I probably didn’t have to list 90, it’s a little ott. But I wanted to show you how utterly simple self care can be. Often it’s the impact of intentional focus that makes the biggest impact. So much so that even just sitting down and taking the time to really focus on writing this list has been therapeutic for me. It’s calms my Brain down and reminded me, it can take as little as a minute to re-regulate myself and get back to me. Self care doesn’t have to be a whole evenings ritual or cost a fortune it can be in the little things we do.
I hope this article helps you on your healing journey. Sometimes these little reminders can be the nudge we need to keep going.
Sending love and light, M xx
1-10 Decompress and reset
Release the tension with these sensory resets. They will help your relax and clear your head. Use these when your head is overloaded with stressful or distressing thoughts. they will help distract your train of thought and give you the opportunity to direct your thoughts to something more helpful or calming.
- Breathe. Close your eyes and focus on just your breath. Slowly breathing in through your nose, pause and slowly breathe out through your mouth. Taking a moment to slow down your breathe can clear your thoughts
2. Drink a cold drink. Depending on how you are feeling, go colder for a deeper reset.
3. Listen to relaxing music or sounds. Try out some nature sounds or even give ASMR a go. There are plenty of videos on youtube, experiment with what sounds help your relax. If you enjoy cooking sounds enjoy our collection of ASMR food videos to help you relax.
4. Stroke a pet – whether they are of the fluffy variety or not spending time with your animal familiar is relaxing and calming. If you don’t have any animal friends ask to borrow a friends or offer to help at an animal sanctuary.
5. Eat something sour or bitter – This sensory stimulation can calm distract you from distressing thoughts. Try sucking a Lemon or eating salty pickles.
6. Fill your space with a smell you love – This doesn’t have to involve expensive essential oil, it can be a simple as brewing some coffee, baking a cake, sniffing your favourite perfume or going to a park filled with flowers. Smell evokes memories that can take our minds to a happy place.
7. Self massage – Using a basic oil like olive oil, give yourself a gentle massage where even you feel tension. Allow your body to feel gentle touch and kindness form you.
8. Relax your eyes – Modern habits of long hour staring at screens can be stressful and overstimulating to our eyes. Allow your eyes to have a break, rest with either cucumber slices, cooled teabags or a cool flannel, to help them rejuvenate.
9. Ice – crunch on ice, rub ice on your skin or if your feeling really brave take an ice bath. The power of ice to distract your brain is powerful.
10. Cardio – I love a sudden out burst of cardio to release tension. Sometimes I feel there is so much adrenalin building up from anxiety my body doesn’t know what to do with it. It brings this urge to either run out the house, scream or cause a pointless argument with someone and it all feels overwhelmingly unhelpful. This is where I find spontaneous cardio really helpful. uses up the adrenalin surge so I can relax and think clearer afterward. Try running on a treadmill, a simple HIIT workout or just some intense wild dancing.
11-20 Comfort
Life is filled with enough uncomfortable situations, I think we owe ourselves some comfort.
11. Put on your comfiest clothes – If your are feeling the call for some self love right now, go put on your comfiest clothes before you do anything else.
12. Stop wearing uncomfy clothes altogether – yep, stop wearing clothes that pinch, hurt or simply don’t fit comfortably. You can still have fun with fashion without wearing those clothes that don’t leave you feeling your best.
13. Drink something warm and cosy – A simple as a cup of tea or warm milk. Use your favourite mug and snuggle up all cosy. Try our Macca and peanut butter hot chocolate recipe for something really cosy.
14. Watch a film that always makes you feel good – That feel good film you can watch over and over again, go on watch it again.
15. Create low lighting – Either with candles, small lamps, or whatever you have to hand. Low calm lighting makes it much easier to relax and unwind.
16. Put your feet up – ideally lay down with your feet above heart level. You dont have to do this for very long, but a little bit every day can help release stress from your heart which can give an over all relaxing feeling. Use a pillow to slightly lift up and support your lower legs while you lay down.
17. Cwtch – Cuddle with someone you love. Nothing beats a good cwtch.
18. Read a familiar book – The same as a film, one they you have read over and over again and you know makes you feel good about your self and the world around you.
