Self-care is super important. It allows us to manage feelings in a healthy way. It has been clinically proven to reduce stress and anxiety.
Engaging in self-care regularly can also help improve our immune system, strengthen relationships, and allow us to care for others better.
You might be reading this right now thinking “Ok, yes I know self-care is important, but how can I add self-care into my daily routine?”
Here are three steps to help make self-care part of your routine.
Step 1: Stop thinking about self-care with a narrow view
First, it’s time to address your mindset. Do you think of self-care as only expensive face masks or getting your nails done?
If this is your type of self-care and it serves you well, then go for it!
However, this is not the only type of self-care and viewing it as such only turns people away that could really benefit from it!
Self-care literally means paying attention to and supporting one’s own physical and mental health.
And guess what? That looks different for everyone!
So go ahead and #treatyourself with a face mask if that’s your thing. But if it isn't do not give up.
There are hundreds of ways for you to engage in self-care.
This leads us to step 2.
Step 2: Find what works for you
You are a unique individual, so my self-care plan and yours are not going to look the same!
We each need different self-care practices based on our personalities.
You need to find what works best for you. But how?
Start by asking yourself these two questions:
What helps you relax and unwind?
What do you love to do? (purely for your own enjoyment. Not for anyone else's’ agenda)
For more clues about how you can best practice self-care take Dr.Judy’s free Animal Personality Test.
Dr. Judy is a triple board-certified and licensed Clinical and Forensic Neuropsychologist. In common speech, this means that she studies relationships between the brain and behavior.
She created this assessment that will help identify your personality type. Dr.Judy has also created a self-care do and don’ts page based on your results.
Use the data you’ve collected from the test and your answers to the two questions above to come up with some self-care activities that may be beneficial for you!
Some examples of self-care activities include:
Journaling
Take time to engage in a hobby that you enjoy (paint, sculpt, go for a bike ride, go skiing, try baking, etc)
Exercise
Take a walk
Read a book or listen to a podcast
Call or facetime with a friend
Now it's time to give these activities a try. Continue doing whatever works best for you!
Step 3: Create a schedule
So now that you have identified some self-care practices that you would like to try, it’s time to actually schedule them in.
When you have something that cannot be missed, you write it down in your calendar right?
Self-care is a priority, so go right ahead and schedule it into your week!
I’ve even provided this free weekly self-care planner to help you get started. Use this sheet to help plan your week and then write down these activities in your planner or on your phone. Download it here!
If you do not enjoy your first set of self-care activities try something new next time. You can repeat this set of steps as many times as you need to!
I hope you found this blog post helpful and encouraging. Make sure that you are loving yourself well and engaging in regular self-care (whatever that looks like for you).
Comments