Set aside some time, to allow yourself to work through each step. Don’t rush or skip ahead. See care is important, and you deserve to devote some time to it.
You may want to go through this routine as soon as you wake up, as a preventive measure.
1 – Have you eaten in the last four hours?
If you haven’t eaten in a little while, your body needs fuel. It’s time for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
If there’s a specific food you want, it’s okay to eat it! You don’t have to eat perfectly healthy all the time– no one does! Just also use your brain a little, and notice the quantity you’re eating, and how healthy it is for you. You’re probably just fine at trusting your gut and knowing what your body needs.
Making a meal is hard for you right now, and that’s okay! Everybody struggles with cooking sometimes.
You have some options: – You can cook a meal for yourself. – You might have ready-made meals in the fridge. – You can get take-out or delivery. – You can go to a restaurant.
Take-out, delivery, and restaurants are a little more expensive than cooking on your own, but how you spend your money is your decision. It’s okay to treat yourself!
If you’re going to cook on your own, you have to decide what to make. A friend, partner, or family member can help with this. Here are some ideas for easy foods you can eat right now: – Pasta with butter, sauce, cheese, vegetables, and/or meat – Ramen noodles – Sandwiches – Rice – Grilled cheese (This can have meat on it, if you want!) – A smoothie or milkshake – Baked or fried potatoes – Eggs, pancakes, and/or bacon – Macaroni and cheese – Canned soup – Salad – Vegan – Boxed mashed potatoes
2 – Have you taken any medication you need to take?
Medication needs to be taken on schedule, or your body might react negatively.
Take some time now to take any pills, do any tests or injections, or apply any ointments prescribed by your doctor.
If this is a persistent problem for you, you may want to set a smart phone alarm so you remember to take it at the same time every day.
3 – Are you keeping yourself hydrated?
Drink a glass of whatever liquid you like best. Water is ideal, but don’t beat yourself up if you’d rather have tea, soda, juice, or milk. Soda will actually make you feel thirstier, but if it’s easier for you, then that’s okay!
4 – Can you take a guess at how many hours you’ve slept out of the last 24?
Everyone is an individual with different sleep schedules, but most people need 8 hours of relatively uninterrupted sleep. If you had less than that, and/or woke up frequently, and/or had nightmares, it might help you to take a nap.
Take a nap. You can finish this self-care guide when you wake up.
Ideally, let yourself sleep naturally, and sleep until you wake up. Obviously, this isn’t always possible. Otherwise, set an alarm for yourself, with plenty of time to wake up and get yourself together between your nap and your responsibilities.
5 – Are you in pain?
If there is something your doctor has prescribed you for pain, you should take it or do it.
For aches and pains, take an aspirin. You may also want to apply a heating pad or a cold pack on whatever hurts.
If you have a stomach ache, there are medications for that, like Pepto Bismol, and hot tea may also help.
Be nice to your body, and try to do “replace” the unpleasant pain with some pleasant alternative sensations, like good smells and pleasurable textures.
6 – Is something about your environment distressing or uncomfortable? Are your surroundings the right temperature?
If you’re too cold, you can try putting on some warm clothes, using a space heater, turning up the heat in your home, putting on a blanket, and/or snuggling with a pet or another person.
If you’re too hot, you can try putting on cooler clothes, turning on a fan, or turning up the AC in your house.
7 – Are your surroundings dirty or smelly?
It’s hard to feel okay in an environment that is unfriendly for whatever reason. If your surroundings aren’t clean, set a timer for five minutes and take care of the biggest problems, like leftover food, pet messes, or dirty clothes.
Chores can be scary and exhausting, but that’s not what we’re doing here. We’re just taking a little five-minute clean up to make ourselves and our homes happier!
8 – Do you feel unsafe because of the people, or lack of people, in your surroundings?
If you can, try to remove yourself from situations that are overwhelming or feel unsafe. If you can’t relocate entirely, take frequent breaks, or tune out with headphones.
9 – Does your body feel uncomfortable, sweaty, or dirty?
If you have the energy and ability to take a shower, it may be a good idea. If you are unable to take a shower, here are some things to do instead: ⁃ Wash your face ⁃ Put on lotion ⁃ Change your clothes ⁃ Use dry shampoo ⁃ Whatever physical self-care activity you like best!
10 – Do you know why you’re in a bad mood, or not feeling well emotionally?
(Remember, any answer is okay!) If there’s something on your mind, we’re going to do our best to take care of it.
11 – If there is something in your mind, set a timer for 15 minutes, and work on a solution.
