Life is full of surprises — both good and bad.
Sometimes those surprises make our day, but sometimes they make us feel like we’re falling backwards into a swimming pool with no idea how far the water goes. No matter how much we try to prepare ourselves for what’s coming next, sometimes we just get caught off-guard. So what can we do in these situations to help get back on our feet?
One useful strategy is making a self-care plan for these exact situations.
This is especially useful for those of us who may lean more towards less-productive coping strategies by default — such as avoidance or prolonged escapism. So, today we’re going to explore the world of self-care plans and walk you through how to build your very own.
What Is a Self-Care Plan?
In a lot of ways, you can think of a self-care plan like a weekly schedule or a meal plan. Creating a plan for the week (whether for appointments and tasks or what you want to eat) helps remove the mental burden of deciding what to do or prioritize during the week. This can be crucial for ensuring that you are making healthy choices when it comes to your diet as well as time management. A self-care plan works very similarly.
By building your plan when you are calm, you can think critically about what coping strategies work best for you and highlight these for you to look back on when you are feeling overwhelmed or facing a stressful situation. After all, most of us are likely not well-renowned for making the best decisions when we’re tired, overworked, or simply not in the mood to think too hard about a situation.
Types of Self-Care Plans
When most people think of making a self-care plan, they are thinking about a plan they can use during overwhelming times of stress or unhappiness. But this is not the only time when one of these plans can be helpful.
Having a self-care plan for your daily life can be just as important as having one for emergencies. Let’s be honest, daily life can be stressful — even without any form of specific event happening.
In today’s society, we are constantly faced with the idea that we should be working towards a goal at all times. That the only rest we need is sleep, and all waking hours should be “productive.” Unfortunately, this is a one-way street that eventually leads directly to burnout and overwhelm. Actively taking time to prioritize your needs and making time for the things that keep you happy can be difficult when we are constantly made to feel less or lazy for doing so. But, the simple truth is that if we don’t create this time, we’ll eventually crash.
This is where a daily self-care plan comes into the picture. This plan isn’t for moments of extreme emotion, stress, or other impactful situations. Instead, it consists of all the things you can do to improve your everyday life. Having a self-care plan for your daily life as well as stressful situations can help you focus on healthy coping strategies in all situations.
How to Build the Perfect Self-Care Plan for Your Individual Needs
Whether you are crafting your daily plan or your self-care plan for emergencies, you’ll need to consider a few key points.
First off, there is no one-size solution for a self-care plan. Everyone faces their own challenges in life and not everyone will find the same types of coping strategies helpful. This is why taking the time to craft a self-care plan based on your own experiences is the key to creating a realistic and effective self-care plan for yourself.
Secondly, we are not stagnant in our lives. As we grow and change as people, our needs naturally change as well. Because of this, it is important to ensure that you revisit your self-care plan regularly so that it can be the most helpful resource for you.
Thirdly, it is a good idea to note both your helpful and unhelpful coping strategies in your plan. This way you can highlight the helpful ones, while still maintaining awareness of the strategies you want to avoid. Having these strategies listed in a “to avoid” section can help you break the habit of defaulting to these undesirable coping strategies.
Now, without further ado, here are the four easy steps you need to create your very own self-care plan! These steps work for both daily and emergency self-care plans. We recommend beginning with a daily self-care plan and then revisiting the steps to create your crisis self-care plan once you have practiced evaluating and coming up with a strategy.
Step 1: Evaluate Your Current Coping Strategies
Start by brainstorming all of the ways that you cope with stress.
Once you have this list, begin labeling each coping strategy as “helpful” or “unhelpful.” You can do this with a color key, re-writing them into two columns, or even simply writing an “h” or “u” next to each strategy.
Step 2: Assess Your Self-Care Needs
Next, you need to figure out what self-care looks like for you.
For your daily self-care plan, you may want to focus on specific aspects of your life — such as physical, social, emotional, psychological, and/or financial. If detailing practices for many different areas of your life is overwhelming, that is okay. Start with just one or two areas and focus on those until you are ready to add another to your plan.
When it comes to an emergency self-care plan, you may want to focus on areas like mood-boosting, relaxation techniques, social support, and helpful self-talk techniques.
Step 3: Reflect and Strategize
Now that you have explored your go-to coping strategies and established what self-care practices you want to focus on, it is time to determine what is helpful and what is not. Consult your lists and
Step 4: Build Your Plan
The final step is the easiest. Now that you’ve done all the hard work, it’s time to write your plan down. You can do this on a physical piece of paper, in a document on your computer, or even in the notes on your phone. Put it wherever it will be the most helpful and easily accessible for you.
After all, what’s the point of going through all of this to craft a plan if you can’t find it when you need it?
Not Sure Where to Start?
A self-care plan works by eliminating the need to wrack your brain for coping mechanisms when you’re in the middle of a stressful moment. Still, figuring out where to start can be tricky — even if you’re relaxed. If you’re having trouble beginning, try just listing things that make you happy.
Some examples of simple self-care activities are:
- Going for a short walk
- Listening to music
- Reading
- Cuddling with your pets
- Making a tasty meal
- Watching a movie you love
If you are still having trouble creating your own self-care plan, please don’t hesitate to reach out to one of our experienced therapists for more help and guidance for creating a realistic and helpful plan for you!
