When it comes to living with bipolar disorder, prioritizing your self-care is key in managing symptoms and balancing moods.
One thing I know about my bipolar disorder is that it usually has me going a million miles an hour — and that’s not even when I’m manic. I tend to approach things with a lot of intensity, and that can sometimes be an issue.
For instance, while it’s a blessing to have a job I enjoy, whenever I work a lot, I have to be careful about overextending myself. For a while, I had six-day work weeks for about a month. But, as you can imagine, it all came to a head and led to burnout. I crashed.
It was so bad, I had to take two days off work just to recuperate. Some of this time was simply spent practicing self-care — sleeping and getting the much-needed rest I required. I also had lunch with my coach, who provided me with valuable advice on how to manage my time more effectively.
RELATED: 6 Simple Strategies to Reduce Stress and Balance Mood
The amusing aspect of all this is that I work as a mental health educator, and I’m always emphasizing the importance of self-care and balance. Well, I guess I need to follow my own advice.
5 Ways to Practice Self-Care
There are so many ways to slow down while living with bipolar disorder and implement the self-care we all need. In fact, let me count the ways:
- Meditate: I began doing this daily for 15 minutes each evening. Around a month in, I began to see results, not only mentally and emotionally, but spiritually, too. According to the Mayo Clinic, meditation has several health benefits. It can help reduce conditions such as anxiety, depression, irritable bowel syndrome, high blood pressure, heart disease, tension headaches, and sleep issues. Mindfulness meditation is all the rage these days, but take it from me, it works (see more below).
- Take a walk: I have a great dog named Sophie. The thing about Sophie is that she is part beagle and loves to sniff everything. So when I’m walking her, she forces me to slow down so she can explore. Whether you have a dog or not, taking a walk and breathing fresh air can do wonders for your soul and is an easy way to practice self-care.
- Breathe: And speaking of breathing, being aware of how you breathe is important, too, according to Cleveland Clinic. Most people are “shallow” breathers. However, by fully breathing and filling your diaphragm — or belly breathing, as it’s often referred to — it’s possible to slow down your respiration rate, which ties into the concept of mindfulness. By focusing on breathing and concentrating on a phrase or word (a mantra), such as “peace,” it is actually possible to diminish racing thoughts that can keep you perpetually wound up.
- Relax: This may seem like a no-brainer, but some people struggle with simply relaxing. This is probably the easiest form of self-care, and there are many ways to relax. (No, they don’t all involve sitting in front of the TV and binge-watching episodes of your favorite show.) Reading, crocheting, painting, crossword puzzles, or anything that serves as a “healthy” distraction can all be beneficial self-care activities when it comes to establishing downtime.
- Take a work break: Even when you’re at work, be sure to take any available break time. At certain jobs, the work environment may be more structured, such as in a manufacturing company or a position with regulated breaks. However, at others, you may have the flexibility to adjust the breaks you take. The bottom line is, we are not robots, and we need to be able to be at our best to do the work asked of us.
So, these are just a few suggestions you may want to consider. Ultimately, it’s beneficial to discover which self-care practices work best for you. There are certainly other ways that I didn’t list. The important thing is that they have healthy coping skills and not unhealthy coping mechanisms (yes, there is a difference).
Wishing you a balanced journey ahead.
Editorial Sources and Fact-Checking
- Meditation: A Simple, Fast Way to Reduce Stress. Mayo Clinic. December 14, 2023.
- Diaphragmatic Breathing. Cleveland Clinic. March 30, 2022.
UPDATED: Originally posted June 1, 2019
