Self Care Tips

No bubble baths, no gratitude journals—just real strategies for surviving your hardest days.

Self-care is not always pretty. It’s not always relaxing. And it’s definitely not always Instagrammable.

For people living with SZA, self-care might mean brushing your teeth after a week of forgetting. It might mean drinking a glass of water, or canceling a plan, or asking someone to text you in the morning just to remind you you exist.

This chapter is about self-care that actually works when your brain is fighting you.

🔹 What Self-Care Isn’t

• A fix for your disorder

• A replacement for treatment

• A luxury you have to “earn”

• A trend or aesthetic

• Always pleasant or easy

🔹 What It Can Be

• Doing the one thing you’ve been avoiding

• Asking for help, even when it feels gross

• Making a sandwich even though you’re not hungry

• Taking your meds, even though you hate them

• Saying “no” to plans you know will wreck you

• Saying “yes” to something that makes you feel real

🔹 Real Self-Care Ideas (Pick What Resonates)

🌧 On crisis days:

• Sit in the shower, even if you can’t stand

• Hold ice cubes or use a cold compress to ground yourself

• Listen to a song on repeat until you feel like you exist

• Text a peer support line or warmline

• Lie down with a blanket over your head

• Take your meds and go back to bed if that’s all you can do

🕯 On low-energy days:

• Drink water from a cup you like

• Wash your face with a warm cloth

• Change your socks

• Heat something up, even if it’s just a tortilla

• Let light into your space—open a curtain, plug in fairy lights

📱 On lonely days:

• Lurk in an online group

• Text someone “I don’t want to talk, but I want connection”

• Watch a livestream or old show you’ve seen before

• Listen to people talking (podcast, voice notes, etc.)

• Pet your animal or water your plant

🛠 On days you’re trying:

• Make a list of one thing to do in the morning, one in the afternoon

• Set a timer and clean one surface

• Eat protein (a boiled egg, peanut butter, leftover meat)

• Plan a reward for doing something hard

• Set up your space the night before to make the next day easier

🔹 What If You Can’t?

Sometimes self-care is just waiting it out. Sometimes it’s not hurting yourself, not making it worse, not disappearing.

That still counts.