Effective August Self Care Practices for Busy People

By windoverwaterAnti-Diet, Blog

A therapy-friendly survival guide for the emotionally exhausted overachiever

August is a strange month. It smells like sunscreen and back-to-school stress. It looks like a beach calendar but feels like an Outlook calendar on fire. For many high-achievers, August becomes the psychological equivalent of holding your breath: summer’s freedom is ending, and fall’s performance review is loading.

If you’re reading this from a place of burnout, resentment, numbness, or quiet dread – you’re not alone. For the perfectionist who can “hold it together” long past their limit, summer doesn’t always feel like relief. It feels like pressure to relax “correctly,” to be present, productive, and grateful all at once.

This month’s theme? Lower the bar. Loosen the grip. Let something go.

We’re not going to force joy, gratitude, or “healing vibes.” Instead, let’s explore practical, body-aware, compassion-focused strategies that don’t require a full identity makeover or a Pinterest-worthy routine.

The Watermelon Model of Self-Care

Simplicity, satiety, and sweetness – no hustle required – Watermelon Day is August 3rd

Watermelon might be the most anti-perfectionist fruit. It’s a mess. It’s best when it drips down your arm and stains your shirt. In a culture that sanitizes and optimizes our free time and pleasure, watermelon reminds us: you are allowed to be messy and satisfied at the same time.

Try this:

  • Buy a whole watermelon. Cut it however. Eat it with your hands. That’s it.
  • Pair it with music that makes you feel like a kid again – not a to-do list.
  • Reflect: What’s one small sensory pleasure you’ve denied yourself because it “wasn’t convenient,” “wasn’t productive,” or “wasn’t earned”?

Clinical reframe:

Sensory experiences like taste, texture, and hydration engage the parasympathetic nervous system. They signal safety. For those with eating issues or diet history, this can be a meaningful challenge to the “only earn pleasure through control” script. Don’t skip the discomfort. Just notice it.

Books as Nervous System Medicine

National Book Lovers Day – August 9

Books offer something that many high-functioning clients desperately need: temporary escape without emotional numbing. Reading doesn’t just pass the time – it reintroduces imagination, empathy, and curiosity when life feels transactional.

Practice prompts:

  • Set a “no performance” reading hour. Not for work. Not for self-improvement. Just story.
  • Revisit a book that soothed you during another hard time. What part of you needed it then? What part of you might need it now?
  • Try journaling after reading: What emotions came up? Did you feel more present, or more avoidant? What might that mean?

Clinical reframe:

For clients with overcontrol patterns, reading can access emotional flexibility and imaginative openness. Fiction in particular allows indirect emotional processing – what DBT might call “vulnerable but safe.”

Rollercoasters and Regulation

Why the ups and downs are more than metaphor – Rollercoaster Day is August 16th

Rollercoasters are chaotic, loud, and sometimes nausea-inducing. So is healing. Emotional recovery is rarely linear, and the belief that you should “feel better by now” often signals internalized perfectionism, not actual failure.

Use this image:

  • Where are you in the ride right now? Going up? Paused at the top? Screaming on the way down?
  • What strategies have helped you “stay in the seat” when everything feels unsteady?
  • What would it look like to honor the part of you that’s afraid to let go?

Clinical reframe:

In trauma recovery and eating disorder treatment, we often ask clients to ride the wave of emotional intensity without self-punishment or avoidance. It’s okay to feel scared, angry, or even numb – your nervous system isn’t broken; it’s trying to survive the loop.

National Relaxation Day – August 15 

Rest isn’t lazy. It’s physiological recovery.

Rest is not optional for humans. But productivity culture has told you it is. Women with histories of overfunctioning, eating disorders, or chronic caregiving often experience rest as guilt, not relief. This is diet culture in disguise – shaming you for basic needs.

Try this:

  • Block 40 minutes for “non-doing.” No productivity. No scrolling. Just sit, float, breathe, wander.
  • Ask: What would rest look like if I believed my body didn’t have to earn it?
  • Track: What emotions arise when you don’t fill every moment with effort? Is there shame? Fear? Boredom?

Clinical reframe:

RO-DBT teaches us that emotional overcontrol often masks itself as discipline. Rest disrupts that pattern. Use your wise mind here: rest is not indulgent. It is regulation. And if it brings up resistance – that’s data.

National Dog Day – August 26

Regulation modeled by your favorite floof

Dogs don’t ask permission to stretch out in the sun, fall asleep mid-sentence, or bark at what scares them. They aren’t worried about “earning” downtime. On Dog Day, borrow that wisdom. Try behaving like someone who knows they’re worthy.

Try this:

  • Lie on the floor for five minutes. Breathe. Observe. Do nothing else.
  • Name three ways your body shows up for you today – no qualifiers.
  • Pet your dog (or a friend’s). Match their breathing. Follow their gaze. Mimic their posture. Weird? Maybe. Effective? Also yes.

Clinical reframe:

Therapy often helps rebuild internal trust. Animals teach secure attachment with no words. They model attunement, presence, and nonjudgment – something many of us were not given growing up.

National Beach Day – August 30 

The nervous system loves water – and sand

You don’t need a beachfront to experience the regulation that beaches offer. The combination of rhythm (waves), texture (sand), and spaciousness calms the default mode network – the part of the brain responsible for rumination and self-critique.

Practice ideas:

  • Do barefoot grounding in sand, dirt, or grass. Pay attention to what your feet are saying.
  • Journal using wave imagery: What’s cresting? What’s receding? What’s still?
  • Build a beach-at-home ritual: ocean sounds, soft lighting, a snack you love, and five intentional breaths.

Clinical reframe:

Clients with eating disorders or trauma often disconnect from their physical bodies. Grounding exercises re-anchor you in the now – without the need for cognitive “fixing.” Just be where you are.

August Reflection Themes

Self-perception, rest, and body trust

This month, consider:

  • What parts of your self-worth are still tied to performance?
  • Where might neutrality be more healing than positivity or control?
  • How would you treat your body if its value wasn’t up for debate?

Therapist Takeaway:

You are not a project to fix. Your body is not a resume. Your emotions are not problems to solve. In this season of transition, permission is the intervention.

Quotes to Use in Session or Journaling

  • “You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”  –  Buddha
  • “You are allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress.”  –  Sophia Bush
  • “Body neutrality is about teaching myself to proceed with self-compassion, even when body dysmorphia makes it impossible to feel positive.”  –  Essayist, them.us
  • “Dogs do speak, but only to those who know how to listen.”  –  Orhan Pamuk
  • “Rest is not idleness… it is the necessary reset of the soul.”  –  adapted from John Lubbock

Affirmations

  • My body is not a task. It is already enough.
  • Rest is not a reward. It’s a requirement.
  • I don’t have to like my body to care for it.
  • I am not behind. I am healing on time.
  • I can notice discomfort without judging it.

Resources & References