By DR. MELANIE CABRERA
Self-care activities are things you do to maintain good health and improve well-being. You’ll find that many of these activities are things you already do as part of your normal routine.
In this assessment, you will think about how frequently, or how well you are performing different self-care activities. The goal of this assessment is to help you learn about your needs by spotting patterns and recognizing areas of your life that need more attention.
There are no right or wrong answers on this assessment! There may be activities you are simply not interesting in or there may be activities you enjoy that are not listed here.
Ratings Scale
I do this poorly / I do this rarely or not at all
2. I do this OK / I do this sometimes
3. I do this well / I do this often
4. I would like to improve at this / I would like to do this more frequently
- Eat healthy foods
- Take care of personal hygiene
- Exercise
- Wear clothes that help me feed good about myself
- Eat regularly
- Participate in fun activities (ex. walking, swimming, dancing, sports)
- Get enough sleep
- Go to preventative medical appointments (ex. checkups, teeth cleanings, etc)
- Rest when sick
- Overall physical self care
- Take time off from work, school, and other obligations
- Participate in hobbies
- Get away from distractions (ex. phone, email, etc)
- Learn new things, unrelated to work or school
- Express your feelings in a healthy way (ex. talking, creating art, journaling, etc)
- Recognize your own strengths and achievements
- Go on vacations or day trips (long car rides/getting “lost” in your own backyard counts)
- Do something comforting (ex. rewatching a favorite movies, long baths, etc)
- Find reasons to laugh
- Talk about your problems with a trusted friend or therapist
- Overall psychological and emotional self-care
- Spend time with people you like
- Call or write to friends and family who are far away
- Have stimulating conversations
- Meet new people
- Ask others for help, when needed
- Do enjoyable activities with other people
- Keep in touch with old friends
- Keep in contact with other PROSOCIAL trauma/narcissistic abuse survivors
- Overall social self-care
- Spend time in nature
- Meditate
- Pray
- Recognize the things that give meaning to your life
- Act in accordance with your morals and values
- Set aside time for thought and reflection
- Participate in a cause that is important to you
- Appreciate art that is impactful to you (ex. music, film, literature)
- Overall spiritual self-care
- Improve your professional skills
- Say “no” to excessive new responsibilities
- Take on projects that are interesting and rewarding
- Learn new things that are related to your profession
- Make time to talk and build relationships with colleagues
- Take breaks during work
- Maintain balance between your professional and personal life
- Keep a comfortable workspace that allows you to be successful
- Advocate for fair pay, benefits and other needs
- Overall professional self-care
How did you do? Most of of just coming out of a narcissistic abuse relationship have particular difficulties in the first four categories, if not all five. After all, the narcissist’s goal was to derail and dismantle us of those things he or she could not master.