Quick Summary
Self-care during challenging times can help you stay grounded when stress, uncertainty, caregiving, grief, major transitions, or emotional overwhelm disrupt your usual routines.
When life feels uncertain, stressful, or emotionally overwhelming, self-care can help you return to what supports you physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
In this article, you’ll learn how to:
- Support your body when stress disrupts your normal routine
- Reduce mental overstimulation and anxious thinking
- Acknowledge difficult emotions without becoming consumed by them
- Use grounding and present-moment awareness to reconnect with yourself
- Create a simple self-care plan for difficult seasons of life
Self-care during challenging times does not require doing everything perfectly. Often, the most supportive approach is to identify what you need most right now and begin there.
Life does not always give us the stability we would prefer.
A health concern, caregiving responsibility, loss, relationship change, financial uncertainty, major transition, distressing world events, or simply too many demands at once can disrupt the routines that normally help us feel grounded.
During these periods, self-care during challenging times becomes especially important.
Self-care isn’t about pretending that everything is fine or trying to eliminate every uncomfortable feeling. It is about caring for yourself intentionally while you move through circumstances that may genuinely be difficult.
As a Holistic Life Coach and Mental Health Counselor, I encourage people to look at self-care from a whole-person perspective. When life feels unsettled, ask:
What does my body need? What does my mind need? What do my emotions need? And what helps me feel grounded, connected, or supported from within?
These questions can help turn self-care from another item on your to-do list into a practical source of support.
Why Self-Care Matters More During Challenging Times
Stress is a natural response to difficult or demanding circumstances. But prolonged stress can affect your sleep, concentration, energy, mood, appetite, physical comfort, and ability to make decisions.
This is why self-care becomes particularly valuable when your normal routines have been disrupted.
The CDC’s guidance on managing stress in healthy ways emphasizes many of the same foundational practices: caring for your body, staying connected, making time to unwind, taking breaks from distressing media, and seeking additional support when needed.
Self-care does not remove the challenge itself. Instead, it can help strengthen your ability to meet the challenge with greater steadiness and awareness.
If you’re looking for a broader understanding of self-care and the different ways it supports well-being, begin with What Is Self-Care? This article focuses specifically on what self-care can look like when life is difficult, uncertain, or overwhelming.
Self-Care Is Not About Doing More
One of the problems with self-care advice is that it can inadvertently become another source of pressure.
Exercise. Meditate. Journal. Eat perfectly. Sleep eight hours. Practice gratitude. Stay positive.
When you’re already overwhelmed, a long list of things you “should” be doing may not feel supportive at all.
Self-care during difficult periods often requires the opposite approach:
Simplify. Prioritize. Listen. Adjust.
You may not have the capacity for your normal wellness routine. That doesn’t mean you’ve failed at self-care.
Instead of asking, What should I be doing? try asking:
What would support me most right now?
Your answer may change from one day—or one hour—to the next.
Four Areas of Self-Care During Challenging Times
A whole-person approach can help you recognize needs that might otherwise be overlooked.
I often think of self-care in four interconnected areas:
Physical → Mental → Emotional → Spiritual
You do not need to work on all four at once. Use them as a gentle check-in to notice where you may need additional care.
- Physical Self-Care: Support Your Body First
Stress isn’t experienced only in your thoughts. Your body may also respond with muscle tension, headaches, fatigue, digestive changes, sleep disruption, restlessness, or a racing heart.
That makes physical self-care an important foundation.
Begin with basic needs:
- Maintain a reasonably consistent sleep and waking schedule
- Eat regular, nourishing meals
- Drink enough water
- Move your body in ways that feel manageable
- Shower, dress, and maintain simple daily routines
- Spend some time outside when possible
- Rest when your body needs rest
- Stay connected with supportive people
These practices may sound simple, but simple does not mean insignificant.
When life becomes unpredictable, familiar routines can provide useful structure.
If your physical routines have gradually slipped during a stressful period, healthy lifestyle habits can support both mental and emotional well-being. Start with one or two basics rather than trying to overhaul everything at once.
- Mental Self-Care: Notice What Your Mind Is Taking In
Challenging circumstances can generate a tremendous amount of mental activity.
You may find yourself repeatedly asking:
What if something goes wrong?
What am I going to do?
How will this turn out?
Some thinking helps us plan and respond. But repetitive worry can leave us mentally exhausted without moving us closer to a solution.
