Things that help: Making your own self-care menu
Mental wellness is for everyone. I would like to live in a world where everyone has access to the support they need. Therefore, I will be contributing a series of pieces that highlight some of the various options available for improving mental wellness. The first in our series will focus on a Self-Care Menu. Psychotherapy is a private space, but the tools and information of wellness belong to all. While this article is not a replacement for therapy, I hope that these tools will help to boost and maintain your mental wellness.
What is a Self-Care Menu?
The intention of making a self-care menu is for you to know you have a usable tool to consult when you need support. You might make your self-care menu in order to use it right away or have around to use in the future.
Let’s start with definitions:
Self-care: “the process of establishing behaviors to ensure holistic well-being of oneself, to promote health, and actively manage illness when it occurs.”1
Menu: “In a restaurant, the menu is a list of food and beverages offered to customers and the prices. A menu may be à la carte – which presents a list of options from which customers choose.”2
So a self-care menu is a list of your established behavior options that you offer to yourself for active management and promotion of your well-being and your health.
How To Make a Self-Care Menu?
Pull up a blank document, pull out a piece of paper and pen, open your journal app, or create a new audio recording- however you gather your thoughts in a central place, please do.
Write down or otherwise record a list of everything you have ever done to help yourself feel better. You can include ‘good’ and ‘bad’ things, things you don’t do anymore, things you wish you did more, things you wish you didn’t need to do, things you did as a kid or in school or you tried once. Anything that has ever helped you feel emotionally/mentally/physically better.
Review what you listed, identify which things you would like to use in your self-care menu, and remove the things that you do not want to use or do. You can sort, categorize, or leave the list as it is. You might also review how you are feeling emotionally and mentally after doing this process.
How to Use a Self-Care Menu?
Now that you have a self-care menu, you can use it! This is probably the most important part, remembering at any time, in a difficult moment or when in strong emotions, for example, that you can choose to use your menu.
You can choose anything on your menu, in any order, in any amount. You might think about it before taking action, or take action right away. There’s no wrong way to use your menu, and you can update it as you use it to add or remove more things.
You may keep your menu private or share it with others who can support you in your self-care. Some people keep their menu on their person or post it in their living space. The menu can also be adapted into a crisis plan with your mental health professional or peer support.
Self-Care Menu Example
Below is a self-care menu example, it is in list form in the order that I wrote it down. After writing it, I numbered the list and switched to a font that I find makes it easy to read.
Keep a lookout for the next in my series, "Things That Help: Learning Box Breathing."
This article was written by Sarah Peace LPCC LMHC, a clinician who works with trans and queer folx around self-care and mental wellness. For more information or to schedule a complimentary consultation with them, please click here.