“Self love and self-care aren’t selfish.” I remember stating this as my thesis in my final speech during freshman year.
For most of my academic life, I considered myself as a machine that simply had no downtime to relax. I was a firm believer of spending time wisely; however, I may have taken it a notch too far. Study breaks within the day were allocated to finishing my extra co-curricular duties in student council and journalism. Unexpected free time was spent updating my calendar, adding more tasks to my to do list, and emailing stakeholders of the month’s event I’m organizing.
Despite the absence of time for myself, I wasn’t really bothered. The sense of satisfaction from doing typical Type A student activities fueled my desire to sustain this type of lifestyle. My meritocratic way of thinking kept me in denial from the truth that I may be spreading myself out too thin.
Soon enough, I tapped into burnout territory and felt my health deteriorating. That’s when I first discovered the essence of self-care.
RELATED: Feeling Deeply Unmotivated? You Might Be Experiencing Burnout.
Why is Self-Care Essential?
Even though we hate to admit it, we can’t be the image of strength at all times. You can’t be the best version of yourself if you’re prioritizing work over your own health.
Self-care does wonders that most people often overlook. Almost all people who are often cranky, anxious and stressed have one thing in common: self-care is far down on their list of priorities. If you actually pay attention to your physical, emotional and spiritual needs, you’ll be able to cultivate a healthier relationship with yourself.
Before you can offer your help to others, make sure that you’ve given yourself enough rest. Self-care doesn’t necessarily need a complicated routine that requires you to spend and go out. Doing something as simple as breathing exercises already counts for self-care. When you develop a habit of taking care of yourself, you’ll notice an increase in self-esteem and self-confidence, both of which are essential in improving your performance.
To give you a headstart, here’s a list of 30 simple self-care ideas you can do at home. The activities are broken down into three categories: mind, body and soul. Feel free to do more from the category which you think requires more of your attention.
Self-Care Ideas to Do at Home
Mind
- Write a love letter to yourself
- Journal
- Create a vision board
- Read a self-help book
- Listen to a podcast
- Declutter your room
- Paint, color or draw
- Write morning pages
- Solve a crossword or sudoku
- Learn a new skill
Body
- Take a bubble bath
- Do a pamper sesh (face mask, mani pedi)
- Eat a healthy home cooked meal
- Do yoga
- Follow a youtube exercise video
- Rest and sleep
- Brew a cup of coffee or tea
- Drink water
- Get some sun
- Dance out to a happy track
Soul
- Unplug
- Meditate
- Talk to a friend
- Create a gratitude list
- Cuddle with your pet
- Listen to mood boosting music
- Recite positive affirmations to yourself
- Try gardening
- Print out pictures that make you happy
- Wear clothes that make you feel good
So so many great ideas! This post is organized in such a helpful way. I think I need some major self-care in each of these categories!
Yes you do, Ruth! Self-care should be a constant thing in your life. 🙂
Self-care is SO essential. It took me YEARS to realize this. I love your self-care advice! I do most of these suggestion, but the one I don’t do is declutter my room. Taking on the task today!
It also took me years, Brianna! I’m just glad we’ve realized this now instead of still staying in denial about the importance of self-care!
What a lovely post – I love the layout of your blog and can’t wait to put some of these ideas into action!
Thanks, Karen! I hope you were able to do some of these self-care ideas! <3
This post is so important. I’m a digital nomad who has juggled two to three jobs at a time in the last few years. I kept forgetting to take care of myself and was constantly hitting that wall. Self care saved me. I now notice when I don’t take a me-day each week that my muscles feel tighter and my mind more of a mess. I’m definitely going to try out a gratitude list as that’s something I want to get better at.
Hi, Nina! I’ve also juggled a lot of jobs in the past few months and it really drained me. With these self-care ideas, I was able to bring back my lively self! I hope these ideas work for you too! 🙂
Hi Cristina
i loved you suggestion for Mind, Body and Soul! Most of the time we dont even take care of one of them but to take a wholistic approach…
A lot of people only focus on self-care for the body and completely forget about the mind and soul! To really feel better, it’s important to take care of each aspect of yourself. 🙂
Self-care is essential for our well-being, thank you for your great ideas!
You’re welcome, Stephanie!
This post is awesome! I can’t tell you the importance of following the advice in this post – this year I made a huge change: 1. dedicated mindfulness to help achieve 8 – 10 hours of sleep a night; 2. create a quiet space for me/meditation/calmness time; and 3. focused on health (versus dieting, calorie counting, etc.,) – and I feel so much better! Great post – I’m sharing it with some friends who would benefit from reading it!
Thanks, Rebecca! 🙂
YES!!!! stealing all of these ideas. a bubble bath is my favorite. going to take one right now!!!
There’s just something so relaxing about bubble baths, am I right? 🙂
I like to take care of myself, but even more I like to do it naturally with home remedies. How many ideas, how many ideas! Thank you!
You’re welcome, Cristina!
Amen to decluttering, learning new skills and bubble bath (too bad I don’t have a bath tub anymore, sob)
You can always skip the bubble bath and just wrap yourself with a comfy robe! Wearing a face mask with a glass of wine in hand should be enough too! 😉
It’s so important to practice self-care. For many it’s easier said than done, but you listed some very easily attainable suggestions. Unplugged from social media, etc. is a huge one for me.
I agree with you, Heather! Unplugging from social media has always worked wonders for me as well 🙂
I think you post makes it easy to take care of ourselves. Thank for listing them out. Though they are simple, they demystify what can seem so elusive for most. Bless x
You’re welcome!
Self-care is the most ignored part of my life. But your post is the perfect reminder for me, I’ll follow these steps and take care of myself.
Glad to hear that, Puja!
I love how you broke this down into mind, body, and soul. Self-care is SO much more than bubble baths and face masks and I love all the options you shared!
You’re welcome, Kelsey! 🙂
I absolutely love self-care so this is super helpful for me! Love these ideas – they all seem so calming and relaxing. Thank you for these wonderful suggestions !
You’re welcome, Pam!
Wonderful post filled with amazing ideas! I love journaling. It helps me center and calm myself before the non-stop day starts. Thank you for sharing!
Glad to hear that you love journaling too, Tiffany!
Great ideas, self-care us so important especially during a global pandemic
It truly is!
People tend to forget about self-care and it’s important to remind ourselves to take a break once in a while. Your blog alone sends me calming vibes. I love it, keep it up!
Aww thank you for your kind words, Mikaella!