Design Your Unique Self Care Routine

Last week I shared my views on self care…. and now its time to get into the nitty gritty of how to apply this to your everyday life.

Self-care looks different for every person.The practices that will best recharge and refresh you are probably not identical to what works for your mom or your co workers. It is necessary to create your unique self care regimen that is specially tailored to your needs and your schedule.

In this blog post I want to walk you through how to come up with your very own self care routine. First I want to discuss my special formula for self care, then I will reveal my own personal routine and finally I will ask you a series of questions to help you design your unique self care regimen. Sound good? Let’s dive in!

SELF CARE FORMULA

After much research and personal experience, I  would argue that there are two absolutely essential ingredients to every self care routine.

1. Mindfulness practice
2. Physical activity

We can think of this as the basic needs of the mind and physical body. 

A mindfulness practice is any behavior that aims to bring your awareness into the present moment. Meditation is the obvious example of a mindfulness practice and one I highly recommend, but it is not the only way to ground yourself in the here and now.

Some other activities could include savoring a cup of coffee or tea in the morning. This means being fully present and engaged in your beverage of choice. It means being in a quiet place, putting down your phone, and paying close attention to all of the flavors swirling around in your mouth. Notice the bitter and earthy smell of the fresh brew, pay close attention to the subtle vanilla undertones in the otherwise full bodied flavor. Try to use each of your five senses to enhance this experience. Other examples of mindfulness practices include paying attention to your breath, savoring a hot shower, doing a body scan. 

Physical activity is a fairly obvious and equally crucial component of self care. Our bodies were meant to move around. You don’t have to start doing cross fit or even set foot in a gym. There are so many ways to add exercise and movement into your schedule. It literally doesn’t even matter if you go for a 10 minute walk after lunch or resolve to take the stairs up to your 5th floor apartment everyday.  Daily physical activity is an absolute must. 

MY SELF CARE ROUTINE

I think it is easy to get overwhelmed by the idea of creating your own self-care routine. What I want to do is walk you through my personal routine as an example and then get into the nitty gritty about how to make one of your own.

My self care routine has three parts:

• 5 Daily non-negotiable practices. Five things I must do every single day no matter what.
• 3 Weekly non- negotiable practices. Same as above, except for weekly.
• Self care menu: A list of fun little pick me ups for when I need extra love and attention.

Let’s go through each part in turn.

Daily Self Care Practices

 I have 5 non-negotiable practices that I aim to do every single day.  I modified these from Rachel Hollis who calls them her “5 to Thrive”, but I have jazzed them up even more (aka- made them rhyme). 

• Appreciate-Write down 10 things I am grateful for that happened yesterday. This is part of my morning routine.
• *Meditate- I usually do a 10 minute guided meditation using Headspace (my all time favorite wellness app.) This is also part of my morning routine. 
• **Activate- Move my body for 30 minutes every day. No rollover. MY favorite ways to do this are walking, running, hiking and yoga.
• Hydrate- I drink 2L of water every day and pee constantly. It’s all part of it. 
• Eliminate-Pick one thing to eliminate from your diet for 30 days. The idea is if you can give it up for 30 days straight… you can give it up for life. Currently I am doing alcohol and am on Day 24!

*mindfulness practice **physical activity 

Weekly Self Care Practices

Every Sunday I make sure to do these 3 things so that I can set myself up for success for the week. These practices are very much akin to adulting, but when I call them self-care I am much more likely to do them than if I think of them as errands or chores. TBH these have been particularly hard to implement, but I notice a massive difference when in what I can accomplish and how I feel if I start my week out right.

• Clean my apartment- This is pretty self explanatory. I make sure to put everything in it’s place, do the dishes, and sweep the floor. Sometimes laundry depending on how ambitious I’m feeling.
• Go grocery shopping- This one has been so hard because I am living abroad and don’t have a car. One thing I do to make it easier on myself is splurge for a taxi on the way back home. That way I don’t have to fuss around with public transport or walking home with a heavy bag. It’s a nice way to reduce friction and make it easier to actually go shopping. 
• Make my to-do list- For this part of my self care routine I use Kate Northrup’s method in her latest book Do Less. Chapter 11 of the book is called “Streamline Your To-do List” and has been life changing in how I plan out my weeks.

I track all of these in my planner using a checklist because I like getting credit for my accomplishments!

Self Care Menu

In addition to these routines,  I have a self care menu. This is basically a list of extras.  It has a bunch of options for different things I can do to care for myself when I am feeling stressed out, overwhelmed, bored, or just because.

I’ve realized it’s insanely helpful to have this list actually written down or typed out. That way whenever you are in a funk you don’t have to do any thinking about what to do to feel better. You can just whip out your menu and select whatever option feels the best in that moment.  I keep this list as a note on my phone so its easily accessible and always with me. Here is a screen shot of part of my self-care menu to help trigger your imagination.  

 

 

YOUR SELF CARE ROUTINE

Now its your turn. It’s time to craft your very own self care routine. It is likely, that while reading all of this you have had several ideas as to what your self care routine might look like. Well my friend, get out a journal and pen and write those initial ideas down.

Then I want you to answer the following reflection questions:

• Are there changes I WANT to make?
• What activities bring me joy?
• Where can I add self-care to my busy schedule? 
• How will self-care make me happier? 
• In this season of my life….. What would it look like to take reallllly good care of myself?
• What am I already doing to care for myself and how can I do it more often or make it an official part of my regimen?
• What are the things that when I do them I feel happier, healthier and more well adjusted?
• When was a time when I felt v much on top of the world/ feeling good? What routines and regular practices was I doing then? 

Out of this initial brainstorm….

What 5 activities are absolutely essential to your well being and are necessary to do on a daily basis? Remember to include one physical activity and one mindfulness practice within these 5. These 5 activities will be your daily 5 to thrive. They do NOT need to be identical to mine. Do what works and sounds good for you. 

Are there any activities I NEED to do on a weekly or monthly basis to care for my core being?

Everything else you came up with can go on your self-care menu. You can use my menu above as inspiration! 

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There you have it! You have successfully crafted your very own three prong self care routine. Try it out…. see how it works for you and then make adjustments as needed.

Comment below and let me know what you came up with! What are you daily non-negotiables? What is on your menu? I love talking about self care, so I would love to hear about your ideas!