19. Go to your favourite place – If you have a quiet place you can go and just be, undisturbed. Maybe a beach or park. Take a blanket and a flask and just enjoy the sounds, smells and sights around you.
20. Body Scan – Practice a body scan meditation and allow yourself to re-turn into your bodies senses. Make note of anything that needs attention.
21-30 Improve your environment
Improving your space and how it feels might not seem like self car, but it will have a knock on effect with how you feel about yourself and your life.
21. Change your bed sheets – Nothing feels as good as clean bed sheets.
22. Wash your dishes – If washing them all seems overwhelming, just wash one sink full. Tackle it one bit at a time.
23. Open a window – Allow fresh air to fill your home and stagnant air to leave.
24. Declutter 10 items from your home – A cluttered space creates a clutter mind.
25. Open your curtains – Let as much natural light flow through your home, it will make your feel brighter, more spacious and help with your energy levels.
26. Clean out your fridge – A disorganised and dirty just feels depressing and most certainly isn’t going to motivate you to eat healthy diet. This can go for the whole kitchen, but i find the fridge is a good place to start.
27. Empty your trash – A simple way to remove horrible smells, and clutter.
28. Water them plants – Got some neglected house plants? Allow your self the time to nuture them. Water them, prune them, even have a little chat with them. Gardening of any kind can be beneficial physically and mentally.
29. Move your furniture – I am terrible for doing this so often, but it feel so good afterwards. I feel like I have relieved tension, I get a new appreciation for the potential of our home, and even the kids regain sudden new interest in toys long forgotten.
30. Display your art work – or art of a loved one, this doesn’t have to cost, be creative with how you display it. Use blue take, paint straight on the walls, use string and pegs, whatever you have to hand. Filling your space with meaningful, feel good art work can help you remember the softness in the world when they world if feeling harsh.
31-40 Curb the overwhelm – get organised
31. Make a simple meal plan – this is your most basic, minimal prep, everyone in the family will eat without complaints menu. It doesn’t even have to be a structured meal plan, but a lit of meals you know you can turn to when your stressed. Try make them as healthy as possible but also realistic to you and your family.
32. Make a budget – this may seem time consuming, but its totally worth it. knowing how much money you have to spend on what and when can cut out alot of stress. As well as give you the ability to pay off debts quicker and build an emergency fund. there are lots of great free apps to help you do this, but pen and paper work just fine too.
34. In put all upcoming events into your diary. – if you are like me and find yourself often overwhelmed with keeping track of days, (especially with kids) use a diary to help you visually see what is happening where. Don’t have a diary? Use your phone calendar. It might seem like faff but it will cut out alot of stress. Even the act of you physically writing it will help your remember things better.
35. Remove clutter from your home. – Physical clutter created mental clutter. If you find it difficult to clean or organise your home, it may be that you simply have too much stuff. Remove items from your home that you no longer love or have a use and bring yourself back some mental clarity.
36. Create a morning routine – Think about what you need in the morning to function at youe best. Do you need time on your own? Do you need to make a more substantial breakfast? What chores do you need done before leaving the house? Experiment with what you need to feel your best.
37. Create an evening routine – Again work out what works best for you. Do you need to prep for the next morning? What do you need to get a better night sleep? You probably already know what you need, but putting it down on paper can really help to keep you accountable.
38. Make a chore chart – Spread your chores out throughout the week to make them less overwhelming. And if you live with others get everyone to agree on what chores they can help out with.
39. Create a shopping list – this can be as simple as a list stuck on your kitchen wall that everyone can add to as items run out. its much easier than keeping a mental note of what needs replacing.
40. Be realistic – Sure you can do alot, your pretty amazing, but sometimes you will need to drop something and thats totally ok.
41-50 Take care of your physical health
41. Go to sleep early – listen to your bodies needs skip the TV binge and catch up on your sleep.
42. Stretch – stretch out any tight areas and release tension. If your not sure where to start try a yoga tutorial on youtube.
43. Move – However you can. It can be a as simple as going for a walk, use some neglected exercise equipment or do body weight resistance exercises.
