Creating Your Personalized Self Care Tool Box

Creating Your Personalized Self Care Tool Box

So, what is your Self Care Tool Box? That’s a pretty legit question because it can mean a lot of things. 

A self-care toolbox are solutions you create for yourself that help you work through difficult situations and emotions. It's about learning what helps you feel better and move through those tough emotions and situations and taking note of it in a notebook or journal and then being intentional to use those tools when you need them.

When we take the time to create a space in our journal or if you don’t have a journal, in a notebook where you keep track of what helps you feel better and also helps you move through those tough emotions, you can then respond to your life and not just continuously react.

So, I suppose the next question would be, what are tough emotions?

Well, some of the tough emotions for me would be sadness, stress, anxiety, anger, and frustration. Everyone is different though and so you would name the ones that you struggle with. 

The next thing you would do is figure out what helps you feel better during those times when you're in the depths of that emotion. Now, I can recommend things for you to try but what I learned over time is that everyone is different and what works for one person might not work for the next. 

While going for a run helps me process anger and frustration, it might not help someone who hates running. 

This is where you have to actually do the work. The next time you're feeling one of these emotions, take a moment. Reflect. Take notice of what you can try to do to feel better instead of just reacting. I’m not saying don’t feel the emotion. I’m just saying don’t let yourself stay there too long before you try to process and move through so you can feel better at some point. 

Now you don’t need to sit down and do this all at once. I would suggest that you do this as the emotions come up. So, if you were feeling sad and you were trying to move through the feelings you would then ask yourself the question, what can I do right now to help me feel better right now and that list could look like.

• Have a good cry.
• Go for a walk.
• Do some journaling.
• Talk to a friend.
• Watch a sad movie and have a good cry. 
• Cuddle with your dogs. 

The question is what do you think will work for you. Test them out and then take note, write it out in your journal what worked for you and then this will become the first part of your Self Care Tool Box. 

As you feel these different emotions, you take notes until you have the tools you need personalized for you, so you know they work.

When you acknowledge your feelings, something a lot of us don’t do, and then take care of yourself, you can actually move through these uncomfy feelings a lot quicker. I feel like the acknowledgement alone is such a powerful step. 

Below I want to share with you some of the things you can try to help you move through tough emotions that have helped me and my clients. 

Suggestions For Your Self Care Tool Box:

• Meditation.
• Breathwork.
• EFT Tapping.
• Going for a walk in nature.
• Going for a run.
• Yoga.
• Qi Gong.
• Singing.
• Dancing.
• Any type of movement. 
• Screaming.
• Talking with a friend or family member.
• Taking a nap.
• Have a good cry.
• Watching a sad or funny movie.
• Listening to music with or without words.
• Petting or cuddling with your dog or cat.
• Reading. 
• Listening to a podcast.
• Journaling.
• Using crystals and or essential oils.
• Getting a massage.
• Reiki.

I could go on and on for a while, but these are the ones on the top of my mind that I use. 

One of the reasons to create a self care tool box is so that when you’re experiencing these emotions, when you’re in the thick of it, and you just can’t seem to figure out what to do, you can go to your tool box and know that you, yourself tested out these methods and this is what worked for you. It’s not something someone else told you to do but something you came up with, tried, and worked for you in this situation before. That's powerful!

This is the ultimate deep level self care and it’s definitely the type of self love we need to give ourselves on an everyday basis. 

When we take care of ourselves at this deep level, then we get to put this amazing version of ourselves back into the world, to our family, friends, partners, and into our purpose. 

If you need more support creating your own personalized toolbox you can set up a call with me to discuss the perfect way for us to work together. HERE

Xo, T