Mental self-care begins by noticing what is happening in your mind.
Ask yourself:
- Am I trying to solve something I can actually act on?
- Am I repeatedly imagining worst-case scenarios?
- Am I consuming information that helps me or overwhelms me?
- Is there one practical action I can take today?
- What is outside my control right now?
You may also need boundaries around how much news, social media, or distressing information you consume. Staying informed and staying continuously immersed are not the same thing.
The CDC specifically recommends taking breaks from news and social media when constant exposure to negative events becomes upsetting.
When stress is particularly high, it can also help to focus on a few practical ways to reduce stress naturally rather than attempting to solve every problem at once.
- Emotional Self-Care: Make Space for What You Feel
Self-care is not about forcing yourself to feel positive.
Fear, sadness, anger, disappointment, grief, loneliness, and uncertainty are human responses to difficult experiences.
Emotional self-care begins with acknowledging what is present without immediately judging yourself for feeling it.
You might simply say:
I’m feeling overwhelmed today.
Or:
There’s a lot of uncertainty here, and I’m feeling afraid.
Naming an emotion can create a little space between having a feeling and being completely overtaken by the feeling.
The CDC’s emotional well-being guidance similarly encourages identifying difficult emotions, accepting feelings without judgment, using healthy coping strategies, and reaching out for support.
Emotional self-care may include:
- Talking with someone you trust
- Journaling about what you’re experiencing
- Allowing yourself to cry or grieve
- Practicing self-compassion
- Giving yourself permission to rest
- Asking for practical or emotional help
- Spending time with people who help you feel supported
Sometimes self-care means recognizing that you shouldn’t have to carry everything alone.
If stress, anxiety, or sadness becomes persistent, increasingly difficult to manage, or begins interfering with daily life, consider speaking with a qualified mental health professional. Support is part of self-care too.
- Spiritual Self-Care: Return to Grounding, Meaning, and Presence
Spiritual self-care does not have to mean religion.
It can refer to whatever helps you reconnect with meaning, inner steadiness, your values, your sense of connection, or something larger than the immediate stressor.
During difficult times, the mind naturally wants to move into the future:
What will happen next?
Grounding brings your attention back to:
What is happening right now?
You might place both feet on the floor and notice the support beneath you. Take a slow breath. Look around the room. Notice what you see, hear, and physically feel.
You can also use mindfulness and present-moment awareness to gently redirect attention from imagined future outcomes toward what is actually happening now.
Other forms of spiritual self-care might include:
- Meditation or prayer
- Spending time in nature
- Reflecting on what matters most to you
- Practicing gratitude
- Reading something meaningful
- Creating quiet space
- Connecting with a spiritual or faith community
- Asking yourself what this moment is inviting you to learn or honor
The goal is not to deny what is difficult. It is to remember that the difficult circumstance is not the entirety of your experience.
When Your Normal Self-Care Routine Isn’t Working
One of the most important principles of self-care during challenging times is flexibility.
The practices that work when life is calm may not be realistic during grief, caregiving, illness, major change, or emotional overwhelm.
This is where people sometimes abandon self-care altogether.
Instead, scale it to your current capacity.
If you normally exercise for an hour but cannot manage that right now, take a ten-minute walk.
If a twenty-minute meditation feels impossible, take three slow, intentional breaths.
If preparing a complete healthy meal feels overwhelming, choose one simple nourishing option.
If journaling feels like too much, write one sentence:
Today I need ________.
Self-care does not have to be impressive to be effective.
Small, repeatable practices are often more useful during difficult periods than ambitious routines that create additional pressure.
A Simple Self-Care Check-In
When you’re overwhelmed, pause and ask yourself four questions:
Body
What does my body need right now?
Perhaps food, water, movement, sleep, medical care, fresh air, or rest.
Mind
What is taking up the most mental space?
Is there something you can act on? Something you need to write down? Something you need to stop repeatedly consuming?
Emotions
What am I feeling, and what kind of support would help?
Perhaps you need to acknowledge disappointment, talk with someone, cry, journal, or simply stop expecting yourself to be okay immediately.
Inner Grounding
What helps me reconnect with myself?
Perhaps a few quiet breaths, prayer, meditation, nature, music, gratitude, reflection, or simply sitting quietly without another demand.
Then ask one final question:
What is one caring thing I can realistically do next?
Start there.
Create a Self-Care Plan for Difficult Days
Your plan doesn’t need to be complicated.