If it’s something you can change, then great! If not, do your best to reach out to someone and talk about it.
12 – Remember, 15 minutes and only 15!
You can go back to whatever it is after we’re done working through this together. We’re just taking baby steps in the right direction.
13 – Sometimes, we don’t know the source of our bad feelings, and that’s okay.
14 – Do you feel anxious, nervous, keyed-up, paranoid, scared, or on edge?
If you’re generally anxious but don’t know why, that’s okay!
If you’re feeling anxious about something specific. That’s okay! Set a timer for 15 minutes and do something to take care of that worry. Maybe chip away at a task that seems insurmountable. You can do it!
15 – Here are some ideas for grounding activities:
⁃ Take deep, calm breaths. ⁃ Notice and list things in your surroundings. ⁃ Expose yourself to strong, pleasant sensations, like a pleasing smell or a favorite blanket. ⁃ Say out loud your name, your age, the date, and your location. List some things you’ve done today, or are going to do. ⁃ Splash water on your face or run your hands under the faucet. ⁃ Do a body scan meditation, or pay close attention to each of your body parts one by one. ⁃ Make tea. Feel the warmth of it in your hands, and the taste as you sip it calmly. ⁃ Listen to music. ⁃ Play a categories game, and name some types of dogs, or clothing items, or gemstones, or countries, or anything else you can think of. ⁃ Write in your journal. ⁃ Take a mindful walk, either inside or outside. Pay close attention to your body and your surroundings. ⁃ Squiggle. Wiggle around. Dance. Stretch. Be silly and active for a few minutes. ⁃ Any other favorite grounding technique you’ve heard of or can think of. There’s nothing wrong with experimenting!
16 – Do you feel triggered? Are you having flashbacks? Is something traumatic or upsetting from the past weighing on your mind? Did you have a vivid nightmare?
If you’re feeling triggered, see if there’s a practical action you can take to lessen your distress. Can you block that unsafe person from your Facebook, for example?
If not, reach out and tell someone safe how you’re feeling. Just express yourself! Human contact works wonders when you’re not feeling well emotionally.
Remember that you’re here in the present, and nothing from your past can hurt you. If you like, you may want to try some grounding exercises to reinforce that idea.
17 – Are you feeling dissociated, depersonalized, or derealized? Do you feel far away, foggy, or unreal? Are you not sure who you are?
Go back to number 6 and try the grounding activities.
18 – Are you feeling depressed, sad, or upset?
Feeling depressed isn’t fun, but it doesn’t last forever! Don’t be mad or disappointed with yourself for feeling depressed.
Take 15 minutes and accomplish something small, like loading the dishwasher or making a friendship bracelet. You are not a failure, and your situation is not hopeless! You are a superhero, even if it doesn’t feel like it.
19 – Are you feeling lonely?
Everybody feels lonely sometimes. If you’re feeling lonely, there’s ways to reach out to people!
You can talk to someone in your house, or call someone on the phone. You can also use texting or Facebook messenger to speak to someone. You may want to talk about how you’re feeling, or you may not. Anything you want to talk about is okay!
If that isn’t or doesn’t seem possible, you can post a general message on Facebook, Tumblr, Vent, or another internet service, about whatever you want!
20 – Are you feeling foggy?
If you are feeling foggy, you might need some exercise.
21 – Do you have the energy and ability to go for a walk?
If you can’t take a walk, that’s okay!
Here are some alternatives: ⁃ Jumping jacks ⁃ Bouncing on the bed ⁃ Dancing ⁃ Push ups or sit ups, if you like doing them ⁃ Walking up and down the stairs ⁃ Yoga ⁃ Wiggling, squirming, jiggling around; being silly and active and having fun!
If none of those are or seem possible, just sit outside for some fresh air!
22 – Do you have pets at home?
Playing with pets can be a great way to take the edge off when you’re not feeling well. It doesn’t matter what kind of pet you have, just take some time to interact with them. Pet your cat, take your dog outside, feed your fish, hug your lizard…
23 – Take half an hour and do whatever you want to do right now.
This can be anything: crafts, watching TV, laying on the couch, taking a walk, playing Farmville… your choices are literally endless!
Obviously, don’t do anything that’s bad for you, like feeding addictions or harming yourself or others
24 – It’s time to reassess.
Maybe now that you’ve done all this self care, you feel better– great! Maybe you don’t, and that’s okay too. But hopefully you’ve cleared things up and you know what to do next to take care of yourself.
You deserve self care, so even if it’s hard, do your best!
