These 25 Easy Self Care Activities are important. Depression, anxiety, seasonal mood disorder, or just a bad day…any and all of these affect us every day. Self care is important to for your body, spirit, and mind. It can change a day. Adults and kids can both participate in self care just by choosing one of the activities below…
Why am I an advocate for self care these days?
I had a terrible period in my life. Terrible. Everything went into a negative spiral due to terrible circumstances. I felt helpless. And yes, I experienced depression (I’m not quite ready to write about that yet…I’m learning…everyone has their own depression journey to go through). But seriously…these self care activities saved me. And friends…thank goodness for friends! If you – or someone you know – is going through a tough time…use this list. It helps! 😉
25 Easy Self Care Activities
- Go for a walk (around the block, a hike, to the grocery store)
- Create something (write, paint, bake, knit – if you follow my instagram – I’m a baker)
- Listen to music (chill music, meditation, favourite songs)
- Play with pets
- Learn a new hobby (goes with #2 and #22)
- Talk with a friend (talk, text, skype, dm)
- Read (magazine, novel, nonfiction, professional development article)
- Watch a movie (*story on this below)
- Count things you are grateful for (think of all your accomplishments, your family, nature, life)
- Have a warm shower/bath (one of my favourites)
- Ask for a hug
- Journal (bullet journals can be very liberating)
- Sit in the sun (or in a sunbeam)
- Do yoga/stretch (get your downward dog on)
- Visualization/grounding activities (visualize meeting your favourite singer)
- Diffuse essential oils (peppermint is great)
- Grow a plant
- Listen to a podcast or Ted Talk (inspiring)
- Take a nap
- Enjoy a cup of coffee, tea or hot chocolate
- Pamper yourself (body lotion, pedicure, manicure)
- Watch a funny or interesting Youtube video (amazing cake compilations for me)
- Make a vision board
- Write a bucketlist
- Make a date with a friend/partner (put something on the calendar!)
About #1, #8, #14, #20, #21, and #25…
When I was in the deepest of my terrible time…my best girlfriend and I had a self care weekend. We booked accommodation in a city neither of us had visited. Went and did a yoga class, got in the car and talked for hours on the ride up. Ate a nice meal. Watched a movie. Next day, we went to a spa and had a massage and water therapies. Repeat on nice meal and watching another movie. It was bliss.
Self care activities allow us to exhale. And we should all do that now and again.
Love this list.
This is great, we all need to have that me time!!
Totally agree
Thanks for such a comprehensive list to help us get through the long cold dark winter.
So many great self care suggestions. My favorite is to get out for a walk every day.
This is fantastic. Even one small thing can make a big difference.
Great list – includes a good variety of things to do. When I most need to pamper myself, I have a hard time thinking of what to do, so I’ve saved this list for reference. Thanks.
Fantastic list, I like all of them, easy and helpful. My favorite though is take a nap!