How To Create Emergency Self-Care Kit (For Mental Health)

There are days when you experience unpleasant emotions. Learn how to create an emergency self-care kit to rejuvenate your mental health and boost emotions.

Learn how to create an emergency self-care for your mental health. Having a self-care kit for your mental health is very important.

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There will be those times when you will experience stressful or rough days.
Days when unpleasant emotions will creep up on you.

These unpleasant emotions will make you feel down, demotivate you and may even cause you to spiral.

The question is, if you have one of those days, what do you do about it?

Do you do something to make yourself feel better?

Or

Do nothing about it in the hopes that you will snap out of it soon. But what if it takes longer to get back to your happier mood?

Before I came across self-care and it’s surprisingly many benefits, whenever I had one of those rough days and was in a low mood, it could take me days to come out of it.

Sometimes I could indulge myself in some emotional eating just to make myself feel better, which of course wasn’t healthy. But for the most part, I will basically sit and mop and do nothing about it.

When I finally stumbled on self-care, it has been a lot quicker to turn around a bad day. Thou not instantly but it is much better than doing nothing about it. Rather than sitting and doing nothing about it, I could do one self-care activity to lift up my mood.

After reading a lot about self-care, I came across the idea of having an emergency self-care kit for those bad days.

We will look at what a self-care kit is all about, the importance of having one and how you can go about creating one for yourself.

 Check out this 110-page Self-Care Planner to help you make yourself a priority and focus on the things that make you happy.

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What Is A Self-Care Kit?

Self-care is making that conscious decision to look after your physical, emotional, and mental health.

A self-care kit is a collection of your favorite items that make you feel good and boost your emotions. They come in handy for when you are having a bad or rough day and in a low mood.

As a busy mom, from working full time to looking after a toddler, home, and blogging, those stressful days tend to come up every now and then, and it usually demotivates me.

As I mentioned earlier, when I have one of those bad days, it can take days for me to come out of it. As much as I will like to practice self-care often, with a busy schedule it can be difficult to practice self-care.

On some days, I completely forget about it. I needed a way to remind myself about practicing self-care, especially during those bad days.

After researching what I could do on those stressful and rough days with my unpleasant emotions, I stumbled upon the idea of having a self-care kit. A kit I could tend to during those difficult times.

So, I thought Its time I create one for myself. I want to share with you how you can go about creating one for yourself as well.

Related article: Self-Care Ideas For Moms – 12 Best Activities For Stressed Moms

Why Do You Need A Self-Care Kit?

Emotional Band-Aid

When you have a cut or a wound, you ATTEND to it and apply a bandaid to it so that it can heal faster. That should also apply to when you have an emotional injury. You attend to it and use a bandaid to it so you can recover quickly to a more happier mood.

When you are in a low mood, don’t sit and do nothing about it. Attend to your emotional needs. A self-care kit is an emotional band-aid you use when you are having a rough day, stressful day, or generally in a low mood.

A #selfcare kit is an emotional band-aid you use when you are having a rough day, stressful day, or generally in a low mood. Click To Tweet

Mental Health

While you may look after your physical health, one other aspect we often neglect is our mental health wellbeing. When you practice self-care, you also take care of your mental health.

It will put you in a happier mood, help you to sleep better, and can also help you to manage your anxiety and stressful thoughts. One way to remind yourself to look after your mental health is by having a self-care box.

Boost Your Emotions

As I mentioned earlier, this kit contains your favorite item. Something that makes you happy when you touch it or just looking at it puts you in a happy mood. Your self-care kit should be your go-to place in those times when you need to boost your emotions.

Reminder

There are a lot of self-care activities you can practice at home, but when you have a busy schedule, practicing self-care may be the last thought on your mind, or you may forget about it.

Having a kit where you can see will remind you to practice self-care.

Getting Started With DIY Mental Health Self-Care Kit

Before you begin the process of picking out items for your kit, there are two things you need
to take into consideration;

How To Store The Items

You will need to have all the elements for your care package stored together. Look for an organizer, storage basket, or probably an old shoebox to keep them together.

If you feel you want to make your box look pretty by decorating, go ahead. You can make it look like a gift basket with some white cloth and ribbon if you want. This is your feel-good kit, so make it look pretty.

