When we are stressed to the brim, overwhelmed with decisions or exhausted from the hustle and bustle of life it can be hard to remember to practice self-care. This list of 21 self-care ideas is easy to add to your everyday routine.
Self-care is important to help us relieve stress, avoid burnout and nurture our mental wellbeing. It’s not always easy to remember to take care of yourself when you are busy taking care of everyone else around you.
Check out our 10 Stress Relief Activities too!
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Hey there, I’m Jenn!
I create personal development products to help build your confidence, find happiness and even help you with your small business needs!
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27 Self-care Ideas
Choose as many or as few as you like and add them into your week. This list is meant to inspire you and get the ideas flowing so you can make yourself an emergency self-care pack!
- take a hot bubble bath with Epsom salts and/or essential oils
- cuddle up with your favourite blanket and read a book
- light some candles and allow your mind to daydream
- listen to meditation in a quiet room at home
- go for a long walk and take in the beauty of the outdoors
- allow yourself to be more present in your surroundings
- give yourself a pedicure and/or manicure
- watch your favourite show/movie
- enjoy your favourite homecooked meal
- listen to your favourite music
- dance it out: turn up the tunes and dance
- singing in the shower to start your day
- listen to a ted talk that inspires you
- journal about the things you are grateful for today
- practice self-affirmations, say them out loud
- dress up in something nice even if you’re not going anywhere
- practice yoga in the comfort of your own home
- allow yourself some time to do something you love (think hobbies)
- indulge whether it be a piece of chocolate or a spa treatment
- call a friend and have a good heart filled chat
- plan an outing
- play the lottery game (allow yourself to imagine and have fun)
- enjoy your morning coffee outdoors
- relax with a cup of tea before bed
- take a nap or go to bed a half-hour earlier
- go for a drive in the countryside
- try your hand at gardening (a potted plant or a garden/flower bed)
Tips to Starting a Self-Care Routine
When we think about implementing a self-care plan into our lives it is best to think small in the beginning.
Choose a time of day that you feel would benefit you the most. Start with practicing one self-care idea per day if needed. Once you get the hang of once per day add in a second, a third or as many as you need.
If you’re new to self-care and you want it to become a part of your everyday life you need to be realistic about the amount of time you start with. Start with a simple act of self-care that can be done in 5-15 minutes if needed. There is no ‘go big or stay home’ when it comes to practising self-care!
I like to practice self-care first thing in the morning and before I go to bed at night. Before you know it you will be finding ways to add self-care into many parts of your daily routine!
Don’t Over Complicate Your Self-Care Routine
Remember to keep it simple! Self-care is not meant to add extra stress to your life it meant to help reduce that stress and give yourself some love.
Implement your self-care into your daily routine easily by adding it to thinks you do monotously throughout the day.
- Washing dishes
- Folding laundry
- Taking a shower
- Cooking a meal
- Cleaning the bathroom
- Washing the floors
- Driving to work
- Shopping for groceries
These are all things we do in our busy lives that we do so often we don’t really have to think about it.
Although I’m not a huge fan of recommending multi-tasking when you add in some self-care this way its a double whammy of goodness.
Time flies when you are giving something back to you. This is a great way to add in some self-love if you struggle with seeing the light at the end of the tunnel on your to-do list.
Self-Care doesn’t have to be just for you!
Being an entrepreneur and a busy mom to three beautiful little girls means I don’t always have the luxury of time without my kids by my side. Sometimes I’m with them 24/7.
Guess what? They need some self-care too!
Get them in on the routine! There are so many great ideas in this list that your children will love too. Starting them at a young age will set the up for a life with good self-care practices. One of my girls favourite things to do is have a full on at home spa day!
Really most of these self-care ideas listed can be done with your littles, your best friend, your significant other or all on your own. This opens up so many doors to how much self-care you can practice in a day.
Allow yourself to practice peaceful self-care
Getting others involved is great but let’s face it we all need some time to just chill and have some alone time. Lock yourself in the bathroom, bedroom, heck even the pantry if that is what it takes haha.
Out of all the women I have talked to about self-care their biggest complaint is that they do not have enough time. You probably have heard this numerous times before but it is gold so here it is again: “We all have the same amount of hours in the day!”
You DO have time! You need to love yourself enough to give it to you!
Wake up a bit early if you need to, stay up a bit later if you need. Try to get yourself an extra 15 minutes a week to start with somewhere in your busy schedule. 15 minutes thats it, easy enough right? You’ve got this!
Make it a habit!
You just spent all this time making yourself a list of your favourite self-care ideas and in a week you find yourself crawling back to your old ways.
First off, forgive yourself! It takes routine and practice to break an old habit and instill a new one.
Second of all, don’t give up! So you missed a day, so you missed a week. It doesn’t matter pick yourself up where you left off and get in 15 minutes right now!
Set yourself a reminder. Scheduled self-care into your daily planner. Set an alarm on your phone to stop what you are doing and practice some self-love. Write a note on your bathroom mirror to remember when you wake up.
Self-Care Homework
I’m all about goals and taking action so before you leave today I want you to take a good hard look at that list above and choose 1-5 self-care ideas you can add into your schedule this week.
Don’t think too long, this shouldn’t take more than minute.
Write them down on paper with a pen or pencil. This triggers your subconscious mind into remembering you plan to do these.
Now, I want you to schedule in 5-15 minutes each day this week to practice at least one self-care idea.
Remember new habits take time and practice!
In a weeks time reassess how it went, what did you like the most, what do you want to do more of, what can you add?
Now, start from the top and schedule in some more. Over the course of the next few weeks see if you can add two to your day and more as time goes by.
You owe it yourself!
Take care and chat soon;
Jenn Summers
Living A Boss Life
Love Your Guts! Take care & Chat soon,
Jenn Summers
I love these ideas! What great ways to treat yourself! I think one thing I would love to do more is enjoy my morning with coffee outdoors!! Thank you for sharing!
It is such an amazing way to start your day. Peaceful time with nature. I hope you are able to make it a part of your routine once in a while.
I didn’t realize a hot bubble bath would be this effective.
Thanks for the tip
This is my go-to when I’m super stressed. Add in some candles, relaxing music and enjoy the break.
I love these ideas. Sometimes I think we are so busy, we forget about self-care. Thanks for sharing!
You are so right, self-care is so often put off or put on hold when in fact we can truly add it in here and there easily and daily.
Allow myself to just stop and be in this moment is my favorite! Thank you for sharing.
Yes! Oh my gosh, this is my favourite too! I used to miss so much this really is key to appreciating the world around you and being grateful for all the amazing things in your life.
Love these ideas! Self care is definitely something I neglect and it shows when I feel myself reaching burnout stage.
You are such a go-getter Rebecca. I hope these tips will make it easier to add some self-care into your daily routine. All the best to you!
What a wonderful list of self-care items, and great motivation to actually prioritize and do them! I think one of the hardest things about self-care is that if you add it to your “to-do,” list, it feels like another obligation. But I think you need to do that at first until you’ve formed a habit. Once you’re practicing daily self-care as a habit, then you’ve successfully implemented it in your life. Great post!
Absolutely! I truly believe if you find ways to add it in easily where it doesn’t seem like one more thing to do you will start doing more and more each day. It will really show in a quick amount of time too. Thank you so much for your comment and insight!
For me it’s all about making self-care a habit and really blocking out sometime for yourself. Great post!
Yes! Once you are able to make it part of your routine it will come naturally take the time you need to love yourself more often!