Choose one realistic practice in each area:
Physical: What will help support my body?
Mental: What will help reduce unnecessary mental overload?
Emotional: Who or what helps me process difficult feelings?
Spiritual/grounding: What helps me return to presence, meaning, or inner steadiness?
Write your answers somewhere you can easily find them.
When you’re already overwhelmed, it can be difficult to remember what helps. Having a simple plan removes some of the decision-making from the moment.
And remember: this is a support plan, not a performance plan.
What If Self-Care Doesn’t Feel Like Enough?
There are times when personal self-care practices are not enough—and they aren’t supposed to be.
Self-care complements support. It does not replace medical care, counseling, therapy, community resources, or practical assistance when those are needed.
If emotional distress is persistent, worsening, or interfering with your ability to function, reach out for professional support.
There is an important distinction between:
“What can I do to care for myself?”
and
“What support do I need from someone else?”
Healthy self-care includes knowing when the second question needs to be asked.
Watch: Self-Care During Challenging Times
This article grew from my experiential presentation, Self Care in Challenging Times, originally created during a period when uncertainty and fear were affecting daily life for many people.
In the presentation, I explore self-care through the same four areas—physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual—and guide participants through a grounding and centering practice.
📹 Presentation Recording:
You do not need to watch the presentation to use the practices in this article, but it can provide additional guidance if you prefer a more experiential approach.
Key Takeaways
- Self-care during challenging times is about supporting yourself while moving through difficult circumstances—not eliminating every uncomfortable feeling.
- Physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual self-care work together as part of a whole-person approach.
- Basic routines such as sleep, nourishment, hydration, movement, and connection become particularly important when life feels unsettled.
- Mental self-care may include limiting overstimulation and distinguishing productive problem-solving from repetitive worry.
- Emotional self-care includes acknowledging difficult feelings and asking for support when you need it.
- Grounding and present-moment awareness can help redirect attention toward what is happening now.
- Your self-care routine should adapt to your current capacity.
- Professional help may be appropriate when distress becomes persistent, worsens, or interferes with everyday life.
Frequently Asked Questions About Self-Care During Challenging Times
What is self-care during challenging times?
Self-care during challenging times means intentionally supporting your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being when stress, uncertainty, loss, caregiving, transition, or other difficult circumstances disrupt your normal life. The goal isn’t perfection; it is maintaining practices and support that help you cope and function.
Why is self-care important during stressful times?
Stress can affect both physical and emotional well-being. Intentional self-care can help you maintain supportive routines, manage stress more effectively, stay connected with others, and recognize when you need additional help.
What should I do when I’m too overwhelmed for self-care?
Make the practice smaller. Drink a glass of water. Step outside. Take three slow breaths. Eat something nourishing. Text someone you trust. Choose one action that supports your most immediate need rather than trying to follow an entire wellness routine.
Can self-care help with anxiety and stress?
Self-care practices such as physical activity, adequate sleep, relaxation practices, social connection, mindfulness, and reducing unnecessary overstimulation can support stress management and emotional well-being. Self-care isn’t a substitute for professional treatment when anxiety is persistent or significantly interfering with daily life.
What are the four areas of self-care?
A holistic approach can include physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual self-care. These areas overlap and influence one another, which is why caring for the whole person can be particularly valuable during stressful periods.
A Final Thought
Challenging times often make us believe we need to become stronger, work harder, or somehow figure everything out.
Sometimes what we need instead is to become more attentive to ourselves.
Ask:
What do I need in this moment?
Then listen to the answer without judging it.
You don’t need to solve everything today. Choose the next supportive step available to you and allow that to be enough for now.
“Self-care during challenging times isn’t about escaping what is difficult. It’s about staying connected to yourself while you move through it.” — Ginny Mackles
If you’re navigating stress, anxiety, emotional overwhelm, or a significant life transition and would like additional support, I offer holistic life coaching and counseling designed to address the whole person—mind, body, emotions, and inner well-being.
Schedule a complimentary consultation to explore how personalized holistic support can help you feel more grounded, clear, and supported as you move forward.
About Ginny Mackles
Ginny Mackles is a Holistic Life Coach and licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC, NY) with a Master’s in Social Work. Drawing on decades of experience, she helps individuals reduce stress and anxiety, strengthen emotional well-being, gain greater clarity, and create more balanced and meaningful lives through a holistic, whole-person approach.
Updated August 2026
