Self-Care Reflection: Maintenance Worksheet and One-Month Plan

This assignment focuses on self-care practices and includes a self-care assessment, a maintenance self-care worksheet, and a one-month self-care plan. The student reviews their current self-care activities across various domains (mind, body, emotions, spirit, work, relationships) and identifies new strategies for improvement. The maintenance worksheet details current practices and new practices for each domain. The assignment also addresses potential barriers to maintaining self-care strategies, methods to overcome these barriers, negative coping strategies, and alternative behaviors. The one-month self-care plan outlines a monthly goal, weekly focuses, and specific actions to achieve the goal, along with reflections on the process, obstacles encountered, and strategies employed. The student selected physical self-care as a focus, setting long-term and short-term goals related to exercise, diet, and sleep, aiming to improve overall physical well-being.

Running head: SELF CARE: REFLECTION
SELF CARE: REFLECTION
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note

My goal for this month: To attain a healthy body
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4
For my monthly goal,
I will: Begin with
physical exercise
from 15 min to 30
min in the first week.
How was it achieved:
I started free-hand
exercise for 15 min
for a week along with
15 min of brisk
walking which made
it a total 30 min
exercise for one
week.
Obstacles: Lack of
enthusiasm and
concentration, lack of
motivation
For my monthly goal,
I will: Keep a track
on my dietary
patterns by eating
less at every 2 hours
interval and drink
plenty of water.
How was it achieved:
I visited a dietitian
and kept a food diary
where I tracked my
food and water intake
throughout the day
for one week.
Obstacle: lack of
commitment
For my monthly goal,
I will: keep a track on
my sleeping patterns.
How was it achieved:
I started maintaining
sleep diary where I
recorded the time of
my bed and the time
of waking up in the
morning.
For my monthly goal,
I will: keep a track on
stress management
and personal hygiene.
How was it achieved:
I started maintaining
a personal diary and a
gratitude journal
where I kept a steady
record of the
activities that I enjoy
and abhor and in the
gratitude journal I
have discussed about
the positive and
optimistic factors that
have happened in my
life.
Focus: Cardio and
stamina building
Focus: I will eat
healthy for the rest of
Focus: I would try to
sleep for at least 6 to
Focus: I will
eradicate stress,

exercise for fitness the month. 8 hours every day. anxiety, hypertension
and depression
completely from my
life.
For this week’s focus
I will: Start
exercising early in the
morning or in the
evening.
How was it achieved:
By putting an alarm
and reminder on
phone for the
morning and/or
evening before going
to bed/work.
Obstacles: leathergy
How was it achieved:
I have stopped going
to KFC’s and
Dominos during my
free time. Instead, I
have started taking
fruits and sprouts as
my snacks meal in
the afternoon and
evening.
How was it achieved:
I have stopped using
cell phones, tablets
and all other
information
technology gadgets
during the time of my
sleep and focusing on
the breathing while I
am in my bed.
How was it achieved:
I have started
practicing gratitude
journalism which has
helped me to cope
with depression. I
have also started
maintaining a
personal diary where
I record my daily
activities and the
reasons for my
positivity as well as
negativities that has
helped me quite a lot
in managing stress
and depression
(Dattilio 2015).

My maintenance self-care worksheet
Mind
Current practice: I have not been practicing
any kind of meditation or mental exercise,
such as reading a book, browsing a library or
practicing certain mathematical calculations.
Future practice: I have to take the initiative of
practicing mindful meditation, mental
exercises such as braingames, crosswords,
Sudoku and other mathematical calculations
including puzzles (Townsend and Morgan
2017). I can also practice reading a book or
browsing a library according to my choices
and preferences.
Body
Current practice: I have been irregular in
performing exercises or taking up any kind of
vigorous physical movements. I have been
getting up late every morning with loss of
apettite along with no exercise at all.
Future practice: I can take the initiative of
having daily physical exercise which can be
from Yoga to aerobics or cardiovascular
exercises that build stamina. Apart from that,
I have to increase physical movements by
taking down the activities such as outdoor
games or evening or morning walks (Salyers
et al. 2015).
Emotions
Current Practice: I have been suffering from
emotional distress such as anxiety,
depression, hypertension and desolation. I
have been irregular in maintaining diaries or
journals or visiting any psychological
counselor.
Future practice: I can take the initiative to
Spirit
Current practice: I have been suffering from
low spirit during my professional hours as
well as personal hours. To get out of low
confidence, depression and low spirit, I have
started watching television shows and using
excessive social medias which is not only
hurting me psychologically but also

