Aloha lovely! If you’ve clicked on this blog post chances are you’re here because you’re feeling a bit stressed out and maybe a little under appreciated. This happens to us all, and one way to combat this is with a good self care routine.
Practicing Self Care is a necessity. If you don’t take care of yourself it’s hard to show up every day for your career, partner, pets, and friends. If you’re chronically tired, overworked, eating like crap and not practicing self-care, you’re bound to become overwhelmed.
Creating a simple self care routine is a great first step in helping to replenish your energy and improve your mood and your life. Creating a Self Care Practice can help decrease anxiety, reduce stress, and increase productivity.
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What is Self Care?
Self Care is the act of caring for yourself. You can do this in so many ways.
- Self Care can be taking a personal day from work when you need it.
- Caring for yourself can be getting eyelash extensions and pedicures.
- It can be done by going to the gym and eating healthy.
- Self Care can be taking a nap.
- Or going shopping.
- It can even be traveling the world.
There aren’t a lot of rules on how to practice Self Care. And the reason is; your Self Care is unique to you.
Creating a routine where you practice Self Care can help decrease anxiety, reduce stress, and increase productivity.
The Different Types of Self Care
Physical Self Care:
- Eat a Well Balanced Diet
- Skin Care
- Pampering/Grooming
- Exercise
- Stress Relief
Emotional Self Care:
Mental Self Care:
- Learn Something New
- Listen to a Podcast
- Read a Book
- Goal Setting
Spiritual Self Care:
- Meditation
- Prayer
- Tarot/Oracle Cards
- Go to Church/Temple
Social Self Care:
- Catch up with a family member
- Meet a Friend for Coffee
- Have a Girl’s Night
- Host a Dinner Party
How to Get Started
Find out What Self Care Practices are Best for You
I like to take each of the above “Types of Self Care” and brainstorm 3-5 things for each category. I choose things I enjoy, and a few that are less fun but will help me to live a happier healthier life.
If you’re not sure where to get started you can use these thought starters below to help you determine what types of self care practice could be most beneficial for you.
Self Care Thought Starters:
- I feel guilty when I can’t/don’t….
- I feel most myself when I take time to…..
- What makes me the most confident/happy?
- I get irritated when I don’t have time to….
Create an Easy to Follow Schedule
Using the above categories and the answers to your “thought starter” prompts begin breaking them down in to time lines. What things should you do daily/weekly/monthly to live the best life. Then start incorporating them into your routine.
Examples of Daily Self Care-
- Drink 8 Cups of Water
- Take a 20 minute Walk
- Journal
- Take my medicine
- Read a book
- Meditate
- Mindful Morning Rituals
Examples of Weekly Self Care-
- Go to church/temple
- Do a tarot or oracle card reading
- Have a Spa Day at home
- Meet your best friend for coffee/lunch
- Have date night with your significant other
Examples of Monthly Self Care-
- Set monthly goals
- Organize your Bullet Journal
- Host a Dinner Party
- Get a massage
- Take a short trip somewhere you’ve never been
- Journal Prompts for the Full Moon
Putting Together Your Self Care Routine:
The idea of creating a self-care routine that works for you is all about balance. Taking care of ourselves is important and carving out as little as 10-15 minutes a day can really make a difference.
And one of the best things about self-care is that after awhile taking care of yourself and doing things to nourish your mind, body, and soul won’t take so long to plan.
And don’t be afraid to switch up your self-care routine with the seasons (life’s seasons are just as important as summer, fall, winter, and spring.) In the summer I like to spend as much time as possibly outside, so my self-care routine reflects that. In the cooler winter months, I might be more inclined to learn a new language or read a good book.
I love reading these self-care blog posts because I find them so inspiring and they always give me new ideas, such as adapting the type of self-care to the season, such a great idea. I also loved that you differentiated the different types of self-care, many people associate it only to beauty care in general, but yes something as simple as taking a day off from work when we feel we need it can go a long way. Thanks for this great post.
Hi Ana! I am so happy that you found us. Self Care can often be associated with beauty and skin care but it has multiple layers. Thanks for your kind comment!
Love this. Self care is so important!
I love that you broke this down into types of self-care!
Thank you Lily!
I am constantly working on my self care. I used to do NO self care, now I make an effort every week to do something. Doesn’t always work out, but I am getting better!!!!
I am so happy to hear that you’re starting to make self-care a bigger priority for yourself. I din’t really know what self care was when I was younger, and got really burnt out a lot. So it’s good to at least try! But I’ll agree with you, it doesn’t always work out. What’s your favorite way to practice self-care?
I think it’s so great that you broke down the specific types of self-care. While I’ve found that giving myself time to read a book or take a bath definitely helps, what was really big for me was the social aspect especially with everything going on. Even just scheduling some zoom sessions with friends, and now a few outdoor meet-ups, has helped so much.
Thank you Becky! I used to not understand that there are a lot of different types of self-care and seemed to yo-yo back and forth, sometimes I’m great at physical self-care, sometimes great at spiritual self-care, but finding balance is something I am working on. I’m glad to hear that you are scheduling zoom calls and hanging out outside, these two things have saved my self-care routine these last few months.
I pinned this post to save for later because it really is so beneficial. Self care is incredibly important to me, and I find that really setting intentions in a self care routine is necessary for me to … well … function properly haha. Otherwise I get totally burnt out and frustrated! Thanks for this!
This is a really comprehensive list of options for self care! Our New Year’s resolution was to spend more time on self care but, we really haven’t made much of an effort. This really broadens perspective on options we hadn’t considered. Thanks!
New Years Resolutions are often a struggle for me too! I am glad that you found this article and hope it helps you rethink your self-care practice and create a good routine!
I love this! I am guilty of not really having a self-care routine. Instead, I just do little things when I think of them. I really should sit down and brainstorm some ideas to have more of a real routine.
I hope this list article will help you with brainstorming some ideas! It can be hard to just sit down and get started with the brainstorm but is so worth it!