It’s easy to quit your mental self-care during a crisis, but it’s vitally important to continue. Today’s podcast has seven hacks to help you take care of yourself during difficult times.

“The good news,” the surgeon said, “is we decided before surgery to take the nerves and get wide margins. The bad news? You have a very aggressive form of prostate cancer.”

“It’s only been two years since I had my PSA levels checked,” Pedro said.

“Yeah. I thought prostate cancer was one of those slow-growing-we-can-wait-years-before-we-decide-what-to-do cancers!”

“I don’t do things normally,” Pedro joked.

What made you decide to go to the doctor,” I asked Pedro.

“I hadn’t been in two years, and I just felt impressed to make an appointment.”

“I’m glad you listened to the Holy Spirit,” the surgeon said.

Although this second round of cancer seems so different from the first time, it still qualifies as a crisis. I learned from the first go-round twenty years ago the importance of self-care during a crisis, so I determined to do things differently. It probably helps that I’ve studied, written about, and practiced healthy self-care for the past six years.

I learned the hard way what happens when I forgo self-care during a crisis. Most people don’t know how to care for themselves during normal times. Sure, we might exercise a time or two each week and schedule our yearly doctor’s appointments, but we rarely schedule intentional time for our mental, academic, physical, and spiritual self-care.

Whether you consider yourself a pro at self-care or have never heard the term before, the following tips will help you continue or start self-care during a crisis. You may already do some of them. If so, I’d love to hear from you!

Tips on starting a journal for mental self-care.

SAMHSA Disaster Distress Hotline: 24/7 national hotline dedicated to natural or human-caused disasters. Call 1-800-985-5990 or text TalkWithUs at 66746.

Mental Health America has tips for helping you identify common reactions to crises and how to cope with them.

NAMI also has wonderful resources, especially for family members whose loved one is dealing with a mental health crisis.

Join me next week when we explore academic and artistic self-care during a crisis.

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