9 Self-Care Tips for Living With Cerebral Palsy
I’ve always been huge on self-care as a young woman with cerebral palsy. Here are my nine favorite self-care tips.
1. Listening to music. Listening to country music helps me escape my stresses and the reality of my condition, especially right after a doctor’s appointment where I didn’t receive the best news.
2. Working out. Working out in my pool is my favorite go-to when it comes to my self-care because it allows me to relax my muscles and my mind.
3. Reading a book. Nicholas Sparks is my favorite author. Reading his books gives me a chance to relax my mind and have peace within my body.
4. Drinking Coca-Cola. Now this may sound like a strange self-care strategy, but due to my cerebral palsy, I tend to have really bad spastic attacks and stiffness on the left side of my body. When I drink Coke, it helps reduce the pain and stiffness.
5. Taking a nice bubble bath. Taking a bubble bath is one of my favorite things to do, especially when I have just come home from hours of physical therapy and doctor appointments. Taking a nice bubble bath is the best way for me to relax the stiffness on the left side of my body.
6. Watching a movie of my choice. I love to watch the 1980s movie “Urban Cowboy” when I need to relax my body and clear my mind.
7. Pursuing a hobby of your choice. I love going to volunteer at the fire department as a hobby. Volunteering allows me to take a step back and relax with my firefighter buddies and give back the community.
8. Writing thoughts down in a journal. Writing helps me process my emotions when it comes to my bad days with cerebral palsy and dealing with the reality of being an adult with cerebral palsy.
9. Squeeze a stress ball. Life with cerebral palsy can be stressful at times, so I like to carry a stress ball to relieve anxiety. After a long day of doctors’ appointments and having to make decisions regarding your health, squeezing a stress ball can be a great way to handle your emotions and have a clear mindset.
Life with cerebral palsy can be stressful for sure, but I hope these nine tips can help you find the perfect self-care strategies for you.
Getty image by Stacey Newman.
Tylia L. Flores is a twenty-eight-year-old born with Spastic Cerebral Palsy. Despite her condition that affects her mobility, she does not allow it to affect her will and determination to make a difference in the world. Through her many life challenges and obstacles, she discovered her passion for writing. Tylia’s goal in life is to share her stories with the world. In doing so, she hopes to help others with disabilities realize that they, too, have the potential to make their dreams come true. Tylia is not only an author. She’s a radio show personality and a disability activist. Tylia has written about disability-related topics for Yahoo Life, Your Tango, The Mighty, ReadUnwritten.com, Words Between Coasts Project, Wednesday, Spilwords, and Goble Thrive. Worth Living Among her other appearances are Disability on the Spectrum and Why I was Afraid of Sexuality. Previously, Tylia was nominated to Diversabilities list of the most influential Disability Impacts of 2022. Additionally, Tylia holds the position of chairman in the creative director role for the North American Association Of Cerebral Palsy Advocates. She serves as a mentor for the Disability EmpowHer Network as well. Tylia also works for Write It Up Publishing as a sensitivity reader focusing on disability representation. Tylia has also been involved in many movie press releases for Samuel Goldwyn Films Come as you are Piece of me which was the short film directed and written by award winning filmmaker Bruna Cabral as well as the film adaptation of the book Calvin can’t fly by Jenifer Burnes Tylia is also a keynote speaker at 2020’s Cerebral Palsy Awareness conference. She has also been a guest speaker at Northeastern State University Broken Arrow where she talks to college students about disability and inclusion in education. She has also been a guest speaker at Plantation Middle School, where she discussed inclusion and disability with classmates. Tylia is fully certified in Education for All: Disability, Diversity, and Inclusion through Cape Town University. She’s also certified in Understanding Diversity and Inclusion through Purdue University. She’s also certified in creative writing at the University of East Anglia. Tylia hosts the Stomping On cerebral Palsy radio show with DJ Ty on Asheville FM with DJ Mouse during the Come On In the Kitchen segment once a month she also helps the staff behind the scenes, help bring awareness to disability awareness and inclusion within the radio broadcasting industry .
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