30 Self Care Routine Ideas

Do you have a self care routine? Routine as in something you do regularly, which brings you peace, rejuvenation and joy.

Many people have a hard time with self-care, but it is important to take care of yourself to maintain your health. Self-care can be as simple as taking a bath or reading a book. It can also be something more strenuous, like going for a run or doing yoga.

Self-care is not just about the physical aspect of taking care of yourself. It also includes mental and emotional well-being. When you are feeling mentally drained, stressed, anxious, or depressed, it is important to find ways to cope with those feelings and find some relief from them.

The Morning Routine: How to Wake Up Refreshed and Energized

The morning routine is the most important thing that we can do for ourselves. It sets the tone for our day and determines how we feel about ourselves.

Some people are naturally gifted in the morning, but for others it can be a struggle. The best way to get out of bed is to commit to a morning routine that includes self-care and getting up early enough to fit everything in.

It’s important to set your alarm clock early enough so that you have time for the routine that works best for you. This will give you time to wake up, drink water, hydrate with lemon water, meditate or do yoga (or both), exercise, shower and then get dressed. One of my favorite routines is The S.A.V.E.R.S. Routine outlined in The Miracle Morning. It stands for:

Silence: Take time to sit in silence, whether you’re doing prayer or meditation.

Affirmation: Read your affirmations out loud. (Shameless plug for the Diva Affirmations Book and/or Card Set)

Visualization: Close your eyes and imagine your perfect day, how you want the day ahead to unfold, and/or you realizing the goals that you have set for yourself personally and professionally.

Exercise: Move your body.

Reading: Read something that will help to improve you life and/or business.

Scribing: Write something – in your journal, a blog post, that memoir you’ve been dreaming about. Just write.

The Evening Routine: How to Relax & Let Go of Stress

The evening routine is a practice that many people have to prepare for the next day. It is a time to relax and let go of any stress that might have accumulated throughout the day.

A good evening routine will help you feel more rested, calm, and happy. It will also help you sleep better at night, which will make your morning routine easier.

Some benefits of an evening routine include:

30 Self Care Routine Ideas to Try

In order to create a personalized self care plan, you should first identify what is important to you.

This could be anything from your hobbies to your spiritual beliefs.

Once you have identified what is important to you, it is time to think about how these things make you feel good. Here are 30 activities to help you work through these emotions and get back to caring for yourself more.

1. Give Yourself Grace

How often do you beat yourself up for your mistakes, especially when it comes to your parenting? We easily give our grace and forgiveness to others when they make mistakes, so why not give it to ourselves?

Give yourself grace if you mess up or fail at something you are trying to improve on. If you cannot stay calm all day long with your children one day, give yourself grace. You deserve it. If you cannot keep your house clean today, that is okay. Don’t beat yourself up!

2. Allow All Emotions

All your feelings are valid and need attention, even the negative ones. When you don’t allow all of your emotions, you push them deeper inside, which only leads to resentment and more negative feelings.

When any emotion arises in you, allow them to flow. Validate those feelings and then release them. You will feel so much better when you do!

3. Positive Affirmations

When you repeat positive mantras or affirmations daily, you will eventually believe them. Create or find some affirmations that you want to believe about yourself. Some examples include “I am” and “I can” statements.

• I am a strong and beautiful person
• I can do hard things

Once you’ve found affirmations that are personal and meaningful to you, put them up where you will see them every day. Then, say them out loud. After a month of doing this, notice how you feel!

4. Meditation

One of the best things to do is to meditate daily. Meditation helps align our bodies with our minds and brings us so much peace. Countless guided meditations will work through any emotions you are feeling. This is especially great to do in the morning, even if it’s just for five minutes!

5. Turn Off Your Phone

Try not to use your phone for the entire day. You will see just how much time you actually have to do everything you need to do, plus what you want to do as well. This will also give you time for self-care.

Not only does turning off your phone free up time in your day, but it also helps you not compare yourself to others. It is so easy to get on social media in the morning, see how another mom friend sets up a craft for their kids, and instantly feel bad that you aren’t doing that for your own children. Turn it off and enjoy how you feel!

6. Exercise

Exercising does more than just help take care of our bodies. It will also take care of our minds. When you exercise, you release endorphins that release tension and emotional build-up. Plus, don’t you feel amazing after your workout and love your body a little bit more? Try to get in a few minutes of exercise every single day. It doesn’t matter what the exercise is, just that you do something!

7. Say No

Do you take on too many things to the point where you feel like you are going to explode? You probably need to learn how to say no and use it often in your life. Moms are extremely busy on their own, but when you don’t say no to things you really do not want to do, you overwhelm yourself.

Start by saying no to something little. This could be no to getting your husband something they can easily get for themselves right now. Slowly say no to other more complicated things. Pretty soon, you will not feel burnt out and can enjoy life more fully.

8. Stop Judging

Stop judging yourself for everything you’ve done. We are the biggest critic of ourselves; it is as if we are never going to be happy with who we are. Judging doesn’t get us anywhere, so stop doing it!

Instead of judging, work on giving yourself grace and moving forward. If you did something you aren’t proud of, that’s okay. You can always try again another day.

9. Allow Tears

You are always allowed to cry. There is so much stigma around crying, to the point where people refrain all the time. However, that does more damage than good. Crying is extremely therapeutic and helps you release built-up emotions and all that tension in your body. When you feel tears coming, don’t hold them back; let them flow! You will feel so much better afterward.

10. Prioritize Yourself

You deserve to put yourself first every now and then. Instead of always attending to the kids’ needs, you need to focus on your needs just as often. Try to find one thing you can do today to prioritize yourself. Keep doing that for one little thing every day. This is one of the best ways to practice self-love!

