This is an exercise that asks, what does taking care look like for you? 

From a typical day last week, write out how you spent your time. Chunk the day into the main segments. For example, got out of bed, had a cup of tea or coffee, had a shower, breakfast, caught the bus to college, had a walk at lunchtime with a friend, writing down all the segments of your day to the end of the day. And once you've got a list, go through it, and next to each activity, ask did this nourish me?

And if it did, put an arrow pointing up next to it. And now ask, did any of the activities drain me or deplete me? If they did, put an arrow pointing down next to them. Some may be neutral neither nourishing nor depleting. That's fine.

Just leave them as they are. And it may be that some sometimes lift you up and sometimes drain you. Here put an upward and a downward arrow. So you'll have a list of a typical day with a sense of what from that day nourishes and depletes you. To fill out the list a bit further, maybe scan back over the last few weeks, months, even years, and ask yourself what else nourishes and depletes you.

Perhaps a change of scene, visiting someone you care about, or a holiday. You can use this to create a list of what nourishes you and depletes you. And what about the things that can be either nourishing or depleting? Here the question is, what makes the difference? So this practice used in an ongoing way is something that you can build into your life.

To have a sense of what nourishes you so that you can do more of those things. And what depletes you so you can have a sense of how you can maybe minimize or mitigate those things. And if you have a sense of what makes the difference between something being nourishing or depleting, again, sometimes small adjustments can make all the difference. What you're doing is beginning to take a really active role in your own well-being.