Do you love travelling? Are you always in a rush, trying to capture every restaurant you visit, cafe hopping, trying to see as many places in a day?

But do you realise that by doing that, you aren’t immersing yourself in the joy of being in the present?

At times, we need to slow down to let ourselves cherish the moment we’re in.

Self-care: you hear it everywhere, from conversations with friends, advice from your therapist, and even more stealthily in Instagram ads that aim to sell you a facial at their spa. It’s often packaged, unwrapped, and re-packaged over and over again in various attempts to define what it truly means. Meditation. Going for a jog. Staying up late and then constantly hitting snooze because “sleep is always beneficial”. Buying that one expensive skincare item. Using said skincare item. It’s all self-care, am I right?

In collaboration, our volunteers Yuri and Ibrahim explore the idea of how we can frame our identity around and beyond our mental health conditions through the book Strangers to Ourselves and Ibrahim’s own lived experience.

Yuri (re) learned how to meditate and practiced it every day for two weeks. In this article, she brings us along on her journey and details what she’s learnt from this experience.

As the year comes to a close, we may find ourselves scrambling to make the most of the last days of 2022. In this fast-paced world, we often feel the need to hit all our goals and keep moving forward. This can lead us to a state of “not enough”. What if we slowed down instead, by looking back on our year through the lens of gratitude?

Whether it’s recovering from a hectic work week or uplifting our spirits, we all need a little self-care from time to time. The World Health Organisation defines self-care as caring for one’s physical, mental and social health. This involves engaging in activities or visiting places that are enjoyable and restore our energies. Here are some recommendations from our volunteer, Rachel.