10 Ways to Practice Real Self Care

We’ve talked about burn out, and we’ve even talked about self care for geeks and gamers, but today, I’m about to get very honest with you about real self care. There’s no Lush bath bombs or cute animal face masks here. It’s just me and my  journey to finally figuring out what makes me personally feel the best. It probably shouldn’t have taken this long, but here we are!

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What Being An Introvert ACTUALLY Means (revisited)

Back in 2014, I covered What being an introvert ACTUALLY means when A Geeky Gal was still coming into her own. It was originally ported over from my very first attempt at blogging before I decided to rebrand and become what is now A Geeky Gal. It was honestly quite a nostalgic trip to go back and re-read that 5+ year old blog post. You may be wondering why in the world I’m choosing to revisit it now. Well, Angie of Backlog Crusader kindly requested a special Mental Health in the Geek Community segment on being an introvert, and I am more than happy to oblige on a subject like this!

You’ll also notice some featured quotes from fellow introverts scattered throughout this post. I asked Twitter for negative quotes or phrases that they have heard pertaining to being an introvert themselves. These are real quotes from real people. Thank you to all of you who helped contribute to this post with your own unique points of view and experiences. It really helped shape this post into an honest look at what it actually means to be an introvert.

Introvert_Alyssa

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Leveling Up Adult Friendships

Why is it so hard to make close friends when you become an adult? When you’re a kid you can just walk to up anyone and ask to be friends. BOOM! Now you got yourself a best friend. Something changes between those young school years and after college. You don’t see those same people every day anymore, and suddenly, you don’t know how to make close friends outside of school.

I realized after I ended a toxic 5-year relationship that my friend circle had shrunk. The couple of friends that I managed to keep during that tumultuous time helped me get my life back together. While I loved and appreciated their support, it made me see how many friends I had lost contact with. I felt ashamed about a lot of things in my life during that time and couldn’t bring myself to reach out to them.

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Another Geek’s Success Is Not Your Failure: How To Take Your Joy Back

As geeky bloggers in a particular kind of niche, there’s so many opportunities to look over at our fellow bloggers and compare ourselves and our work to theirs. Next thing we know, we’re spiraling down a negative path of “what if’s” and our hearts are full of uncertainty. That blogger is reaching more people than you; that blogger is getting more comments than you. That blogger just quit their job to blog full time; that blogger is bringing in a six figure salary on their blog alone! The comparison goes on and on until we are in such a low place that our self esteem has taken a massive hit.

I personally find comfort in knowing that most of us have been there at some point in time. We aren’t alone in these feelings. We all have let comparison steal our creative weirdness and love of all things geeky at some point. We have all burned ourselves out competing in one-sided competitions whether that be with a stranger online or ourselves. Why are we letting comparison steal our joy of writing and creating?

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Self Care for Geeks & Gamers

While taking my break last month, I went back to my drafts folder to see what drafts sparked something in me. Mental health has always been close to my heart, and marrying that with the life of a geek was something that I had been wanting to implement into my blog for ages. So I’ve decided to write a few blog posts to shed some light on mental health in the geek and gaming communities. If you are currently struggling with your mental health, please reach out to a friend/family member family and check out these resources:

Today, I want to focus on self care. I have two lists I want to share with you. This first list applies to our most basic human needs. No cutesy animal facial masks here! Sometimes when we experience burn out, anxiety, depression, etc., we forget how to properly care for our bodies, minds, and souls.

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