This post is all about the best self care routine.
Self-care is a crucial aspect of maintaining physical, mental, and emotional well-being. With the fast-paced and often demanding nature of modern life, taking care of ourselves can sometimes be forgotten. However, by prioritizing self-care, we can improve our overall health and happiness.
You need to take care of yourself. We’ll make it simple in this post so you can get to the relaxing part without the overwhelming part. This routine is focused on taking a break from the world and doing something revolutionarily simple: putting yourself first.
So, what does the best self-care routine look like? The answer is simple – it looks like what works best for you! Self-care should be tailored to your unique needs, preferences, and lifestyle.
This post is all about the self care routine.
BEST SELF CARE ROUTINE:
1. Relax and care for your body
The first step in any good self care routine is to care for the body. While we always need to go further than this step to truly care for ourselves, we do need to start here to put ourselves in the right frame of mind.
Here are three ways you can relax and care for your body because I’m guessing you’ve been neglecting that recently.
Put on a clay face mask
Get yourself a clay powder face mask. You can add water, honey, aloe vera, or yogurt to customize the mask to best fit your skin’s needs. Once you mix in your wet ingredient, you’ll be ready for it to go onto your face and give the best-feeling skin you’ve had in a long time.
Plus, there’s always something so satisfying about waiting for the clay to get mostly dry before you wash it off. So, get yourself a book, fill up your bathtub, and put on this mask.
Moisturize on a daily basis
We need to take care of ourselves and make ourselves feel good on a daily basis, which is why we’re talking about moisturizing now. Everyone’s skin is different and has different needs. Maybe you have oily skin that really doesn’t require moisturizer every day.
However, everyone should be doing whatever their skin needs to be its healthiest. This isn’t about looking presentable for other people; it’s just about what feels good to you and your skin.
When you’re starting out, here are a couple of steps you can use in your skin routine: exfoliator (face scrub or chemical exfoliator to get rid of dead skin), facial oil (helps with evening skin tone and hydrating your skin), moisturizer (locks in the hydration and makes your skin soft), and sunscreen (keeps you from getting burnt).
Get bubbles for a hot bath
You can never go wrong with aroma therapy or bubbles. They make you feel like a queen while giving you a real, physical benefit (although feeling like a queen does wonders for your mind).
Take some time for yourself and take a bath or get some aroma therapy going on with a shower steamer if you don’t like baths.
The point here is to treat yourself and relax your body. So, this shouldn’t be the only step you take from this list, but you should definitely take this one seriously.
2. Schedule movement into your day
The next time you’re having a bad day, get up and move. We’re not going for the “train for a marathon” or “bench twice your weight” kind of movement because you can accomplish your best self care routine for a lot less.
Brisk walk outside
When you start hating the world, go for a walk. If you’re tired and need a pick-me-up, go for a walk. Sometimes, getting yourself outside is all you need to feel better and reset.
When we talk about the best self care routine, we’re not talking about only self care that you do when you want to pamper yourself—even though we want to do that, too.
We’re talking about caring for yourself when that’s just about the last thing you want to do because that’s when you need it the most. So, that’s when you go outside and take a five- or ten-minute walk to get yourself into a better headspace by activating your body.
Dance to your favorite music for ten minutes
Jamming to your favorite song is the kind of movement we’re into when we’re talking self care. We want to focus on joyful movement rather than movement that stresses us out. So, take out the Spotify playlist that gets you in the zone and move to it for ten minutes.
This is all for you, so you can do this with headphones and a closed door. Remind yourself that you choose how you move and you can choose joyful movement. Tune out the people who tell you movement has to look a certain way to “count.”
Go for a mile-long run
If you feel like it, run a mile. Most people have a complicated relationship with running because they see others run marathons and can’t relate. So, if running stresses you out, stick to movement that brings you joy while caring for your body.
Running can look like anything from a jog slow enough that people can walk faster than you or a sprint so fast that you can’t keep it up for that long. Either way, you do what makes you feel good because that’s what movement and exercise should feel like.
3. Make space for mindfulness and meditation
Meditation means you’re taking time away from everything happening in the world and staying in your head by yourself. It’s hard to tune out the urge to pick up your phone, talk to someone, or put a show on the TV.
However, this type of self care is what benefits you mentally. Meditating is tough in the moment because you’re training your brain to stop focusing on thoughts, and that’s kind of what you’ve been doing since you were born.
So, be kind to yourself when you try it, but make sure you really do try it.
Use guided meditation
Whether you meditate on your own or use guided meditation, you’re working on yourself and that’s amazing. So, if you’re new to meditation or you really enjoy having someone with more experience guide your meditation, try out some of these options.
It’s easy to find the kind of meditation you’re looking for with a quick search. Whether you want to unwind and relax or you want to work on mental health, you’ll find the perfect meditation for you.
