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3 Self-Care Tips Everyone Needs to Know
3 Self-Care Tips Everyone Needs to Know
As you all know, I am a huge proponent of therapy and mental health awareness. I’m so excited about this post and the conversation I had with Tiffany Roe. She’s been on a mental health journey herself and is now a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor. Here are her 3 self-care tips everyone needs to know.
Tiffany’s mental health journey began at age 19 when she had a severe eating disorder. It lasted until she was 23 and decided she couldn’t suffer through it any longer. She started seeing a therapist and it slowly changed her life and led her to the work she does today.
Tiffany’s dream today is to change the mental health game. She wants to normalize therapy. It’s her goal to help as many people as she can realize that therapy can be fun, cool, and accessible. She is the host of Therapy Thoughts Podcast, creator of OG Therapy is Cool merch & online courses, speaker, and owner of Mindful Counseling in Orem, Utah.
3 Self-Care Tips Everyone Needs to Know
Tip #1: Normalize Mental Health Care
The stigma of therapy is so unfortunate. Tiffany and I both agree that when we first started out our therapy sessions, mental health wasn’t something talked about out in the open. I personally felt ashamed and kept my therapy sessions kind of a secret. Not that I did it on purpose, it just wasn’t something talked about in everyday conversation. It’s gotten a lot better now, especially since the pandemic hit, but Tiffany is still working every day to make therapy a normal piece of our self care.
Just like you try to go to the gym regularly or have a balanced diet, going to therapy is something people need to do regularly just to keep your mind in a happy and healthy mental state. Therapy isn’t just for people who have a traumatic childhood, experience an unexpected crisis, or have irrational thoughts. Therapy is for everyone and each therapy journey looks different.
Tip #2: Self-Compassion Break
The self-compassion break is a real and practical exercise you can use in the midst of a panic attack, a high-stress situation, etc. The three steps to this exercise are as follows:
Step 1: Place your hands on your cheeks and validate your feelings. It may sound something like, “Hey, what you’re doing is really hard and it’s OK to make mistakes.”
Step 2: Place your hands on the back of your neck and give yourself some positive self-talk. You could say, “I am enough. I will figure this out and it will be OK.”
Step 3: Place your hands on your heart and remind yourself of the light inside of you and the light ahead of you. “I love myself and I am a warrior.”
Following these 3 steps in this self-compassion break will help you regulate your emotions and change your self-talk. Changing your self-talk is KEY to healing your mental health. Your thoughts lead to your feelings and your feelings lead to your behaviors. If you give yourself consistent positive self-talk, you’ll be amazed at the changes you start to make, and the feelings of self-love you start to experience.
Tip #3: Affirmations
Affirmations are one of the best and easiest ways to start the transformation for your mental health. An affirmation is an “I am” statement where you remind yourself how amazing you are, or what you want to become/start believing about yourself.
For example, if you want to start feeling better about yourself and improve your self esteem, your affirmation could be, “I am worthy. I am enough. I deserve to take up space in this world.”
If you wake up every morning, make eye contact with yourself in the mirror, hold your cheeks and say this affirmation out loud, you will feel the power run through your veins every single time. This practice connects your mind and body, which is a connection everyone needs more of.
It will probably feel weird or uncomfortable the first few times you do it. However, doing it this way is way more effective than just writing it down or saying it to yourself in your head. Once you get over the newness of it, you’ll surprise yourself with how much you get into it. It can easily become one of your favorite things to do and something you look forward to!
There is so much value in these 3 self-care tips everyone needs to know! Listen to the full podcast episode here to get the full experience with Tiffany and her thoughts on mental health and therapy. There’s so much we didn’t cover on the post, so take a listen!
To keep getting all the best tips from Tiffany, you can follow her on Instagram @heytiffanyroe. You can look at all of the amazing things she offers here. (You can also get to it by clicking the link in her IG bio.) And don’t forget to follow me @cakebycourtney if you don’t already!