How to Plan the Perfect Self Care Day
* This post may contain affiliate links that I receive a small commission off of (at zero cost to you). Please see my full Disclosure policy for any questions. I always appreciate any support to keep this site running!
Thank you!*
Remember how excited you used to get as a kid packing for a sleepover?
That feeling of excitement and anticipation to get to stay up late watching movies, doing each other’s hair and nails, indulging in face masks, and just spending time doing nothing but what you wanted to. That’s how you should feel about your self care days!
I’ll admit “self-care” has become a bit of a buzzword lately, but for good reason. It’s an essential part of a well-rounded healthy lifestyle.
But before I go on and on about why self-care is important and how you can practice it, let’s get into what it really means.
WHAT IS SELF-CARE?
Self-care is the practice of taking time to do activities that nurture your mind, body and soul. Some common examples include: reading, taking a bath, lighting candles, coloring, going for a walk, but there really are no wrong answers.
Self-care is about intentionally taking time to care for yourself in whatever way suits you and nurtures you.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
When you prioritize taking care of yourself, you can feel those affects in immense ways and feel ready to show up and be present in your life. I’m sure you can think of a time (it could even be right now) where you felt like you were running around doing everything for everyone else 24/7 and constantly putting yourself on the back burner.
Eventually, you hit a wall and crash, feeling completely burnt out — physically & emotionally — and just simply want to curl up in your bed with anxiety waiting for it to be over. Sound familiar?
We often tune out the signs telling us we need to slow down, but say to ourselves “I’ll just finish these tasks and then I’ll take a break”…something happens, and then I’ll take a break…something happens, and then I’ll take a break, and so on. It’s an easy cycle to fall into, especially in the fast-paced world we live in.
Taking breaks (not waiting for breaks, TAKING breaks) is vital for our minds, bodies and souls.
It’s not! Seriously it’s not! Self Care is not selfish…it’s an extremely important part of your overall health. When you see people who look healthy you can visually see that they prioritize their physical health. For some reason we think others can’t tell how we really feel inside because it’s easier to hide, but putting on a strong face can only last for so long — usually not as long as we think, too.
When you take the time to care for yourself you can put better energy into all aspects of your life and allow yourself to genuinely feel and appear happier, healthier and more confident.
We recharge our phones every day without fail. Why don’t we apply the same mentality to ourselves? Self-care is recharging your batteries.
HOW YOU PRACTICE SELF-CARE IS COMPLETELY UP TO YOU!
Like I said before, there is absolutely no wrong answer for how you should practice self care! Your self care day doesn’t have to look like everyone else’s or anyone else’s.
You can take a whole day to yourself, specific times of each day, whatever works best for YOU!
Personally, I love dedicating Sunday’s as my complete Self-Care Day and then my morning and nighttime routines are also self care in my eyes. I’m uncompromising in giving up that time unless it’s to help out a friend or family member and sometimes I’ll even invite others to spend a Self-Care Sunday with me.
IDEAS FOR PRACTICING SELF CARE
These ideas are some great starting points and can be bundled together or you can dedicate your whole day to one of them. Whatever floats your boat — it’s your day!
Physical
Get Outside
Connecting with nature is an amazing way to recenter and unload your mind. Find a nearby trail with AllTrails and create a bucket list of places you want to explore. Each time you take a self care start ticking off places on your list and be present in each place. Take in the views, wild life (& be respectful of it!) Let your mind wander!
Spend Time With Animals
Our pets are amazing parts of our world, but we’re their entire world! Spending valuable time with them is rewarding for both of us. What’s better than spending time playing a puppy or snuggling a kitty that sees you as the most amazing human? The endorphins are endless!
Have a Spa Day
Indulge in some beauty masks & body scrubs, get a massage or facial. I’m absolutely obsessed with the Gisou Honey Infused Hair Mask! I’ll put it on dry hair and let it soak in for up to 3 hours for a heightened effect. I’ll combo this with a good face mask. My all-time favorites are Lancôme’s Génifique Hydrogel Melting Mask, one from the Peter Thomas Roth line like the Irish Moor Mud or 24K Gold Masks, or The Ordinary AHA 30% + BHA 2% Oil Control Serum followed by Drunk Elephant’s Virgin Marula Oil. My face feels & looks amazing after one of these choices and it always makes me feel better.
Soak up in the tub with a relaxing bath bomb or if you only have a stand-up shower you can make your experience more spa-like with an Aromatherapy Eucalyptus Shower Spray.
Practice Yoga or Take a Fitness Class
My Sunday’s always start with a Pilates class at a local Club Pilates studio. I have a few locations I can choose from with an unlimited membership and there are two about 20 minutes south of the area I live in which requires a soothing drive into a more affluent part of town. The drive and the location make my class even more rewarding and I make it a point to appreciate the scenery on my way there and back. It makes such a difference in the way I start my Self-Care Day!
Your body will always thank you for movement so try and get in anything you want: yoga, pilates, barre, hitting the gym, hiking — anything you want. Just make sure the mindset you’re having isn’t based around specific fitness goals you’re trying to reach and more aligned with simply doing it because you want to feel relaxed and appreciative of your body.
