How do people find out about self-care? We asked the Aloe community how they came across the concept of “self-care” and how often they think about it now.
Aloe serves a wide range of individuals, from students to retired people and everyone in between. We are dedicated to continuing to meet the needs of everyone, but we are especially aware of the gap we can fill for those who are vulnerable or feel unsupported.
In an effort to better understand those needs, we worked with public health researcher Jen Gallo, MPH to conduct a simple survey which was distributed through email, twitter and was available to users after completing the check-in tool.
Unsurprisingly, more than half (53%) reported learning about self-care on the internet and social media. Of those who cited the internet and social media as a source, many mentioned websites such as Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram, and some even said that Femsplain and Aloe introduced them to the topic.
Other participants learned about self-care through their own mental health journeys and through family, friends, school or their profession.
We also wanted to know what makes checking in and making time for yourself easier?
“Gentle reminders, pep talks, and places to vent and talk about what is going wrong without judgment.”
“Feeling worthy and good about myself generally makes me more inclined to care deeply for myself.”
Many participants cited a change in their mindset or resources available to them (26%), while others said reminders would be helpful (25%). Support and accountability seemed to be important, as well as (18%) more time (10%), valuing yourself (9%), a change in culture (2%) and Aloe (1%). Some were unsure of what could help (3%).
“I just love how it serves as an umbrella for a lot of needs that different people have. For example, as I have an eating disorder, it really helps that it gives me a little reminder about food, and I know it must help others too! As well as mentioning talking to friends, which isn’t a struggle of mine per se, but is for others. It has a wide reach. I love that.”
Aloe isn’t meant to replace mental health care or the support of loved ones, but it can be a valuable — and free — tool to help fill the gaps when needed.
“Aloe often helps me on bad mental health days when I forget to do things like drink water, which drastically affects my chronic illnesses.”
Even though we might think about self-care, there are endless barriers to completing our self-care tasks. Low energy, forgetting, stress, lack of time or other resources are some things that we heard. Also some people feel undeserving of self-care and having their mental illness or chronic illness only makes it harder.
“Mental illness, depression and anxiety specifically, and stress can make it hard to find the energy or to care enough”
“Work is stressful and exhausting and incredibly high pace, and by the time I get home I can’t be bothered to eat or drink or change my clothes I just go to sleep”
We believe that health shouldn’t be factored on personal wealth. Everyone should be able to get access to tools that make them happy and healthy.
Aloe is easy access to self-care. Self-care is taking steps to maintain physical, mental and emotional health. Many people don’t think they have the time for self-care but we believe that our tools can help with that.
