With therapy being expensive and less accessible for individuals, a lot of people are turning to self-help books to learn more about their difficulties and how to manage them.

However, self-help books require the same care and consideration as attending therapy. These books often still bring up uncomfortable thoughts, feelings and experiences, which is why self-care for self-help books is so incredibly important as you don’t have a professional to held you hold space.

Here are some of my top self-care tips for those reading self-help books:

1. Make your environment comfortable and safe – Therapy rooms are often spaces that are designed to feel safe. Create that space in the comfort of your own home, adapt your lighting or surround yourself with home comforts!
2. Wear something comfy – by dressing comfortable you’re allowing yourself to become a safe space. This may include wearing a pair of PJ’s or spraying yourself with calming sents.
3. Listen to calming music – having calming music on in the background can help bring you back to the present moment and help with regulation if you experience any potential triggers whilst reading.
4. Make notes – Most self help books will bring up uncomfortable feelings or experiences. Allow yourself to engage in and exercises and write down your thoughts. Let them out!
5. Move your body – emotions can weigh us down and reflecting on uncomfortable experiences can continue to cause us to feel low, engaging in light movement after reading self-help books can help release any feelings that are stuck and can help with grounding
6. Take time to decompress – If you’d attended a therapy session you wouldn’t expect yourself to be able to get straight back to it afterwards. The same goes for self help books, before getting on with the rest of your day be sure to ground yourself and find ways to bring you back to the present moment

Do you read any self-help books? What do you do to take care of your wellbeing?