 Welcome to The Anxious Morning, where each weekday morning we take a look at ideas, concepts, and lessons designed to help you understand and overcome your anxiety. For more information, visit us at theanxiousmorning.com. Let's wrap up our little self-care mini-series by looking at some examples of what self-care might look like in recovery. Some will be obvious, some might be surprising to you. I can't give you step-by-step instructions on every way you can rest, recharge, and take care of yourself, but I can at least give you a list to get started with. Now caveat, I am hardly a master of self-care. I can own my shortcomings and one of them is sometimes skimping on this in my own life. I have no elaborate or well-developed self-care rituals, but I'm not really sure that self-care has to be all that elaborate anyway. Regardless, I urge you to seek other sources that might have better insight than I do on this topic. Just don't let the gurus of self-care accidentally drive you into that justified avoidance we talked about yesterday. Physical self-care. The most obvious forms of self-care are physical. Our bodies get tired, sick, or injured sometimes. We have to take care of them and give them opportunities to rest, recharge, and oh my God, I'm going to say the word heal. Physical self-care doesn't automatically mean soaking in a tub surrounded by candles. I mean it might, but physical self-care can also look like eating a proper meal rather than a jelly sandwich over the sink. It might mean taking a 15-minute break to just walk the dog around the block. Physical self-care can be practicing some light stretching or progressive muscle relaxation every morning. Showering and getting dressed is self-care. On some days, just getting out of bed is self-care. Wearing comfortable clothing can also be a form of self-care. Are you getting the picture here? Mental self-care. This one is a bit trickier. For anxious people desperate for recovery, thinking and solving can become a full-time job that occupies almost every waking moment. This can result in mental and cognitive fatigue. You have to give your brain a rest when you can. So mental self-care can be turning out the lights, putting your phone down and just listening to your favorite music. Reading things you love, not just anxiety books and articles, is mental self-care. Learning something new just for the fun of it is mental self-care. So is doing a crossword puzzle, drawing or writing a poem or short story. Your brain deserves to disengage from problem solving to have some downtime and fun time. That's mental self-care. Emotional self-care. This is probably the most amorphous kind of self-care. Emotional self-care might include talking to a friend you haven't spoken to in a while, or in some cases disengaging from friends and family for a day or two because you just need a break and some quiet time. This can be especially true during stressful times or situations full of strife, conflict or drama. Emotional self-care can be sitting quietly with your dog and telling her what's on your mind. Another form of emotional self-care might be taking time to tend to an intimate relationship because you value that connection and it nourishes your heart and soul. Emotional self-care might be drawing boundaries for yourself that protect you from emotionally taxing or draining people or situations. Journaling can be a form of emotional self-care. Reminiscing and remembering are a form of emotional self-care when you have happy or comforting memories and experiences to fall back on. Emotional self-care can be nuanced and subtle, but in many ways, while it might be the hardest form of self-care to define in practice, it also might be the most impactful. And we can only scratch the surface of this topic in a morning newsletter. Just keep in mind that the recovery process can be demanding and stressful, and so can life in general. Self-care, used wisely and in the context of self-honesty, is a valuable tool that can help you along the path while also supporting your well-being in general. That's not bad. That's not bad at all. What are some of your preferred self-care strategies? If you're enjoying The Anxious Morning and you'd like to get a copy of the podcast delivered into your email inbox every morning, visit theanxiousmorning.email and subscribe to the newsletter. If you're listening on Apple or iTunes, take a second and leave a five-star rating. Maybe write a small review. It really helps me out. And finally, if you find my work useful and you'd like to help keep it free of advertising and sponsorships, you can see all the ways to support the work at theanxioustruth.com. Thanks so much.