Turn off your phone for an hour
We’ve all heard it before and we usually never follow the advice. So, maybe you turn your phone Do Not Disturb or turn on Airplane mode. Either way, you’ll probably notice how much more content you feel when you’re not going on social media for that quick dopamine hit.
No shade because we all do it and we all tell ourselves it’s not good for us to spend three hours on TikTok. So, if you notice social media is hurting your mental health, do your best to avoid it for a little while.
Practice deep breathing for five minutes
Deep breathing is so good because it’s almost like meditation, but it’s more accessible and much faster. When you’re losing it or simply wanting to slow down, take a breath in that last longer than the one you exhale.
You can try box breathing if that works for you. Or you can try taking five deep breaths to reset and remind yourself that your health comes first.
4. Prioritize sleep and recharge
Sleep is important and we need to treat it like it is. We need to guard our sleeping time and treat it like it’s as indispensable as the rest of our time. So, let’s protect our sleep and make sure it gives us the chance to recharge.
Keep your phone away from your bed
Charge your phone in a different part of the room to keep it away from you during bed. When you keep your phone next to you, it’s that much easier to stay up for an extra half an hour before bed and get up half an hour later.
Plus, we need to check in on how much our phones actually help us like we want them to. If you’re anything like me, you’ll get your phone out to dissociate. So, let’s protect our relationship with sleep and keep our phones out of reach.
Play ambient noise
There’s nothing more satisfying than falling asleep to the ocean or rain or whatever type of noise makes you feel 100% cozy. You can find ambient noises anywhere on the internet, use Calm, or purchase an actual noise maker.
You may not use it every night, but, when you do, you’ll appreciate the solace you get. So, find a speaker or turn your phone up and enjoy your night.
Set up a sleep schedule for those full eight hours
When you make your schedule and include everything from your the days you need to clean to the holidays for this month, you need to start including sleep. Sleep time is just as important as the rest of the tasks you’re completing, so put it on the calendar and set aside time.
Treat your sleep like you’re getting paid for it and watch how it benefits you.
5. Cultivate your social network
Spend time with the people you care about. Give them the space they deserve in your life because they’re the ones who complete your life. As much as we take care of ourselves, we need to show up for the relationships that matter to us because we’ll notice the benefits.
Set up a lunch or dinner date with a friend
Meet up with a friend from high school or college or your last job. Take the time to see them, catch up with them, and be their friend. Not only does this improve your relationship with them, but you’ll enjoy it!
So, get out your phone and text someone you want to see. They’ll love hearing from you and you’ll feel gratified for reaching out.
Text a family member
Even if we don’t want to stay in touch with everyone in our family, there’s probably someone whose relationship we value. Mother, father, sister, brother, aunt, uncle. Whoever it is, reach out to them and let them know you’re thinking about them.
This might even turn into a phone call or meet-up and, look at that, you’re taking care of yourself by taking care of your relationships. One of the best feelings in the world is feeling loved by the people in your life and showing them love back.
Check in with your partner
If you’re in a romantic relationship with someone, it can be really easy to fall into a routine. Especially if you both work full-time. You can get used to waking up, working, eating, and going to bed all without really connecting to your partner emotionally or physically.
We all do it and, sometimes, we need to rely on our partner to accept that. But, when we’re taking the time to care for ourselves, we need to care for our relationships. The moment we start taking those for granted, we’re missing out on that joy.
6. Focus on your personal growth
Personal growth is broad and complex. It can refer to anything from your job satisfaction to your finances to your learning. To practice personal growth self care, we need to understand what we want, where we are, and what’s missing.
We also need to accept when nothing is missing and do the work to love what we have.
Audit your bank statements
Take out your most recent bank statements and start there. Think about where your money is going and whether that’s helping you achieve your goals. The key to this self care is kindness. You can’t learn and make changes without being kind to yourself.
So, as you look through your bank statements, be honest with yourself about what you want your money to do and how well it’s doing that. Make a plan, whether that’s a budget or goals, and stick to it. Re-evaluate after a month and make more changes.
Find a new podcast, book, or documentary
Learn something new. See more of the world than you did yesterday. Find a topic that interests you and find out something new about it. Listen to a story from someone who experienced the world in a completely different way than you.
Fiction or non-fiction, reenactment or talking heads. Find new information that interests you and learn about just for the sake of feeling fulfilled.
Check with your goals
No matter what area you’re trying to improve, you need goals. Goals are designed to make you happier than the day before by making sure you’re acting on a daily basis in your own best interest.
Your goals can be anything from “Meditate once a day” to “Save $10 a month” to “Cook dinner once a week.” Make goals that fit the life you want and make sure you know why you want to accomplish them.
