7 Self-Care Ideas to Help You Manage Your Emotions as an HSP or Introvert

7 self-care ideas for introverts to help you take better care of yourself during hard times.

Raise your hand if you struggle with self-care. Yep, me too. Today I want to look at how managing your emotions requires self-care. 

I’ve been honest and open with you guys about my struggles, especially last year when I hit rock bottom and looked up and realized that I needed help. One of the things that I have had to learn and work hard at this past year has been caring for myself. 

I am a single mom of four who homeschools, I run this business and serve in my church. I’m super, super busy and I’ve got many things and people I’m responsible for. I found myself in this trap of “I don’t have time for myself. I have to do all of these other things,” 

I realized pretty quickly that I was doing myself a disservice and the people that I was trying to love, care for, and serve by not caring for myself. So I had to learn how to embrace self-care as a necessity instead of it being optional. It’s not optional for you either.

If you’re going to love your neighbor as yourself, to show up and walk out your purpose and do the things that God has called you to do, you first have to take care of yourself. You can’t love your neighbor well if you don’t love yourself well, and self-care is a huge part of that. 

Especially when it comes to your emotional health. When you’re walking through hard times and when you’re highly sensitive and introverted, all of these things make self-care even more important. 

I want to talk with you today about some things that you can do to begin to implement self-care into your life because it’s going to help in so many ways. Specifically, when it comes to managing your emotions, if you don’t have self-care, you’re missing a very important and vital piece of the puzzle.

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If you’re highly sensitive and/or introverted, you’re a deep thinker and feeler. We’re really great at connecting. We have heightened empathy. We really need quiet and solitude to rest and recharge. Do you know what that all is? Self-care. 

When you’re feeling overwhelmed, when you have to be out and people a lot,  you need downtime. You need rest. That’s self-care. You can still show up as yourself with the challenges that might come with being super sensitive, deep thinking, deep feeling, and all of that. 

When you have good self-care practices in place, you can take care of yourself and do more of what you’re good at and what you want to do. If you’re walking through hard times, you really need to take care of yourself because it’s going to make it easier to cope and manage your emotions. 

What is Self-Care?

I am not talking about just pampering yourself and ignoring responsibilities. This is not about, “Calgon, take me away while all my responsibilities are waiting for me. I’m just going to go off and focus on myself at the expense of everybody else.” 

I am talking about taking care of yourself physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and relationally.  So you can then show up and do the things that you have to do and walk well through whatever hard season you are experiencing right now.

Is self-care biblical? 

Yes, it is. One of the best examples is the Sabbath. The point of the Sabbath is to have a day where you are resting, where you’re being rejuvenated, where you’re being renewed spiritually, mentally, and physically. Self-care is resting so that you can work. 

Jesus is the perfect example of this. How many times did he get away alone to rest and to pray? When you take time for self-care you’re not doing something that God doesn’t want you to do. God created you to rest. He created you for self-care, and because of that, self-care is vital. 

It’s necessary. It is essential. It’s not selfish. It’s not optional. It’s not something that you can put to the side and come back to when things calm down. It’s like on an airplane, you must put your oxygen mask on first before you put the other person’s on. If you don’t take care of yourself, you’re not going to be able to help anybody else around you. 

Journaling as Self-Care 

Now, I want to turn to some ideas on how you can start to include regular self-care into your life. Number one, it’s not going to be any surprise: journaling. Journaling is one of my favorite self-care strategies because it has so many benefits. 

Journaling can help you process your emotions. It’s going to help you get clarity in your thinking. Introverts tend to be overthinkers. Journaling can help with that. It can help you sort through all your thoughts and begin to get clarity about what you want and what God is saying to you. 

It’s a great tool to help you connect to God. It’s a great way to express yourself and keep track of your growth, goals, and dreams. There are never-ending benefits when it comes to journaling.

If you aren’t sure where to start, here’s what you’re going to do. Set aside five to ten minutes every day to journal. That’s it. Five or ten minutes. Do not judge or critique yourself. You’re just going to pick up your pen, and when your time is up, your time is up and move on. 

You can also use prompts. Maybe try gratitude journaling, “What am I grateful for today? What am I thankful for today?” One of my favorite things to ask myself, especially when I have 10 minutes or less, is, “How did I see God working in my life today/this week/this month?” 

Set aside just a few minutes every day to start journaling. You can ask yourself, “What am I feeling? What emotion have I noticed the most today or this week?” All things that are going to help you begin to process your emotions, get clarity, and be able to recognize God’s presence in your life. 

I know that when you’re in the thick of it, it can be hard to see God at work or where he’s showing up and what he’s doing. But if you take five minutes a day to intentionally focus on that, God will bring those things to mind. That’s going to encourage you and bring you some hope and some peace.

Prayer and Meditation as Self-Care

The next tip that I want to share with you is prayer and meditation. This is great because it deepens your relationship and your connection to God. Having that back-and-forth conversation with God is a great way to unburden yourself and receive his guidance, discernment, direction, and wisdom. 