Because while the world building with @jabberwockypie was fun and awesome, I have entirely too many projects to work on to add this to them. (And now I am going to go nap because tired and ow.)
JabberwockyPie
Also everyone in Marvel seems to have crappy parents, too. *considers* Except for T’Challa, whose parents are apparently awesome, but I haven’t seen BP yet.
Morgyn Leri
*nods*
I suppose the parents of some of the side characters are probably good too, but most of the main characters, yeah.
Certainly almost all the parents we have actual information on.
JabberwockyPie
*nod* The ones we see on-screen or – yes, that
Morgyn Leri
Well, ok. Steve’s mom was a good person, and Bucky’s mom.
JabberwockyPie
I have admittedly not seen the more recent MCU stuff, at least in terms of Age of Ultron or Civil War, just because I don’t really have any motivation to do so
Yes
Morgyn Leri
But they’re also dead, and have been for a while.
JabberwockyPie
*nod nod*
Morgyn Leri
And as for AoU and CW – yeah. Nope.
JabberwockyPie
Frigga was a good mom, I think? Or at least we didn’t have any reason to think she wasn’t, beyond possibly putting up with Odin’s shit a bit too much
Someone – I think scifigrl47? It seems like it would have been her – has a few good rants about how all of the MCU people (and Marvel in general, really) follow this one specific pattern for Terrible Dads (while we are ignoring or fridging the moms)
Morgyn Leri
She’s the kind of mother who tried to be a good parent, but her co-parent undermined that by being an absolute bag of dicks.
JabberwockyPie
Yes,t hat
Like, if Frigga and Heimdell had been co-parenting, I think things would have come out WAY BETTER and WAY MORE EMOTIONALLY STABLE
Morgyn Leri
🙂
There’s an AU to play with. What if more of the Avengers had a better childhood? And in particular, what if Frigga did not put up with Odin’s shit at all, and put her foot down where her boys were concerned?
Steve’s childhood I’ll leave alone, ‘cause it seems decent for the time period (not great, but not horrible because parents).
JabberwockyPie
*nod*
Morgyn Leri
Frigga not putting up with Odin’s crap parenting. Clint Barton’s mom getting out with her boys. Bruce Banner’s mom getting herself and Bruce out of their home situation.
Clint and Bruce could still become superheroes, though their motivations and the how might be different.
JabberwockyPie
Natasha’s backstory is kind of a clusterfuck.
Morgyn Leri
Yeah.
JabberwockyPie
*nod nod*
Tony… maybe if Howard hadn’t been allowed to be such a DICK, and then Obadiah Stane perpetuating shit
Morgyn Leri
Jarvis and Peggy calling out Howard on his shit more.
JabberwockyPie
I mean he’d probably be a LITTLE nuts anyway, because Doing Science and Doing Engineering
Morgyn Leri
*nods* Yup.
But there are things about how Howard treated Tony that other people being a little more “Howard, no, stop” would have helped.
And someone noticing that Obidiah was a bad influence, that would be useful.
JabberwockyPie
Maybe if someone noticed that Obadiah was fucking creepy and it was someone Howard would actually listen to
Morgyn Leri
*nods* Yeah.
JabberwockyPie
*considers* Or Peggy could kill him. IJS
Morgyn Leri
😀
JabberwockyPie
Peggy not liking the way dude acts around Tony
Nope you die now
Too bad
Morgyn Leri
Peggy and Jarvis conspire to get rid of Obidiah and make sure it looks like an accident.
Or that he just up and left on his own, and the body is never found.
JabberwockyPie
He tripped and fell. Onto a knife. Twenty-five times.
That too! D
😀
Morgyn Leri
Airplace accident in a small plane.
*airplane
Or a car crash.
Or a boating accident.
Or he took a trip to Europe and never came home, and who knows what happened to him?
JabberwockyPie
*nod nod* It was Mysterious Circumstances. Conveniently
Morgyn Leri
Or evidence comes to light he’s a spy for an enemy country.
JabberwockyPie
But without him around, Howard isn’t being nudged in certain directions
Morgyn Leri
Because then they don’t have to kill him to get rid of him.
JabberwockyPie
Yes, that would be bad. So unfortunate. Can’t trust anyone.
True
Morgyn Leri
Just. Obidiah gotten rid of, and Howard doesn’t have his malign influence, and improvement of the Stark father-son relationship. o/
And actually, having Obidiah be found to be a spy works better.
JabberwockyPie
*nod nod*
Then Howard has to investigate anything Obidiah told him to do ever
Morgyn Leri
Yup.