start the practice of gratitude journalism
which would enable me to write down what
are the reasons for my happiness and
positivity in my life, including my families,
friends and acquaintances. Apart from that, I
should also start writing and maintaining a
personal diary which would be solely
personal to me where I would write down my
secrets, the elements that bother me, the
happy and sad moments I come across
throughout my life and what can be the ways
to solve them (Wood et al. 2017). Apart from
personal diary, certain self-improvement and
self-assessment kits can be utilized by me
apart from visiting a psychological counselor
at every interval.
physically as it has made my life more
sedentary than what it was before, thereby,
chances are high in me that I may develop
obesity and the other health issues related to
obesity soon, if not treated properly.
Future practice: In order to get myself out
from low spirit, depression and low
confidence, I can initiate the practice of
mindfulness mind and body exercises such as
thereby, chances are high in me that I may
develop obesity and the other health issues
related to obesity soon, if not treated properly.
Future practice: In order to get myself out
from low spirit, depression and low
confidence, I can initiate the practice of
mindfulness mind and body exercises such as
Yoga or other activities including martial arts,
such as Karate or Tawikondu. Apart from
that, I can also start practicing certain
activities such as gardening, learning music,
cooking or developing the habit of reading
books from different genre that can reshape
my cognition, which, in turn, can help me to

increase my happy hormones and make me
high in spirit.
Work
Current practice: In work, I have been
utilizing my cell phones and personal gadgets
too much in my office hours which is
hampering my work quality. Apart from that,
I am not organized well for my work and
most of the tasks that are given to me are not
properly done on time, which is leading to a
decline in my productivity as well as my
concentration power in my work as well.
Future practice: I have to start initiating the
practice of mindfulness exercises which
would allow me to concentrate on my work
and deviate my mind from useless and
unwanted factors such as social media and
cell phones. Along with the mindfulness
practice, I should also start cognitive skills
and training by consulting a psychologist
which would allow me to concentrate on my
work and increase my productivity to a
Relationships
Current practice: In the arena of personal
relationships that have a profound impact on
my life, I have not been giving time to my
family which is adversely affecting my
mental health. I have been feeling desolate as
I have no connection with my family due to
my work and study pressure.
Future practice: In order to establish and
maintain a proper, healthy and prolific
relationship with my family, relatives and the
environment outside me, I can plan for a road
trip with my parents and my cousins, I can
also join a community center or an
organization which is working for a social
cause which can provide me connection with
new people so that I can build healthy and
trusted relationship with each other and grow
my contacts as well.

greater extent.
Barriers
1. Leathergy or lack of enthusiasm, zeal
or impetus to work for myself or
improve myself.
2. Discouragement from the outside
environment as well as demoralization
from the greater society.
3. Time management issues where I
might not be able to manage my time
properly to address the problems with
efficiency and effort.
Addressing the barriers
1. Having a proper time management
plan where I can have the capability of
managing my time according to the
needs and preferences.
2. Increase in enthusiasm by watching
motivational videos and by listening
to motivational speeches to increase
the impetus within myself by my own,
without any external agent.
Negative coping strategies What will I do instead

1. Working forcefully, that can lead to
physical, psychological or cognitive
stress.
1. Having a proper time management
plan where I can have the capability of
managing my time according to the
needs and preferences.
2. Increase in enthusiasm by watching
motivational videos and by listening
to motivational speeches to increase
the impetus within myself by my own,
without any external agent.
The Self care that I have selected is “Physical self-care”
For physical self-care, certain goals I should initiate to take are:
Long term goals:
1. To practice 15 min free hand exercise and 15 min brisk walking for 1 month and keep on
increasing the pace and time of the respective mentioned exercise to build stamina and
strength with the increase in time.
2. To practice cardiovascular exercises twice a week because cardiovascular exercises
increase strength, flexibility and blood circulation throughout the body and maintains a
healthy body mass.
3. To practice mindfulness exercises such as meditation and Yoga.
4. To abstain from caffeine and get into a healthy diet which is low in carbohydrate and
calorie.

Short term goals:
1. Cutting down carbohydrates, processed food and caffeine from the dietary system that I
would be following.
2. Increasing the level, time and intensity of the exercises which have been decided by me
to follow in order to increase my stamina and strength and lose weight while maintaining
a healthy body mass.
3. Sleep for at least six to eight hours everyday in order to allow the body to function
properly.
By the end of the month, I would be able to feel physically energized, fresh and free from all
kinds of physical disturbances and problems, including insomnia and digestive problems, where
my body would function properly, devoid of any disease and ailment with a healthy body weight,
blood pressure and blood count.

References:
Dattilio, F.M., 2015. The self‐care of psychologists and mental health professionals: A review
and practitioner guide. Australian Psychologist, 50(6), pp.393-399.
Salyers, M.P., Fukui, S., Rollins, A.L., Firmin, R., Gearhart, T., Noll, J.P., Williams, S. and
Davis, C.J., 2015. Burnout and self-reported quality of care in community mental
health. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 42(1),
pp.61-69.
Townsend, M.C. and Morgan, K.I., 2017. Psychiatric mental health nursing: Concepts of care in
evidence-based practice. FA Davis.
Wood, A.E., Prins, A., Bush, N.E., Hsia, J.F., Bourn, L.E., Earley, M.D., Walser, R.D. and
Ruzek, J., 2017. Reduction of burnout in mental health care providers using the provider
resilience mobile application. Community mental health journal, 53(4), pp.452-459.