Bp Magazine columnist, Melody Moezzi, talks about the importance of self-care in any treatment plan, providing some examples of self-care strategies and inviting you to share your own
Hello, this is Melody Moezzi with bp Magazine’s bphope vlog, and today I’m talking about self-care – what it is, what it isn’t and how it can help you. Self-care is basically what it sounds like. It is anything you do to keep yourself well, whether that’s emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, physically, professionally—whatever you do in your life that helps keep you well. And it’s something that is incredibly important for everybody, but when you have a chronic illness like bipolar disorder, it becomes all the more important. What I recommend is having a self-care plan.
And it’s really important to note up front that this is not a “Western” concept. I’ve heard a lot of people say to me [dismissively], “Oh self care, that’s just an American thing, and it’s actually selfish.” No, it’s not just an American and even if it were, there are a lot of great American things, so that’s fine. But it’s not. It’s something that’s entrenched in a lot of different cultures in terms of how we care for ourselves and our bodies and our minds and our souls. So, prayer, for example, is something that throughout history a lot of people have used. Meditation is something that throughout history a lot of people have used that has helped them. And for me, personally, that’s on my list.
And there are things that are going to be on your list that aren’t on someone else’s list. For example, I love driving, and it calms me down; it’s how I think. A lot of people don’t like driving, and some people even have panic attacks while they’re driving—so that would not be on their list. I love nature documentaries, and I love David Attenborough’s voice, something about his voice just calms me down. And there are certain voices like that; Garrison Keillor is another one of those [for me]. Listening to music, reading, sewing works for me. So there’s a long list, and it’s going to be different for everyone.
So, what I was thinking is: we can all put our lists together in the comments section below and then come up with some giant, really big list that hopefully will be useful to a lot of other people. So, whatever you feel comfortable sharing, do that in the comments section below, and we’ll put that list together and post it somewhere at some point. That’s all I got for now. Until next time, take care. I’m out!
CREDITS: All A/V (videography, audio, etc.) courtesy of Matthew Lenard.
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