So self-care is definitely becoming a hot topic pretty much everywhere. And it’s for good reason! With all the stresses of day-to-day life and the pressures we put on ourselves to achieve society’s ideals of success – we often forget to take care of what truly matters: our own body, mind, and soul!
What is self-care?
Self-care is pretty self-explanatory, but it basically means giving yourself the care, rest, and even discipline that you need.
In my opinion, there are three categories of self-care: light and fun self-care, basic needs self-care, and deep and difficult self-care.
Light and fun self-care
This is the kind of self-care where you just treat yo’ self! This doesn’t have to be crazy extravagant, it just had to be something that makes you feel good and pulls you out of any funk that you might be in!
Basic needs self-care
This is the often forgotten, but very important self-care! This is taking care of things like your fitness, eating healthy, getting enough sleep, or even drinking enough water! You can expect to feel good if your body feels like crap!
Deep and difficult self-care
This is where you need to do some deep self-work and get to the root of your negative emotions. We’re gonna keep the focus on light and fun stuff for this article, but doing reflection and deep work can be very helpful for living a better life! That’s where you can get into the more therapeutic route and talk to a doctor or mental health professional.
Get ready for 100 light and fun self-care ideas
Social
Having a sense of community is very important for us as humans. Being social is a natural and essential part of the human experience! Make sure you’re around people who make you feel good! And say good-bye to toxic people!
- Call a friend you haven’t seen in a while
- Go out for a coffee with a friend
- Plan an adventure with someone
- Go to a meet-up
- Plan a party
- Ask your friends/family to tell you something they love about you
- Start a convo with someone at the grocery store/coffee shop
- Invite your co-workers out for lunch or a drink
Creative
Harnessing your creativity is going to activate different parts of your brain, which will distract you from your current negative emotions, and also over time, can create new, happier brain pathways!
- Start learning an instrument (or play your instrument)
- Write a creative story
- Sing at the top of your lungs
- Make a bracelet/necklace
- Give painting a try!
- Create a new baking recipe (or don’t risk it and just bake something normal)
- Find a new band/artist to listen to
- Play an uplifting playlist
In Nature
Nature is another thing that is essential for human beings! It just makes us feel totally calm. Try getting out there a bit more, it’s going to work wonders!
- Go for a walk or hike
- Lay in a field and watch the cloud
- Climb a tree (but be safe)
- Walk your dog (or offer to walk a friend’s dog)
- Just sit outside and breathe the fresh air
- Drive to a nice lookout, bring hot chocolate/tea/coffee
- Have a picnic
- Walk barefoot in the grass
- Go out and take a picture of pretty flowers
Healthy
Like I said at the beginning of the article, people usually forget to do these basic things! Make sure you aren’t neglecting your health, that’s definitely a self-care no-no!
- Make a new healthy recipe
- Go to the gym
- Do an at-home yoga session
- Meditate in a quiet space
- Take a nap
- Drink lots of water
- Just sit out or go out into the sun!
- Do a light stretching session! (Even something as simple as this can make you feel better!)
Luxurious
Just treat yo’ self!
- Spa day: Mani/Pedi and face masks
- Have a bubble bath
- Buy yourself flowers or gift
- Treat yourself to a nice dinner or dessert
- Get some essential oils or a nice candle
- Decorate your room to make it cosy and calm
- Go to a salt cave
- Book a night in a hotel
Inspirational
Nothing gets you out of a rut like dreaming about the future and all of its amazing possibilities! Or by talking to someone or reading about someone who just lives life right!
- Hang out with someone inspirational
- Watch some inspiring TED Talks
- Research things you would love to do and how to do them
- Find a new podcast or inspiring book!
- Start planning some goals! (With help from this goal planner!)
- Read a self-improvement book
- Start a vision board
- Write inspirational ideas on post-it notes and put them around the house
Productive
If you can start getting a few things organized in your life or start getting ahead on a few tasks, your stress will go WAY down and you’ll start feeling better instantly!
- Organize your desk/room
- Get a head start on a project/task
- Meal Prep for the week
- Plan your upcoming week
- Remove non-essential tasks from your to-do list
- Learn something new
- Wake up early and enjoy the morning
- Sleep in to catch up on sleep
Journaling
Journaling is an excellent way to get all your thoughts out! There are also some great free journaling for self-care worksheets here.
- Brain dump to clear your mind
- Start a mood tracker
- Find some journaling prompts that you like to do some guided journaling!
- Write 10 things you are grateful for
- Write 10 things you love about yourself, or check out this self-love journaling article
- Create a positive mantra for yourself, like these
- For every negative thought, write a positive one
- Write down all of your anxious thoughts, then rip the paper up
Fun
Having fun is what life should be all about!
- Watch a funny movie
- Find new comedians on Netflix or Youtube
- Have a dance party
- Make a funny video
- Try to learn a famous dance (think the Napolean Dynamite dance)
- Have a fashion show for yourself
- Do your hair and makeup real nice
- Play a board game
- Try doing a puzzle
- Colour in an adult colouring book
- Go to a park and people watch (bonus: imagine funny things they are saying)
- Give a stranger a high-five
Relaxing
Take a step back and let yourself relax. The world won’t end if you take a bit of time to yourself.
- Unplug from social media
- EFT Tapping
- Just sit and breathe for 10 mins
- Do a guided meditation from youtube
- Find some essential oils you like and diffuse them, or light a candle!
- Have a Netflix day
- Listen to a mediation/relaxation playlist
- Get a massage (or give yourself a neck massage)
Cathartic
Don’t we all just have those days where you just want to scream and punch something?? It’s ok to let yourself do that! As long as you’re not actually hurting anyone or yourself!
- Scream into a pillow if that is what needs to be done
- Punch a punching bag or your pillow
- Sit in your car and scream with music blasting
- Make a calming chamomile tea
- Have a b*tching session with your friends or fam (not about people, but about your stresses)
- Write a letter (that you won’t send) to someone who is bothering you
- Get rid of things that you don’t need and that have negative associations
- Watch a really sad movie to get all the tears out
- Do a social media purge of any toxic people in your life
Altruistic
Sometimes it just feels so damn good to help someone else! It’s almost selfish because of how good it makes you feel! It’s also great because it takes your mind off of your problems and puts the focus on other things!
- Donate to a charity
- Help out a friend with something they need
- Tell your friends and family what you love about them
- Bake cookies for people at work/school
- Pay for someone’s coffee/meal when you’re out
- Write something positive on someone’s social media
Now, if you are looking for other awesome tips for self-care, I will be coming out with lots of new content to help make self-care a habit! You can sign up below and I’ll send the resources over when they are ready!