45. Limit stimulating foods -If you are feeling anxious or overwhelmed limit stimulating foods that can enhance this feeling. This includes refined sugars, caffeine and ultra-processed foods.
46. Spend sometime in the morning sun – The early morning sun is best for overall health. Allowing for vitamin D absorption, with less risk from UV rays.
47. Drink more water – Hydration is so important for overall body function and we too easily overlook it.
48. Cut down or eliminate alcohol – Alcohol holds no nutritional value, and is considered poison.
49. Take your supplements – If you have already spent the money on supplements that are sitting neglected in a cupboard, organise them, work out which ones are needed and take them regularly. Use a medication organiser if you have one spare to plan your daily dosage and keep you accountable.
50. Make note of your easiest healthiest meals you like to cook. – As a personal reminder that eating healthy doesn’t have to take ages or be complicated. A reminder that it is attainable makes the goal feel so much easier.
51-60 Feed your soul, do something creative.
51. Write a story. Leave the judgement and just write.
52. Draw, paint or just doodle – what ever suits you spend sometime doing something visually creative
53. Dance. Play any music that gets you moving and dance freely without judgment.
54. Freewrite – free writing is the practice of writing without intention.Allowing whatever is in your head to flow onto the paper and seeing where it takes you.
55. Play an instrument – don’t have an instrument? get more creative and use things around your home or garden to make one
56. Build something – We have had so much fun making things for our home out of scrap wood, and pest deterrents from random rubbish. You don’t need to spend money to build useful and/or beautiful objects.
57. Bake or cook – Experiment in the kitchen using up whatever food you already have and discover a new favourite (or have some fun making somthing truly awful, either way its the experience that matters when being creative)
58. Plan your space – use pen and paper to plan out a room or your garden and how you would like it to be.
59. Create a vision board – use old magazines, newspapers, drawings print outs and anything else you can get your hands one that resembles the life you wish to make for yourself, arrange and stick them on your board
60. Roleplay – pretend to be someone else for the evening and unleash your altar ego. Check out cosplay queen and Life transformation leader Becky Jane Stephensons for how embracing your altar ego can help you
61-70 Feed your mind
61. Meditate – I know, I know, meditation is mentioned alot when it comes to self care. But its really does help. Meditation can help slow down your thoughts and put you back in touch with your body. It have been proven to have great physical and mental benefits. Even if you feel silly or find it frustrating at first keep trying, overtime it will become easier and most natural.
62. Read a book – It doesn’t matter if its fiction or non-fiction, reading helps our ability to focus and concentrate. It feeds our intellectual wellbeing, which in turn can help with our mental and social wellbeing too.
63. Learn a new skill. – Is there something you have always wanted to learn but keep putting off? Make some time in your schedule, even if its just half hour a week, to focus on this skill. Your free resources such as local libraries, blogs or youtube videos to guide you. You could even ask a friend who is already mastering this skill for help. Learning something new is good to build confidence and self esteem.
64. Set daily affirmations – set affirmations that align with your goals
65. Listen to a podcast – lots of free podcasts are available on Spotify and Youtube on a huge variety of subjects, allowing you to feed your passions with ease.
66. Play brain games – Try soduku, crosswords, card games, board games. Find something you enjoy and keep challenging yourself. Keep your brain active and give yourself a little self esteme boost while you at it.
67. Spend time with people who intellectually challenge you – There is a saying that you never want to be the smartest person in the room.That is because you always want to be open to learning from the people around you. Thats how growth happens. Being around people who challenge you mentally and open you up to new ideas brings a new dimension to social fulfilment.
68. Go to a museum – So many public museums are free, make the most of them. Explore and enjoy learning about history, art and your local area.
69. Watch a documentary – You can find so many documentaries about a wide variety of subject to open your eyes to different perspectives.
70. Listen to binaural beats – Attune your mind and body to the frequency of your current focus.
71-80 Disconnect
Learn what influences you need to disconnect from. Outside influences can effect us on so many levels and muddy up our inner voice.
71. Have a social media free day – yep there is no escaping it, social media effects how we see ourselves and the world around us, taking regular time off can help assess how best to use it.
