BY CHANTALLE ANNE GUDDARAN
Make happiness a priority, and be gentle with yourself in the process.
Our mental health is just as important as our physical health. To maintain our mental health, self-care is essential. Self-care can come in different forms-- exercising, having a self-care routine or treating yourself to food—as each of us has different ways of taking care of ourselves. If you are unsure how to start or what kind of self-care fits your needs, here are some examples.
But first,
How to Start a Self-Care Routine
For some, starting is always the most challenging part. Starting a self-care routine might be difficult, but once you start, it gets easier as the days go by. Again, the important thing is consistency. There may be days when you don’t feel like doing anything, which is okay. You can do your routine the next day and keep going.
Brain Exercises
These exercises may not work your body out, but they are just as important because they are meant to stimulate the areas of the brain responsible for learning. There are many strategies you can use, but here are some exercises to start you out:
Syllable Identification- count how many syllables a word has.
Missing Syllables- separate the syllables of a word, then take one syllable out. Then, ask yourself what is left of the word without that syllable.
Syllable Substitution- replace one syllable from a word and replace it with a syllable from another.
Memory Games- take five pairs of matching cards and shuffle them around. Put all of them face down. You can only slip two cards at each turn. The objective of the game is to try and find each pair.
Pictionary- have someone draw a picture and try and guess the word attached to the image.
People with dyslexia are not only limited to brain exercises. There are some physical exercises someone with dyslexia can do. For example:
Opposite hand exercises- use your non-dominant hand to do different tasks.
It is recommended to start training your brain for 10 minutes a day. But if you are comfortable, try increasing your exercise minutes and how many activities you do.
For starters, this is what your starting exercise routine can look like:
Exercise | Repetition |
Syllable Identification | 6 words—(try: couch, soda, ketchup, plastic, mayonnaise, badminton, identify) |
Syllable Substitution | 5 words—(try: ferret, drinking, table, chemistry, biology) |
Memory Games | 1 game |
Your Planned Routine
Putting these all together, your morning routine might look a little bit like this:
6:45am—wake up
7:00am—meditate for 15 minutes
7:15am—journal (you can write about what you hope to accomplish today or what you dreamt of)
7:30am—brain exercises for 10 minutes (don’t know what exercises to do? try the exercise set above!)
7:40am—shower
8:00am—brush your hair, apply skincare products, and get dressed
8:30am—breakfast
9:00am—physical exercises for 30 minutes (as a challenge, try exercises that require you to use your non-dominant hand too, like lifting dumbbells with both hands)
9:30am—you are ready to start your day!
Remember that everyone’s self-care routine can look different. It is important to do the things you are comfortable with and that you enjoy because that is how you keep going and have fun with it.
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