Self Care
The 2021 Circulation Forum Workgroup thanks you for checking out our resources on self-care. COVID-19 has been stressful and exhausting for many people. We hope you find these beneficial and easy to implement. If you have any resources you’d like to add to the list, please email [email protected]. Please share a testimonial at the bottom of the page as a comment of a resource you found helpful or not as helpful. Together, we will get through this.
Thank you,
Circ Forum Self-Care Subcommittee: Tricia Andrews (PSA), Brandon Beckham (AL), Crystal Easley (DC), Tracy Mabry (BE), Brittani Mulkey (BI)
EduBrite Courses
Sign into EduBrite then click on the link
- Well-Being in the Workplace
- Mindful Stress Management
- Ryan Dowd on Burnout and Stress
- The Courage of Self Compassion
- Mindful Meditation for Work and Life
- DIY Relief: Massage Self-Care
MLS Resources
- Wellness Connect (especially Wellness Coaching)
- Employee Assistance Program
Online Library Programs
@ Work
- Dry erase board to engage staff with questions, quotes
- MS Teams Games (2 truths and a lie, share animal pictures)
- Kudos board at your library
- Gratitude board at your library
- Yoga/mindfulness breaks
- Fight eye strain – adjust your screen for less blue light/or blue light glasses
- Be mindful of your body – know when to take a break, check your posture
- Journaling break
- Keep some healthy snacks on hand
- Know when to ask for help with a customer interaction or project
- Acknowledge your own accomplishments – reflect on things you’re proud of throughout the day/week/month
- Laugh!
@ Home
- Playlist of positive music (this could be on breaks at work too)
- Watch trashy tv
- Find someone to vent to, even if it’s just your car vents
- Watch comfort TV/Movies and/or reread favorite books
- Journaling
- Laugh!
Social Media Favorites
- @Postivelypresent on Instagram
- @Daylightillustrations on Instagram
- @cats_of_instagram on Instagram
- @doggys.planet on Instagram
Websites
- https://www.poets.org/poem-a-day
- https://www.calm.com/breathe
- https://www.positivityblog.com/
- https://www.developgoodhabits.com/
- http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/
- https://liveboldandbloom.com/
- https://snacknation.com/blog/office-exercises/
- https://www.tinypulse.com/blog/sk-desk-exercises
- https://www.psychologytoday.com/us
Get Creative
- Positively Present Bookmarks to Color
- Positively Present Quarantine Coloring Pages
- Eric Carle Very Hungry Caterpillar Coloring Page
- Bookish Madlibs
- NYPL Free Downloadable Activities
- Sudoku Puzzles
You Know You
- Ask for Help/Know your limitations
- Create a support group (even outside your branch/department)
- Log in to post comments
Comments
Shout out to everyone involved in curating these resources. I now have a few new things to try, and humbly offer an additional resource:
https://ggia.berkeley.edu/
Again, great work Circ Forum!
I have found guided meditations from Headspace incredibly useful! It is the first time I've been able to get into meditating. They have a wide range of lengths, subjects, and skill levels. You can find some free ones on their YouTube page, or a limited selection on their app for free.
Link to their YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/c/headspace/search?query=meditation
I recommend going to the public catalog and looking at everything we've tagged with ssc2021. There is some really good stuff in there on a wide variety of self-care topics.
Someone placed the tag on an ice cream cookbook, of all things. I checked the book out today and it's great. I can feel my stress just melting away already. The recipes look delicious and they're all the easy kind that don't require an egg base. I now have big self-care plans for this weekend that involve my ice cream machine. Thanks for the inspiration, anonymous colleague!
I find the easiest thing to do in the evenings is to just collapse on the recliner and watch the same episode of The Office for the 48th time, all while scrolling through social media and indulging in some ice cream. although I might be slightly more rested and decompressed it is nothing compared to the benefit of an evening walk with my wife, dog, and a bottle of water for an hour or so catching up on one another's day. And the only reason I take my phone is to track my steps! Best cathartic end to my day!
........Okay I still may have ice cream once I get home
I love the activities in the "Get Creative" section. I haven't done a sudoku puzzle in a couple of years and forgot how much I enjoy them. It is so nice to do a puzzle or two during a break to just relax and focus my attention on something completely different. It is a nice mental break in the middle of the day.
Loving these activities. Going for the blackout. I did the "drink only water for a day", it did NOT feel like self care. I usually only have one cup of coffee a day and usually only water. But for some reason, on that day all I could think about was everything else I wanted to drink. I so badly wanted to make tea, it felt like depravation not self care.
Ya'll these coloring sheets have been the best! I kept one at my desk and every time I just needed a moment, I took a colored pencil and added to it for a few minutes. My favorite is the Grow Through it Bookmarks. <3
These activities have been great! I particularly appreciated "Stretch at the desk/computer" since I spend most of my day at the computer. I found a series of stretches online and it felt really good to move around. Also, the "tell a joke" square set off a series of really corny jokes in my department, so that was fun for everybody.
Self-care through bingo! Love it. It works for me!
Liking the self-care page. A variety of good stuff and good information.
Hey Team MLS! Well, I tried a Coaching Session so that I could work on the blackout for bingo and it was great! I was skeptical (I mean, 20 minutes of coaching...really?) but, it was very helpful and very informative. I learned some new things about eating carbs and ways to fit exercise into your routine.
Great experience! I plan to schedule a follow up session in September.
I just finished my first session! I was skeptical too. But it was nice. We talked about the Pomodoro technique, and brain dumping, and about ten other ways to help with stress management. I didn't even realize we had this resource available to us.
Turns out self-care is pretty cool!
This training was great! It was little snippets from other trainings compiled into one short training. The instructors were so knowledgeable, I took some of the full courses the snippets were taken from.
Thank you for putting this together!
Hi,
Just curious-would it be possible to put a link to this page under Resources - Self-Care on the Intranet? It would make it easier to navigate to the page in the future. I hope that this page will stay around and maybe added to over time, even when we are through with Covid. (If that ever happens...)
Thank you!
Thank you for your recommendation Anne. This page has been linked and can be found under the main "Resources" list.
Tricia
I really enjoyed this Self-Care Bingo activity and I hope to see more of these activities in the future. Thank you to everyone who had a hand in creating it!