It will help you have some inner peace, even when things are going cuckoo around you. It’s going to help quiet your mind. Ultimately, when you are spending time in prayer with God meditating on his word, it’ll help you surrender all of your worries, all that stuff that’s going on in your heart, to God. 

He promises to take your worries and trade you for comfort, rest, and peace. Your practical tip for this step: find a dedicated prayer space. It can be anything: a chair, a corner in your room, or even your neighborhood. 

You can take a walk around your block and have that time with God if you want to. But dedicate some time to just be with God, to be in his presence, to talk to him, to hear from him. Please, start with something really short – five or ten minutes. Again, we’re trying to implement new things. 

Don’t commit yourself to something that you can’t stick with. Keep it short and simple. When it comes to meditating, find a short scripture or a really short phrase. Maybe you’re going to go with Psalms 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God,” and you’re going to sit there and say, “Okay, be still and know that he is God. I’m going to be still and know that God is in control.” 

Just meditate on that. It doesn’t have to be anything long, it doesn’t have to be anything fancy. It just has to be consistent and intentional. Show up and start making that a part of your daily routine.

Getting Out in Nature as Self-Care

Your next tip is nature walks. Go outside and have some green time. Spending time in nature lowers your stress, it improves your mood, and it’s going to give you a break from whatever is going on in your day.

It’s just time to go out and find some peace and quiet. It’s a great place to reflect on God and all that He’s doing. God’s creation really speaks to me when I walk around and I see the birds I’m reminded, “Oh, if He cares for the sparrows, how much more does He care for me?” 

Those kinds of things, and just breathing fresh air, getting the sun on your face, feeling the grass, putting your feet in the grass, putting your feet in the dirt. All these things are very grounding, very calming, soothing, and helpful. 

Your practical step: find a local park, a nature trail, somewhere that you can go and be outside. Even if all you can do is go stand in your backyard or your front yard for five minutes and let the sun be on your face and inhale that fresh air. 

Also, I want to encourage you, if you can, combine your walks with prayer or listening to scripture or worship music. It’s going to really elevate the peace and the presence of God that you’re experiencing when you’re doing that.

Creative Pursuits as Self-Care

Next is something creative. I love, love, love that part of being introverted is, generally speaking, this lean and this bent towards creativity. I love it, and it’s awesome because whatever creative medium that you choose, it helps you to relax. 

It’s also great as a form of worship and praise. Some of the most beautiful pieces of art that I’ve seen are depictions of accounts in scripture. I love that. When I say creative, I mean just anything creative: painting, writing, knitting, music, dancing, sculpting, anything where you’re just creating something. 

Do that, engage in that, because it’s a great way to take care of yourself. I know for me, I love to paint, I love dancing, I love listening to music, and all of that allows me to just express myself and let go of a lot of stuff that I’m feeling. 

Sometimes when I can’t journal because I’m too stressed or I’m too exhausted, I can pick up my paints and release all of that onto my page. So what’s your tip here? Schedule some regular time to be creative. Whatever that is, maybe you want to build stuff, woodworking or whatever, but just find some regular time for that.

You can join groups for that locally or online. I do a lot of my painting online. I have a person that I follow, and they release tutorials, and I follow their tutorials to paint: Let’s Make Art. That’s where I do a lot of my painting. 

I have done some local classes before, and that has been great, but figure out what you can do and do it. I’m going to encourage you to do the same thing that we were doing for these other things.

You might not have an hour to spend creating, although it would be lovely every day. But find something you can do in five minutes, five minutes most days, and then maybe an hour when you have more time. 

Reading as Self-Care

Next is reading and reflecting. I’m a book nerd. I make no secret about that, but this is why this is so helpful. The thing that I love about books—I don’t know if this is specific to being introverted and highly sensitive, but for me, when I am reading, I can get lost in another world and somebody else’s story and it takes my focus off of my own stuff. 

I love being able to get to know new characters. I mean, I get really invested in some of the books that I’m reading. My kids laugh at me, but I’m so invested in it. But it’s a good thing. It’s a way to take your mind off something and experience something else. I’ve also found that reading can be a way for me to process emotions. 

There have been several times where I’ve been reading a story, and I will connect with one of the characters emotionally because they are experiencing an emotion that I’m struggling with. Being able to watch their journey of experiencing it, processing it, dealing with it, and coping with it often helps me do the same.

You can read anything you want. If you’re a nonfiction person, go deep. Introverts, we like to go deep. We like to stimulate our brains. Do that. You can read books that are going to build your faith, devotionals, anything that’s going to help you relax mentally and emotionally. If it nourishes your soul, even better.

Reflective time. Introverts are deep thinkers and introspective. We like to reflect. Sometimes, doing reflective study can be helpful. You can find a book that you can think deeply about and reflect on. I do this often. I’m doing this this year where I’m going quarter by quarter. I am diving deep into a topic because I really want to reflect on it and think about it. I’m looking for new ideas, new thoughts to have. 