72. Pay attention to how you feel after seeing different people – do you feel good about yourself, or do you return with low self esteem. Are you energised or drained. This isn’t a call to remove people from your life, but it is helpful to know how to manage your time with people or even assess why they are effecting your wellbeing.
73. Stop watching/reading the news – even if its just for one day a week. There is alot going on in the world that we have very little control over. Consuming this information everyday can leave us feeling lost and frustrated. Focus on what you can control, and limit how often you are consuming information on things outside of your control.
74. Turn off your phone notifications – Just turn the all off and set a time when you are going to check your phone. It’s totally ok to not be available to everyone all of the time. And you really don’t need to be interrupting your daily flow to jump to the attention of the million apps on your phone either.
75. No screens in the bedroom – No TV, and keep laptops, phones and tablets downstairs. This will help you sleep so much better, stop you from binge watching tv before bed, and stop random middle of the night phone scolling.
76. Spend time in nature – Spend time in nature where there is no wi-fi and you wont bump into people you know. Enjoy reconnecting with yourself and your surroundings, and disconnect from outside influence.
77. Schedule and compartmentalise – this takes practice and is easier for some, but its a worth while skill. Separating when you are in work mode and home mode can help you relax alot better, try it also with setting times for relaxation, exercise, and other needs to function at your best. Keeping to regular times will help train your body to switch from one to the other.
78. Start the day outside – Either eating your breakfast outside of going for a short walk, gently starting your day away from screens and outside influence can allow you time to gather your thoughts with less interruption.
79. Have a board game night – Play board games with the people you love. This is a great way to disconnect from the outside world but focus on those closest to you. (avoid games prone to causing arguments however and leave your egos at the door)
80. Spend some time in silence – Dedicate a little time each day to silence. With no need to fill that void, just sit in it. Our lives are so constantly filled with noise and information, allow some time to just be.
81-90 Reflect
Taking time to journal and reflect on your life can help you to clear your thoughts and be guided towards a more fulfilling life.
81 . Create a Gratitude log. gratitude is a powerful tool. People often mistake it for a given state of mind, but it’s a skill that has to be mastered. Some people may have mastered this in childhood, from observing other grateful people or being guided in gratitude by adults around them. Form alot of people however, need to learn how to be grateful as an adult. This comes through constant practice such as through a gratitude log. You can do this by simply listing 5 things you are grateful for every day OR purchase one of our gratitude journals in our shop; this take a more in-depth approach to gratitude and affirmations.
82. Write a letter to your childhood self. – many of us carry around unresolved issues from our childhood. Writing letters to our child self can help us recognise them and guide us on our journey to heal them. Allowing us to live a life more true to ourselvcs and free from insecurities.
83. Write about your perfect day. – This is one of my favourite exercises. When I first journaled my perfect day, I was shocked. I realised I wasn’t actually as far from my perfect day as I thought, in fact the main things standing in my way of living that perfect day was, me. I repeat this reflection every New Moon, to remind my self of my true goals in life, and bring my back from the dissertations of capitalism.
84. Write 10 things that motivate and inspire you – keep this one somewhere you will see it when you need it.
85. Write 10 things you love about yourself – Leave this on a mirror or your fridge. If you like make yourself write new things everyday or once a week. This one can be difficult be feels great when you get into it.
86. What are your happiest memories? – Bask in them, Then drop your friends a message and reminis. We often spend alot of time retelling/reliving the bad memories, take some time to focus on the good.
87. Write a letter to your future self? – What would you like your future self to remeber. Write down what important to you, your values, what you love, somthing you feel your future self would need to hear.
88. Good deeds. -Write a list of good things you could do for others. Although it is important not to only do things for others, it can make you feel good about yourself and bring more positivity into your life.
89. Write a letter of forgiveness – if you are holding a grudge, write a letter of forgiveness, you do not have to give it to the person, simply writing down how you feel and them releasing it can help you move on. Holding onto it hurt can cause you not only a mental and emotional burden, but create physical stress as well.
90. Just write – no structure just dump whatever is going on in your head onto some paper and enjoy the release