6 Self-Care Activities You Can Do Every Day
Self-care is a term that has popped into the realm of social media trends and has bombarded us with things like, “Drink water,” “Remove the toxic people from your life” and “Focus on your skincare.”
But what is self-care? Is it that simple? Can a glass of water really fix everything?
Like most of y’all out there, I know when I am overwhelmed. I can feel that sensation of overflowing worry and uneasiness. It often starts when things begin to pile up on my to-do plate. Homework, projects, exams, clubs — all of these things can be daunting on their own but when you throw everything together, they become layers on a big ole stress-central sandwich.
What tends to happen is this: I try to manage my time. I reserve parts of the day for certain tasks by thinking things like, “By Sunday afternoon, I will have x amount of work done.”
Well, being the sometimes unmotivated person that I am, that rarely happens.
I have to give myself credit, though. I do try to accomplish these tasks, and it’s not like I don’t turn them in on time.
But that fabricated schedule I organize in my head? Nine times out of 10, it’s never followed.
Because of this, I do a lot of self-shaming. I get mad at myself for not being productive and feel guilty for the amount of times I could have substituted a mid-evening nap for getting shit done. I think, “If you had just followed your schedule, you would not be overwhelmed all of the time.”
Of course, I cannot go back in time and force myself to do the things I said I’d do when I said I’d do them. That’s just not possible.
Instead, what I have been trying to do lately is focus on self-care during these times, because what I often find is that shaming myself does not motivate me to be more productive.
However, what does help is creating a mental change by doing a set of certain “me time” things.
Here are six things I do for self-care almost every day.
1. Exercise and eat healthy
I know what you are thinking. “Jane, that is what every self-care enthusiast says.” Well, they wouldn’t all be saying it if it weren’t true!
The thing with exercise is that you don’t have to go crazy for it to be beneficial. If you want to be that buff person at the gym reppin’ a cut-off tank and grunting with every step you take, well…I would say go for it, but they are annoying as hell. Please, for the love of God, just go to the gym like a normal person.
However, if going to the gym is not your thing, you can also practice self-care by doing other activities, like going for walks, which is equally as beneficial. Yoga, dancing, sports— really any sort of exercise can help you clear your mind by allowing yourself to focus on what you are doing in that moment.
Like the wise and gracious Elle Woods once said, “Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people don’t just shoot their husbands. They just don’t.”
2. Stay organized
This might sound utterly insane but…I make my bed every morning. I know, I know. Some of you out there might think this is an impossible task. (You know who you are.)
But what I find from this is that if my physical space is organized, my mind often follows along.
From deleting outdated emails and text messages to creating organized folders for all of my files, photos and documents, any sort of organization can minimize that sense of “Ah, this is just a big mess that will never get clean!”
3. Go to therapy
I won’t go into this one too much quite yet, because I will be posting a blog all about the benefits of therapy on Saturday (shameless self-plug).
Although I am still adjusting to it, therapy is something that I have found to be helpful quite recently. Even on days where I think I am doing okay, therapy can still be that sense of relief to get things off of my chest, and I tend to find that I feel better afterwards.
While I highly recommend therapy, I get it — traditional therapy isn’t for everyone. Even though therapy is much more than the stereotypical situation of laying down on a couch as a dude in a clipboard jots down what you’re saying, many people just don’t feel comfortable with it.
Luckily, there are dozens of other ways you can get your emotions out without actually going to a therapist, one of which I will talk about later on in this post. It can be anything from exercising, writing, painting, dancing, drawing, playing a sport, whatever you can do to get those emotions out!
4. Take a break with skincare
Again, this falls under another over-preached tip, “Focus on your skincare.” But like I said before, it would not be said if it weren’t true!
This is what my scenario frequently looks like: blog post day is approaching. I know the topic I want to write about. I am sitting in my bed, lap top open with that blaring blank document and POOF, all of the inspiration seems to flurry from my head.
Next thing you know, I have been sitting there for a few hours trying to start this post but failing and scrolling through social media instead.
To get out this rut, I often do something as simple as taking a shower. There is just something therapeutic about it. It’s almost like it’s a fresh start to the day that rejuvenates your body and mind.
By having that brief change of your environment and allowing your mind to take a break, it can bring on a whole new mindset from where you were and energize your soul to take on the day.
5. Do something I love
Now, for some of you, this might not seem like a practical thing. Why? Well, let’s say that you are feeling overwhelmed and stressed by school work, and you think the only way you can make yourself unstressed is by getting that shit done. You don’t have time in the day to not be doing school work.
To that I say this — you don’t have to invest your entire day to self-care. Heck, you don’t even have to invest an entire hour!
But what you can do is give yourself at least five minutes to do something that you love.
For me, “doing something I love” tends to be watch a movie, eat my favorite snack, pet my dog, watch a Youtube video or two. Whatever your thing is, go and do it! It is good to “treat ourselves” during these stressful and/or emotional times, or any time really.
6. Journal
For those of you who don’t want to try therapy and/or can’t go to therapy, this one is very helpful.
Many times, we don’t know when our emotional moments are coming. Yeah, maybe you can feel it slowly and slowly getting worse.
But when that breakdown strikes and every thought is running through your head, it can feel like you can’t do anything about it.
This is where journaling comes in.
Journaling is literally just writing down your thoughts down as they pop into your head, either on paper, on your phone or on your lap top. This means ignoring grammar mistakes, word choice, spelling and basically everything your English teacher told you to worry about.
The benefit of this? You get your thoughts without thinking about how it comes out which allows you to get out every emotion.
The great thing about this is you can do whatever you want with it afterwards too. You can reflect on it, you can show it to someone you love or you can tuck it away. It’s really up to you.
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I could really go on and on about self-care, because there are really a boatload of things that I personally do.
But the point of this is that self-care is about yourself, meaning that you have to do what you know will make you feel better. For some people, going to the gym isn’t their thing, but they love to go on walks on the beach (another favorite of mine). For others, journaling won’t work for them, but painting could work.
There is an endless list of what you can do to take care of yourself, and if you don’t know where to start, Google and Youtube are great places to start. My favorite YouTuber for this kind of thing is Rowena Tsai, but again, there are thousands of resources that can help you.
Whatever your groove is, understand that your self-care toolbox isn’t just something you whip out when you’re feeling low. It is something you need to do every day to some degree. It’s all about learning how to treating yourself with kindness.
Happy World Mental Health Day!
Your friend,
Jane