Practical tip here: make a reading list. Or, if you’re like me, go to your TBR list and choose something to read. Just have time every single day to read, sit, and reflect. Five minutes or ten minutes. Read three pages, read a chapter. Listening to books counts too, but make time for that every day.

Community as Self-Care

The next tip is being in community and fellowship. I know that I’m talking to introverts here, and if you’re not an introvert, it’s not that we don’t like people, it’s just that people are exhausting. 

But being in community is going to be a great place to get emotional support, accountability, a sense of belonging, that connectedness that we like, that we need, that we cherish, that we thrive in. It’s necessary. It’s really hard to cope with life, to do life, to manage emotions, and to do all the things that we need to do outside of community. 

God made us to be in community. He made us to be in fellowship, and so it’s not optional, y’all. Part of taking care of yourself is finding the people that you can be with and be there for. It’s necessary. 

When you don’t have it—I speak from experience—it is much harder to cope with life. Now I have community. And, yes, it’s exhausting at times, but I’m getting so many blessings and so many benefits from it. I don’t ever want to be without it again. 

Practical tip: find your people. Maybe it’s a small group at church. Maybe it’s a bible study at your church. Maybe it’s one or two friends that you can meet with regularly. But just find your people and begin to spend time with them regularly. Check in with each other. Be intentional about having that community in your life.

Movement as Self-Care

The last tip here is physical self-care. So what do I mean? Take care of your body. Move your body. Exercise, whatever it is. Run, hike, swim, bike, whatever it is that you like to do. Get some movement in your life. 

Nutrition. Feed your body nutritious foods. Yes, have your treats, have your snacks, but feed your body healthy, nutritious things. Get sleep. Make sure that you’re getting enough sleep. Oh my goodness, sleep is so important and you often are not getting enough of it or not getting enough quality sleep. 

Reduce your stress, improve your mood. All these things are necessary. Take care of yourself physically, emotionally, spiritually, mentally, relationally. It matters. So what is your practical tip here? I hate to tell you to exercise more, but I’m going to tell you to exercise more. Just move your body. Literally, just move your body, whatever it is. 

Find a way to move your body every single day. I love going for walks, especially in the evening as things are cooling off because it’s a million degrees here in Florida. But just taking 10 minutes to go for a walk, to move my body, I feel better. 

It’s relaxing, it’s calming. I sleep better. Make eating a priority. I know when I’m super stressed I tend to not eat. Make eating a priority. Bonus points if you can plan some nutritious meals and snacks. And just get better rest, just take better care of yourself.

Final Thoughts on Self-Care Ideas for Introverts

If you’re thinking these are all great ideas, but you don’t have time for that in your life – don’t worry. I’m not going to leave you hanging. I have a couple of tips I want to leave you with on how you can integrate self-care into your everyday life. 

Number one: routine and consistency. Self-care is important and needs to be part of your everyday life, and consistency is really going to help you see the most benefits out of managing your stress and emotions. So, find a routine.

I gave you, I think, eight or so examples of things you can do that are part of your self-care, and what did I tell you for most of them? Five or ten minutes a day. Find a few minutes a day that you can do one or two of these things and then build on that as you have time. Build on that when you have more time in your schedule, when you’re able to. 

The second tip that I want to give you is to make self-care a priority. Just make it a priority. Put boundaries in place so that you are protecting your time that you want to devote to taking care of yourself. That’s why I talk about starting small. 

Pick one thing to do for five minutes, and then maybe it goes to ten minutes, and then maybe it goes to twenty minutes. You know, maybe you have one day a week or one day a month where you have one or two hours to focus on self-care. But make it a priority. 

Put it in your schedule first, along with sleeping, work, church, and appointments. Put it on there first, and then you can begin to grow your routines from that. And finally, I just want to leave you with a word of encouragement. Be patient with yourself, be gentle with yourself as you begin to incorporate self-care. It’s new.

It can be difficult, especially if your mindset has been that it’s selfish or that you don’t have time for it. Give yourself the time, space, and grace to integrate this into your life. This is a journey. I’m not saying you have to do it perfectly right now, because it’s not possible. 

We don’t want to be perfect, but it’s a journey. And with anything, it’s going to take time, and you’re going to have times in your life where you’re on it, where you’re like, “Yeah, I’ve got self-care every day, I’ve got this going on,” and then something’s going to happen. 

Life is going to happen, and all of that’s going to be gone for a little bit. But always be trying to get back to some kind of regular self-care, some kind of regular routine in your life, so that you can be caring for yourself well. You are worth it, you need it. It’s going to help you with every area of your life. So go out and figure out how to make time for yourself.

Other Helpful Resources:

• The Complete Guide to Breath Prayers
• 7 Simple Ways to Learn How to Be Still and Listen to God
• 6 Practical Ideas to Calm Your Mind During Times of Stress

Which of these self-care ideas for introverts will you try first?