11. Rewrite Thoughts

Most of the time, our negative thoughts are about ourselves. We are either not ‘pretty’ enough or ‘smart’ enough, etc. Whenever a negative thought about yourself comes up, rewrite it to a positive one. This is another way to work on affirmations! If you struggle to come up with what to say, try saying the exact opposite of what you originally thought.

12. Celebrate Your Accomplishments

When your child accomplishes something, you put on a huge celebration for them, even if it is a smaller accomplishment. So why not do that for yourself? Celebrate every victory, accomplishment, and task you complete today. Give yourself credit for everything you do.

You might not think you do anything during the day, but that is not true. Celebrate every diaper you change, or every time you give your child a snack or even when you fold the laundry. There are countless things you do during the day that you can and should celebrate.

13. Be Grateful for You

Give thanks to yourself for all your attributes. Instead of writing in your gratitude journal about physical things you are thankful for, write a list of things you love about yourself. There are things you wouldn’t want to live without that make you, you, so write it down and be grateful for yourself!

14. Unfollow Toxic People

When you scroll on social media, is there anyone that makes you mad? What about people you constantly compare yourself to? Go through your social media today and unfollow any of those toxic pages. You will feel so much relief as you go on to Instagram and only find happiness!

15. Mirror Talk

Use some positive affirmations and say them out loud today while looking at yourself in front of a mirror. This might seem silly and be really uncomfortable, but it will make a difference in your brain. Your brain will start to believe those things, and you will love yourself more.

16. Accept Yourself

Accept yourself; all your flaws, stretch marks, mistakes, and all. You are an amazing and wonderful mom. Try to accept yourself no matter what. This is a hard thing to do, but as you accept a little bit more every single day, you will become stronger and more in love with who you truly are!

17. Make Mistakes

Purposely make a mistake today. We all make mistakes every day; there is nothing wrong with that. We usually put so much focus on our mistakes, and we feel terrible for them. But, mistakes are just part of the process. All we can do after mistakes is to move forward and try again!

18. Use Your Talents

Growing a talent you already have helps you remember how awesome you are. Whether that is playing an instrument, gardening, painting, or running, do something you enjoy and are good at today. You will feel better about yourself all the while doing something you enjoy.

19. Honor Your Past

Your past has brought you to where you are now and has made you the person you are. If anything changed in your past, you wouldn’t be yourself. Try to honor your past, even though it may be hard. Even if your past is full of trauma, try to find one thing to accept and honor.

20. Self-Care

Self-care is so crucial, especially for moms. Try to find time for yourself daily. Even if it is just five minutes, it can make all the difference in the world. Here are a few ideas to practice self-care:

• Yoga
• Meditating
• Workout
• Going for a walk or hike
• Taking a nap
• Getting your nails done
• Watching your favorite show
• Eating ice cream

21. Rest

Doing nothing is so nice, but how often do you actually do that? Resting allows us to just relax and let go for a moment. This could be in the form of taking a nap, sleeping in, or just sitting on the couch doing nothing. Stop for a few minutes during your busy day to rest and reset.

22. Set Boundaries

Setting boundaries helps you not get hurt or overwhelmed by other people’s demands or emotions. Try to think of a problem you are currently facing and come up with a boundary you can make that will help you with that problem.

23. Eat Your Favorite Treat

There is just something about eating a piece of chocolate that brightens your day and helps you feel loved. Today, find a delicious treat that you love and crave and fully enjoy it. Savor every bite!

24. Dress Up

One day this week, get dressed up. Do your makeup and curl your hair. Put on the fanciest clothes you own. Don’t forget your jewelry! Once you are all dressed up, don’t go anywhere. Dressing up is solely for you to treat yourself. You don’t have to dress up for anything other than to make yourself feel good. 

25. Listen to Your Body

Your body gives you clues all day long to what it needs. Try to identify those clues and listen to them. If you feel exhausted and cannot focus, listen to those body clues, and take a nap. If you feel anxious about something, listen to your body and relax and work through those feelings.

26. Give Yourself Compliments

You compliment people all the time, but have you ever complimented yourself? Try it out! Find something you would normally praise your best friend for, and instead, compliment yourself on it. If you like your outfit today, tell yourself that! There is nothing wrong with complimenting yourself.

27. See the Rainbows

Rainbows come after every storm, which means there is always something good even when we are struggling. Try to find your own personal rainbow today. Find the good in one thing you go through that is challenging. This helps you to work through your challenges and remember that you always have something good to look forward to.

28. Nurture A Weakness

We all have weaknesses, and there is nothing wrong with that. But, when we dwell on them, that is where the problem arises. Find a weakness about yourself that really bothers you. Try to work on it today and make it become a strength! It may not happen overnight, but every little bit helps.

29. Forgive Yourself

You will make mistakes and mess up on a daily basis. But there is nothing wrong with that! So much of our mom guilt is because we simply cannot forgive ourselves when things don’t go as planned. You must forgive yourself if you plan to fully love yourself. Try to forgive yourself for one little thing at a time. Slowly, you’ll feel so free from those unnecessary burdens!

30. Love Yourself

If you do all these things, you can truly love yourself. It does not happen all at once but rather by these small actions. Today, try to find one thing you love about yourself and express it! Tell yourself what you love, and celebrate that. It can be as small or as big as you want it to be; every single thing counts.

My hope is that these 30 ideas will help you focus more on you. You can do one of each of these things every day. By the end, you find yourself more confident and happier when you take the time to build yourself up.

It is worth it. You are worth it. You can do this!