Stress, depression, and anxiety levels have risen since quarantine began and, for students, since school has started. During these times, it’s important to take care of ourselves. Now, when you think of self care, you might think of luxurious spa days or possibly having a nice vacation/staycation or getting your nails done — COVID definitely makes these things harder but, regardless, self care doesn’t have to involve these activities.
I’ve been working on a comfort box. It’s a concept that I read about in an Instagram post from @theself_carekit. A comfort box is essentially an emotional first-aid kit. The main idea is to fill a box — or other item holder, such as a bag — with items that will bring you comfort and ‘recharge’ you when you're feeling down or stressed.
I throw away very little because I assume there will be some craft project down the road that I can use everything for. As a result, I have a lot of empty shoe boxes. I took one and glued some wrapping paper onto it. I cut off the edges as I went, meaning it didn’t look very smooth and the paper was pulling away at the corners, so I hot glued some blue ribbon all around on the edges. Then, since this wasn’t the first box I’ve papered and I didn’t want to lose track of my comfort box, I used my label maker to print a label simply saying, “comfort box.”
When I’d decorated my box until I was satisfied, I started compiling a list of items that bring me comfort.
In the end, my box contained:
Candy — chocolate bars, coffee crisps, ring pops
A couple of my favourite books
A journal and a pen
A colouring book and a box crayons
My favourite candle (fresh cotton scent)
A sensory cube that jingles and soothes me
A mini Squishmallow stuffed animal
I’m sure I will find other comfort items to put in my box as time passes, but for now I’m happy with it. I have a feeling that I’m going to be needing this box a lot for online school!
I hope this inspires you to make your own comfort box (or bag, or backpack). Stay safe and stay healthy <3
What a lovely idea, thank you!