually based off perception. Anywho it can strike a nerve with me sometimes when its used carelessly.
I wish I can actually do this. I have been meaning to journal for the longest. I even have a pretty pink one with my initials in it but I haven't wrote in it yet. I did start making some video "journaling" thoughts. I wish I had like a video journal format that I could just insert them there and it would keep them all together.
I can relate. That's why I like guided journals - they have prompts and its easy to complete. Just takes a few minutes each day. I actually created my own guided jorunals to track food, symptoms, gratitude, mood etc when our son got sick. I can share them with you if you would like.
Care Partner of Adult
I've never heard of guided journals, but this sounds great for those like @invisibleUC , who seems interested. Please share here. :-)
This! I've learned that sometimes self-care looks like stereotypical laziness. I need that downtime -- I deserve that downtime!! -- and it is not lazy if it's recharging for my soul. We live in a society so driven by productivity that we sometimes forget that recharging is crucial.
To the main point of the question: I find that self-care looks like a lot of different things for me personally. There are days when it's spending an afternoon reading or crafting (creating things makes my soul really happy and recharges me from my highly analytical job). Most days, my self-care routine is treating myself to a warm cup of tea in the morning from a specialty tea brand and savoring the scent and flavor of the tea. It takes 5 minutes, but it's 5 minutes for me and nobody else.
I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned it yet, but I do find that there are times when self-care doesn't look so Instagram worthy, too. It's taking a shower, cleaning up my desk space, or making the bed. These are not fun or pretty things, but they reset my space so that it is less chaotic. I find that having a calming space and making my home into a safe and serene place are huge self-care items for me.
Care Partner of Adult
@Katelyn "I do find that there are times when self-care doesn't look so Instagram worthy." I love this, the way you express it. And you are right; having our space in order is a great start to taking care of ourselves. Sometimes it's the little things.
Patient
I wonder if maybe those of us who have a lot of different types of self-care are actually just really good at centering our needs. I know I need downtime sometimes, fancy face lotion sometimes, pizza sometimes, and naps sometimes. It changes and I'm wondering if maybe...it's gone beyond the label of self care and it's just being intuitive.
Maybe when we get really good at identifying what self care is, or could be, to us it no longer needs that label. It's just part of the day? Does that make sense?
So many great suggestions for anyone! Changing your self care tips regularly helps you not become used to them!
Patient
@invisibleUC Did you get a chance to practice any of these self care practices on Mother's Day!?
Not the ones I mentioned specifically but I did get some self care in. I got a pedicure on Saturday and made a Sugar hair removal appointment. I got my car detailed by husband on Sunday, enjoyed breakfast made by him. I don't even remember having to change a diaper on any of my two babies. I listened to some music in my car by myself and went to visit my grandma and enjoyed seeing family. I didn't talk on the phone much because I didn't feel like it and I had some down time.
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