Being kind to yourself when you’re sick

How to take care of yourself like you take care of others.

How do you take care of yourself when you’re sick?

Being sick isn’t fun. Even if it’s “just” a cold (which still makes you feel terrible!).

If you’re anything like us, you’re probably quite good at telling other people they should rest up and take care of themselves when they’re sick, but you may find it harder to take your own advice. 

Self-care when you’re sick is just as important as self-care at other times (if not more so). Pausing to actually take care of yourself can also sometimes mean the difference between getting your sickness over and done with versus feeling under the weather for weeks on end.

Here are some questions to get you started with thinking about how you could take care better care of yourself when you’re unwell:

• How do you treat yourself when you’re sick? 

• Do you let yourself rest?

• Do you let yourself take medication that could help? 

• Do you give yourself a break or do you push through? 

• Do you ask for help?

•  Do you reduce the pressure and expectations on yourself, where possible? 

Extra self-care tips for when you’re sick

• Rest. This sounds so obvious, but it’s actually really hard sometimes. If it feels hard, start small - go to bed a bit earlier, get up a little later if you can skip or streamline part of your morning routine, work from home if you can, sit down more, do less exercise…any little thing you can to give your body some more time to rest and restore. And if you need the day (or longer) off - take it!

• Be kind to yourself about your cranky/flat/sad mood and unhelpful/negative thoughts. It’s really hard to feel happy and think helpful or positive thoughts when you’re feeling unwell. Remind yourself that this will pass - when you feel physically better, there’s a very good chance that your mood and thoughts will improve by themselves. 

• Remove things from your plate and do less where you can. Allow yourself to do the bare minimum, or delay doing things that can wait until you feel better where possible. Ask yourself, “How can I make today easier for myself?”

• Ask for help. This can be a tricky one sometimes too. But people who love you often want to help you - let them. 

• Ask yourself what you’d say to a friend who was feeling sick. What kind words or advice would you give them? It’s highly unlikely you’d say “Stop feeling sorry for yourself and keep going/working!”. Try offering yourself the same compassion you’d give to someone you cared about. 

We’ve both been making a conscious effort in recent times to practise treating ourselves with kindness when we are sick and we believe it’s a powerful form of self-care. 

The next time you feel under the weather, we encourage you to give yourself the same kindness you would give to a child, your best friend or someone else you care about when they are sick. 

Taking care of yourself when you’re sick can go a long way as an act of self-love.