Self-care is such a hard concept to understand, and I don’t think anyone ever takes the time to explain what it means.
Self-care isn’t just saying “love yourself” and you are done. In reality, it’s all the little actions you take day to day to take care of yourself.
Your needs depend on you are a person, but many things fall under self-care.
- Exercise
- Hygiene
- Comforting pain
- Sensory comfort
- and so much more!
But when you are autistic, it can be hard to sense these things. How are you supposed to know brushing your head reduces itchiness if you don’t even know what the buzzing on your skull means?
By manually practicing these skills, we can slowly but surely become more used to doing self-care activities and start to gain experience in how our body feels after doing these actions.
Self-Care Game
I made a self-care game! I have two versions, the first is without visual aids or support. It gives examples, but purposely uses broad categories to encourage customization.
Self-Care Game with no visual support
Notice in this version you have the 6 categories:
- Comfort: physical comfort through texture or pressure
- Move: physical movement
- Refuel: drinking or eating different tastes to both nourish the body and engage your sense of taste
- Joy: different hobbies that are known to produce positive engagement
- Refresh: hygiene focused tasks or cleaning your space around you
There are examples provided, but it’s more of a guide. Use the tools you have around you and think of your preferences and use the examples provided as a starting point.
Visual Support Version
For those of us who need more visual support or more guidance, I made a visual board version of the game.
There is a total of 7 pages.
The first page has the instructions, and the following pages will have communication board options that you can choose from.
They follow similar categories to the previous version, but I tried to consider options where you can keep all the materials in a container.
For this version, I also am including a template link, so you can include pictures/words that best fit your situation.
Conclusion
The goal of both versions is to practice self-care. Any time you feel like your body needs comfort, but you aren’t sure what to do, bring out this game and practice!
Our bodies are different, so it’s important to treat them like they are different. It is not our fault that sensory issues and other parts of our disorder directly impact our ability to sense what our body needs.
But through kindness and fun, we can make learning more about ourselves a little easier.
Happy learning everyone!
