Self-Therapy Tips

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people are feeling the effects of anxiety and stress. Now is a perfect time to start managing and keeping track of stress levels and figuring out how you can lower those stress levels. There are many times throughout the day, where you may feel overwhelmed by certain stressors in your life, but there are luckily a lot of self-therapy tips you can practice to help keep you calm and happy. Whether you’re busy with work or dealing with a never-ending list of things to do, these tips for stress management are what you need to brighten up the rest of your day.

Self-therapy is the habit of treating yourself with certain methods that are therapeutic to help you deal with situations that are emotional or personal. These include many different philosophies that are therapeutic such as mindfulness practices, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and psychotherapy. Since many people are looking for ways to keep calm during these crazy times, a few simple self-therapy tips that you can incorporate into your day-to-day routine can be very beneficial.

The self-help genre has gotten a bad wrap recently, so you may be feeling like this is too good to be true. Many scientists however have been studying self-therapy and its effects for years and the results have been successful. For example, scientists compared face-to-face therapy against the effects of self-therapy. The study resulted in each method having equal effects on participants’ levels of anxiety.

Plenty more studies have shown that practicing self-therapy practices can improve your mood and help reduce stress. The Medical Journal of Australia conducted a study that showed bibliotherapy (the therapy of written words) and exercise were effective in improving depression during winter, and another showed that exercise, relaxation training, and bibliotherapy all helped to improve anxiety. One study also showed that it can improve insomnia!

Self-Therapy Tips

1. To-do lists: Making a to-do list will help you organize what you need to get done throughout the day. Be more efficient by moving high priority items to the top of your list. This will help ease decision paralysis.

2. Focus on the end result: Put your energy towards what really matters - the solution. Don't dwell on things that have happened in the past.

3. Try Meditation: Self guided meditation is great for calming the mind and is perfect to add to your morning routine. There are many resources online that can help you with this practice.

4. Think positive: Most of us have experienced negative thinking from time to time, but try to redirect that energy into positive thinking and keep things in perspective.

5. Skip the caffeine: Caffeine can cause you higher stress levels, so practice self therapy by avoiding this in your drinks. To reduce your intake, start by switching to tea.

6. Go for walks: This helps keep your body and mind moving and release stress. Take it a step further and get some more exercise at the gym or go for a run.

7. Eat right: Add mood-boosting foods to your diet. These foods include avocados, salmon and yogurt.

8. Write in a stress journal: Take out your stress on paper and write in a journal. This way, you can identify patterns of behavior on what is causing you stress and you can figure out a way to avoid it.

9. Make time for fun activities: Setting aside some time to focus on things you enjoy is very important. This will allow you to get out of your stressed headspace and take a break from the serious things.

To take advantage of the benefits of self-therapy, check out this infographic from TurboTenant below to see some of the best ways you can treat your body, mind, and soul with stress-relieving self-therapy.