JabberwockyPie
And question those decisions
Morgyn Leri
And also, it means that later, Obidiah can still be behind Tony’s kidnapping and his transformation into Iron Man.
JabberwockyPie
Also easier on Tony if his parents weren’t suddenly killed off when he was a kid. Like, I think it’s a little easier to tell a parent (or a parent’s memory) to go fuck themself if they didn’t die suddenly and tragically when you were a teenager?
Morgyn Leri
*nods* That too.
… and my brain just went “so, they make sure the evidence that points to Anton Vanko spying for the Soviet Union points instead to Obidiah Stane, and voila, Obidiah gets to go away, and one Ivan Vanko maybe gets to not grow up in fucking Siberia to hate the Stark family for sending his father back to the USSR to end up rotting in a gulag.”
And then I think about Ivan and Tony growing up together and tossing ideas back and forth together about everything, and just making the world tremble, because two geniuses in one place that could do anything up to and including taking over the world if they were interested in doing so.
JabberwockyPie
FOR SCIENCE
Because they get bored a lot
And egg each other on
Morgyn Leri
Yup!
Gah. And have them get a chance to meet a saner and more stable Loki.
Also, add a Bruce who’s less likely to try to fold himself into as small a space as possible.
Two engineers, a scientist, and a mage who is also the god of mischief.
The universe is going to start worrying about what comes out of that lab.
JabberwockyPie
Saner, more stable Loki, who – while very much a fan of mischief and the specific subset of mischief that is “screwing with his brother” – is not nuts
😀
Morgyn Leri
😀
The universe will never be the same.
It will probably be better.
JabberwockyPie
Watching Thor 3 I was just waiting for them to do like an “I’m not touching you! I’m not touching you!” bit because siblings
Morgyn Leri
*snerks*
JabberwockyPie
Also trying to get Loki to do magic so that they can Do Science To It, until he gets bored and takes a break to poke Thor or something
Morgyn Leri
*nods*
And also maybe, with somewhat less terrible childhoods, the Avengers would be better able to communicate, and there aren’t misunderstandings that lead to things like AoU and CW.
I mean, still there’s probably miscommunications, because those happen even when people are trying, but they aren’t going to get to world-ending levels of horrible.
JabberwockyPie
Maybe they can like, talk about it
Or someone will suggest talking about it
Because they’ve all had less crappy childhoods
Morgyn Leri
*nods* Yup.
JabberwockyPie
And at some point someone might suggest Talking About It
(Even though Talking About Feelings Is Terrible.)
(But Necessary!)
Morgyn Leri
🙂
JabberwockyPie
Whereas when you have the team full of people with terrible childhoods, everyone is kind of like “… I dunno. How do interpersonal relationships work?” and then you get AoU and CW
Y’all please reblog because this is fucking terrifying. It’s yet another attempt to sabotage any attempt at the poor receiving any kind of health care. God forbid you ever get fired and can’t declare yourself permanently disabled.
Make no mistake: people WILL DIE from this.
Contact your reps however you can. Use Resistbot and more importantly, just spread this shit around because I KNOW there’s a bunch of you on here that are directly affected by this.
Please share far and wide.
It gets worse: the ACA has a mandate. You have to have health insurance of some sort, or you get penalized with taxes. Medicatid counts as health insurance, so people who are out of work don’t have to worry about that.
If they add a work requirement, people who are out of work will have to pay out of pocket for health insurance of some sort or risk the fine (it’s a fine, okay, it’s done using your taxes but it’s a fine).
This is designed to leech money from people who have none to spare.
So, anyone want to help me fuck with some NRA jags?
My town’s newspaper is having a poll about gun control today. 1500 people have voted that there should not be an increase in restrictions on gun control. That’s way more people than usually visit the paper’s site in a day. It seems someone is using robots or getting people from out of our town to vote.
And, you know, there’s no “rules” against people from out of town voting on it. So would you like to show solidarity with the people in my town who want better gun control and vote? The poll is here, on the site’s main page.
hey friends. save my shitty town newspaper from the nra
*hugs you all* Because today is a day for hugs, and I’m going to run out of spoons if I go putting hugs in everyone’s ask box.
Feel free to reblog this to give a hug to every one of your followers.
*who is comfortable with being hugged. If you do not like hugs or are uncomfortable with physical contact, or even just prefer not a hug from someone not a mutual friend, cookies or other snacks suitable for your dietary needs and restrictions.
There's a Mirror on the Wall 