Looking for ideas for self care is an easy thing to do; you can type it in on Google and Pinterest and you are given lists and lists of ideas.
But, sometimes things that other people consider self care may not be what you consider to be self care.
The first thing to do to figure out your personal ideas for self care that will gratify you is to figure out what you like doing and then identifying the areas of your life where you have stress/ anxiety.
Then, look for activities that will satisfy those needs. This self care list may have some ideas for you!
Here are some other posts on self care that you may want to have a read of:
Creative Hobbies For Adults That Will Take You Back To Your Childhood!
Ideas For Self Care When Driving Alone (Easy & Life Changing!)
How A Hygge Lifestyle Is Your Cure To Stress
Positive Affirmations In The Morning To Elevate Your Day
If you want to find self care tips for mental health and ideas for the eight components of wellness in your life (physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual, social, professional, environment and financial), definitely have a read of these posts:
SELF CARE IDEA (Part 1) – Find One That Suits Your Personality Type
SELF CARE IDEA (Part 2) – Find One That Suits Your Personality Type
It goes through all the 16 personality types and gives you self care ideas for all eight areas of your life.
Self care ideas
Meditate/ yoga/ exercise
Routines (e.g. morning routine, night routine, cleaning schedule etc.)
EAT!!
Gardening/ venturing in the outdoors
Start a terrarium
Spend time with children/ loved ones
Enjoy your breakfast
Charity work/ volunteering
Shopping
Better your posture
Eat nutrient dense food
Facial massage
Declutter
Drink water
Make a gratitude list
Meal plan
Spa day
Cut caffeine
Better your relationship with yourself
Have something to look forward to/ make a plan every week
Set time aside for a relaxing activity
Take a day trip to another city
Take care of your gut
Say yes to exciting opportunities and no to things that don’t make you feel happy
Take a break
Get a pet/ plant friend
Get organised
Journal
Talk to someone
Puzzles/ Crosswords
Get creative with arts & crafts!
Do pottery
Cook/ bake
Take care of your body
Socialise
Read
Watch movies/ documentaries
Try some online courses
Get enough sleep
Don’t mindlessly scroll on your phone (set a time limit)
Try some beauty/ make up hacks!
Get into sports
Work on your passion
Take care of your finances
See your loved ones and rectify past mistakes
Educate yourself
Help others
Make your home an inviting place
Look for new experiences
Fix or get over past problems
Experiment!
Go to the library or book shop
Burn a candle and put your diffuser on
Wear a cool outfit
Watch an uplifting show
Get rid of small, meddlesome tasks
Go to somewhere scenic and don’t snap it
Unfollow people who don’t make you feel good about yourself
Explore museums/ galleries
Take up photography
Design clothes
Create some outfits
Scrapbook/ photo album
Nail art
Home décor
How do you plan a self-Care day?
The best thing to do to have a self care day where you focus solely on enjoying yourself/ relaxing is to allocate a day for it.
That means you don’t have any plans on that day and certainly no work plans. So, guard your time for yourself. Your time shouldn’t only be important when you have a deadline or a work obligation to fulfil, it should also be important when you want to spend time to enjoy yourself.
Don’t feel bad that you want to relax at home and do a movie marathon rather than going out with all your friends. If you’re not in the mood to go out and being at home with a mug of hot chocolate is what you want, that’s perfectly fine.
Another way to plan a self care day is to keep a list of things you want to do. If an idea pops up in your head during the day, quickly jot it down in this list.
You’ll find that by the end of the week you’ve accumulated a whole list of things to do on your self care day. This tip is especially great for those of you who don’t like laying in bed all day and want to get things done.
This final point isn’t to do with planning a self care day (but read this if you want to find five essential steps to planning your perfect self-care day & self care routine), but with practicing self care in general.
Practice self-care every day, whether it be for five minutes or an hour. Enjoy the process of making your morning cup of tea, wake up before the day begins and watch the sun rise or go for a full on pamper session.
You can practice self care in so many different ways and being present in daily life is just one way.
Practicing self care is extremely important. What’s the point of working like crazy if you have no joy outside of work? You may think in your head that you do loads of things outside of work, but when was the last time you spent quality time by yourself for yourself.
Spending quality time by yourself is just as needed and essential as spending time with loved ones. When you’re by yourself, you can figure out who you are, what your interests are, what areas of your life you want to improve on.
There’s no point going out with your friends every weekend and taking billions of snaps to put on your story when you look in the mirror and think bad things about yourself.
Taking care of yourself, and making yourself strong and confident will make daily experiences 10 times better, I promise you.
And the best way to start doing that is to do self care activities that you enjoy where have the space to be yourself and not be afraid that anyone is judging you.
