On this page, we talk about caring for yourself.

On this page:

• Why it is important to care for yourself
• Why it can be hard to care for yourself
• How you can start to care for yourself
• Example story

Caring for yourself is an important part of being:

• healthy
• happy.

When you care for yourself, it can be easier to:

• face challenges in your life
• care for other people
• have good relationships.

  Your relationship with someone is how you are connected to them.

Caring for yourself can also:

• give you more energy to do things
• help you enjoy your life.

Sometimes you might find it hard to care for yourself.

You might think that caring for yourself means you do not care about other people.

Or you might feel that you do not have enough:

• money
• time.

If you live with disability, you might feel that you cannot care for yourself the way you would like.

You might not think there are any good reasons why you should care for yourself.

You might not know how you can care for yourself.

But when you care for yourself, you are helping everyone.

No one can control what happens in life.

But caring for yourself can help you:

• deal with hard experiences
• enjoy yourself when life is good.

It might feel strange to start caring for yourself if:

• you have never done it before
• it has been a long time since you have.

Caring for yourself does not need to:

• cost a lot of money
• take a lot of time.

The most important thing to remember is that you should care for yourself like you would care for someone who needs your support.

For example, the way you would care for a friend.

You can start small.

You can use 5 minutes of your day to do something you enjoy.

For example, you might sit down and have a cup of tea.

You can take part in a new or old hobby.

For example, you might:

• read or listen to a book
• listen to music
• go for a walk or exercise.

You can pay for something that makes you feel good, like a haircut.

You can write or draw in a journal to explore your thoughts and feelings.

For example, you might write or draw about:

• what is important to you
• what you are thankful for
• what boundaries you want to set.

  Boundaries are rules we set for:

  • ourselves
  • how we want other people to treat us.

You can focus on your body and think about what you need.

For example, you might take a nap because your body says you are tired.

You can pray or take part in your beliefs.

You can use services to help you improve your life.

For example, you could look for equipment that can support you in your home.

There are a lot of different things you might do to care for yourself.

You should do the things that support you the best.

We wrote a story to show an example of someone caring for themselves

The story we wrote is about a person called Fatima.

The story and the people in it are not real.

We made them up to explain someone caring for themselves.

Fatima has a disability.

Fatima’s husband is her carer and caring for Fatima keeps him very busy.

Fatima is thankful for his help.

But she feels she cannot ask him for other things that she wants.

For example, getting a haircut more often.

But Fatima worries that she does not always look the way she would like.

One day Fatima decides to ask her husband if she can get a haircut.

Fatima and her husband find a hairdresser who can give Fatima a haircut at home.

Fatima now feels happier and more confident when she sees friends.