Where To Store The Box

Sometimes, out of sight can be out of mind. When you are busy, the idea of practicing self-care may not be something you are thinking about. So, you want to keep your box somewhere that is visible to you.

This kit is a visual reminder that you need to take some time and look after your wellbeing. Keep it someplace visible and accessible. It is your sanctuary not to be tampered with by anyone else. It could be for emergencies only, or you can use it for your daily use.

Things To Put In Your Self-Care Kit

Deciding what to put in your self-care box will be based on what you like. This is something that will be personal to you. However, you can pick out items for your care package based on the following areas;

• Smell
• Touch
• Sight
• Spirit
• Taste
• Sound
• Activities

Smell

Smell affects your mind and body thereby having an impact on your emotions and stress levels. According to this research, having a pleasant smell can improve your mood and sense of wellbeing.

Items you could use for a great smell;

Lavender essential oil aromatherapy is beneficial for stress relief. Lavender Essential Oil is known to have calming properties and soothing effect, which can help control your emotions, and it is also great for better sleep.

Lavender scented candles for home are also great for boosting mood and emotions.

Touch

Look for an object that is sentimental to you. An object that when you hold, you can time-travel back to when you first had it to bring back those happy emotions you felt.

It could be a gift from a loved one or something you got for yourself like stuffed animals, stress objects, or this amazing silk eye pillow filled with lavender and flax seed.

 Sight

There are some things that when you look at it, it makes you happy. Look for such items and include them in your kit. Remember having a self-care kit is collecting those things that will elevate your emotions. These could include; Photos of loved ones, Postcards, or Sentimental notes.

Sound

Sound like music can evoke powerful emotions. The Telegraph says Psychologist has found that listening to music light up the whole area of the brain associated with a complex range of emotions.

“Music just allows you to open up and release the emotions you were already feeling”

~ Adam Sankowski

Go ahead and make a playlist of your favorite music that brings you to your happy place.

Another great sound to include in your kit is a Guided Meditation, which is great for those rough days and for better sleep.

Taste

Ever found yourself reaching out for food when in a low mood to make yourself feel good? The reason you turn to food for comfort is that food can lift your mood. However, you want to make a healthy choice.

You can read more about taste and emotions here.

Spirit

Whenever I read a motivational quote that resonates with me, I feel reassured, and it gets me moving. Motivational quotes are great for uplifting your mood.
Write out your favorite motivational quotes for those tough days.

Activities

Activities are a great way to take your mind of things. They keep you occupy and away from anxiety and stressful thoughts. Activities you could do include;

• read your favorite self-development book
• write in your stress journal
• start doodling
• use adult coloring book

Related – 130 Page Self-Care Planner for better self-care 

Planner pages included:

• Binder cover 
• Monthly cover 
• You matter wall art 
• Binder spines 
• Self-care assessment 
• Self-care yearly planner 
• Self-care monthly planner 
• Self-care weekly planner 
• Self-care daily planner 
• Notes 
• Water tracker 
• Yearly habit tracker 
• Monthly habit tracker 
• Weekly habit tracker 
• Mood tracker 
• Yearly self-care tracker 
• Monthly self-care tracker 
• Weekly self-care tracker 
• 30 days of self-love challenge
• Self-care is a choice  coloring page 
• I am enough coloring page 
• Keep going coloring page 
• Nourish your soul coloring page 
• You got this coloring page 
• Cute flower sticker 
• Hydrate sticker 
• Motivational quote sticker 
• Planner page sticker 

How to create emergency #selfcare kit for #mental #health. Click To Tweet

Things To Remember

1. Don’t fill your kit with many too many items. Pick just a few.
2. You don’t need to use all the things at once when you are in a low mood. You can alternate the items and use different items on different days.
3. Take your time and carefully select those items. If you pick up an item and It does not make you feel good, put it away and look for something else.

So that is how you can go about picking items for your self-care box. You don’t need to have elements from each area. You may decide to go for just two or three areas.

You now know what type of item you can include in your kit, go ahead and put your emergency self-care kit for your mental health. Get your emotional band-aid ready for those emergencies.

What items are you going to include in your emergency self-care kit? Please let me know in the comment section below.

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