Self Care Ideas for Depression Recovery
We are in the thick of winter, and anyone who has depression or seasonal affective disorder (seasonal depression) is probably feeling impact of the weather on their mental health. It’s no joke.
A big part of depression treatment is “faking it until you make it” on self care activities. When your brain sees you out and about, caring for yourself, and moving, things can start to shift in your brain chemically. The catch 22 is that one of the major symptoms of depression is not having motivation to do the things that would make you feel better.
It’s not simple at all to engage in self care. Do whatever you can get yourself to do today, even if you don’t feel like it and even if it doesn’t feel like it’s helping, trust the process. If you’re struggling to figure out where to get started, here’s eight ideas that might spark some inspiration.
Medication: If you haven’t already, it’s not a bad time to consider using medication as a tool to help kickstart re-balancing the chemicals in your brain that make it impossible for you to access motivation and engage with the world. Medication can be used alone or in combination with therapy. If you are already taking medication, continue consulting with your provider about your specific medication and dose, let them know how your symptoms are during this season.
Therapy: If you haven’t started therapy, this could be a great time to reach out for some extra support. The winter is hard, there’s no time like the present to really prioritize your mental well-being. A therapist can work with you on a specialized plan to target your symptoms and walk with you through your treatment.
Vitamin D Supplements: There’s less sunlight in the winter and that can greatly contribute to symptoms of depression. One great way to address the winter specific deficit in vitamin D is to take a supplement (of course do this in consultation with the advice of your specific medical provider).
Movement: Whether you can get yourself up and about for one minute or one hour, any movement helps. Get in a nice cold walk outside, use a treadmill inside, clean a corner of the house, dance it out to a song you like, walk up and down your stairs, go to mall and walk around the stores — anything that isn’t sedentary.
Make Hygiene Special: Get a hair cut, find some new soaps, schedule a nail care appointment (you don’t even need to get them painted if you don’t want to!), go to the spa… Anything that adds an extra shot to your motivation to care for yourself.
Remove Barriers: If it’s hard to care for long hair, get short hair. If it’s too difficult to imagine washing and folding your laundry, just wash it and use clean laundry unfolded from the basket. Buy more frozen meals if that makes it easier to eat. If you can’t motivate yourself to shower and change, then just change your clothes.
Make Commitments Outside the House: Sign up for a pottery class or exercise class, schedule hang outs with friends, get involved with a ministry at your church, offer to babysit for a friend … Find commitments you will struggle to back out of (pay for the class up front, meet up with someone you don’t want to cancel on) so that there are days you are forced to leave the house. You might be resistant to making these commitments most of the time, but if you have a window that you know you need to do it and you can, take advantage of it and do it right away!
Spend Time with People: Especially consider if there are any people (family, friends) that you can be honest with about how you’ve been feeling. Let them know that even if you don’t always feel like it, you want to try to spend time with them. If there’s no one you can trust with how you’re feeling, consider if there’s any people you would be open to being around as an exercise of self care.
Celebrate any steps you take today towards your well-being. You might be able to five things on this list, or one, or maybe none at all. Even if you just sit up in bed for a few minutes, or change your t-shirt, or send a text to reach out to a friend, celebrate that. It’s so incredibly hard to push through the lack of motivation.
Take things one step at a time, whatever step is achievable. Know that there’s someone out there rooting for you. You won’t feel exactly this way forever. Winter is going to end. Hang in there friends!