Visit a Local Place
I have so many places in town I always want to go to, but “never find the time.” Luckily, a self-care day is all about taking time for myself so I can spend time wandering through a museum, visiting the zoo, science centers, aquarium, or checking out special exhibits like the Van Gogh Immersive Experience. You can go with friends or spend this time on your own for a fun, relaxing experience.
Mental & Emotional
Read a Book
Reading is an amazing way to escape the stresses around us, get lost in a new world, reignite our creativity, work on our self improvement, learn about history — the possibilities are endless with reading. I don’t know why, but when we were young reading was often seen as the nerdy thing to do but books were always such a wonderful way to expand my mind and I’ve been in love books ever since I can remember.
RELATED:
7 0F THE GREATEST BOOKS YOU WILL EVER READ
Learn a New Skill
We never really stop learning throughout our lives, but once we graduate high school and college we seem to stop actively learning and rather let life teach us new lessons as we grow. There are so many resources at our fingertips nowadays, which makes learning something new even more accessible than when we were growing up.
Some amazing resources that can teach you countless new skills include Masterclass, Skillshare, Udemy, and Coursera — just to name a few. Learn to play a new instrument, take up photography, crafting, drawing, gardening, cooking & baking, basic self-defense, learn a new language with DuoLingo, the possibilities are endless. You never know what may happen — you may even find your new passion!
Draw or Color
Grab a Sketchpad or Coloring Book for Adults and put some pen to paper! Letting your creativity loose is an amazing way to destress and enjoy some time to yourself. I’m so glad coloring books have become such a popular item for adults! I feel like once we grow out of the childhood stage of life, we stop doing a lot of things we truly loved because everyone said “that’s for kids.” How could something that you enjoy possibly only be for kids?? (I still have Trix sometimes too & I’m not sorry!)
Now there’s coloring books for almost every single thing we like whether it be animals, flowers, fantasy, patterns, Harry Potter and even ones designed for anxiety relief or motivation. Get some colored pens out and let yourself enjoy being a kid again.
Listen to Music
Turn on your favorite music or listen to that new album you haven’t been able to sit down and intentionally savor and let the music take you away! I love just turning on my Apple TV and surfing through Apple Music’s radio channels or my recent downloads I wanted to listen to, laying on the couch with a cozy blanket and just enjoying the music. It’s such a calming act that we take for granted.
Most often, we listen to music while driving, working out, working, cooking, so on and so forth. While I love having music as a common part of my day, it hits different when you just lay and enjoy the music just because. When’s the last time you can say you intentionally stopped your bustling day-to-day activities and simply listened to music? Try it out on your next Self-Care Day!
Meditate
Taking some extra time for a deeper meditation session is a wonderful addition to your self care day! I love doing meditation each morning for 10-15 minutes, but on my self care days I like to dive a little deeper and do a 30 minute or longer meditation. Calm and Headspace are my absolute favorites and they have hundreds of guided meditations to choose from.
Netflix & Chill
If your idea of a self care day is hanging out on the couch binging the latest episode of Virgin River or finally tuning in to see why everyone’s so obsessed with Game of Thrones, then you shamelessly spend hours doing just that! There’s something so therapeutic to me about going through my watchlists on streaming services and checking things off. I’m a total movie lover and today’s steaming giants have sooo many great shows so a chill day inside binging shows & movies can even be part of a self care day. Especially when you combine this with some of your beauty plans like letting the hair & facial masks I mentioned above set in while you watch.
Visit a Café (alone or with friends)
Have you been wanting to try out a new café or have a list of places in town you want to try but “never have the time?” Well, self care day is your time to finally get out and enjoy a new or favorite place. Call up a friend and ask them to join you or simply go on your own and enjoy the atmosphere and your meal. Bring a good book if you’re not comfortable eating alone, but learning to eat alone in confidence is one of the greatest hurdles in life you’ll ever overcome! Forget what others think — today isn’t about them!
Enjoy Your Morning Coffee or Tea Outside
Do you normally have your morning coffee or tea on the go as you rush to work or wait until you sit at your desk to finally get your caffeine fix? Well, today is your day to sit and enjoy it with no distractions.
Personally, I love sitting outside on my patio listening to birds chirping, taking in fresh air & sunlight while enjoying my Irish Breakfast Tea. I’m sure you’ve heard of English Black Tea for your mornings, but Irish Breakfast Tea is sooooo much better in my opinion. I still have family in Northern Ireland and love traveling there and exploring my family’s roots so I might be a little biased, but the flavor burst of Irish Breakfast Tea is the best thing ever! I can never go back to anything else now.
Take your morning drink outside on your next Self Care Day and see how nice it is to just enjoy your caffeine with a burst of nature!
Create a Vision Board
A fun crafting project you can put together is a Vision Board. These are easy to create in Canva and you can keep it on your desktop background, print them out and keep them in a commonly seen place in your home. You can always grab a cork pinboard and start adding images to it from magazines and little by little make it yours.
Create a Self-Care Habit Tracker
Using a Habit Tracker is a perfect tool for creating habits not only throughout your week but also on your self care days. I love using Habit! It’s simple, chic, completely customizable or has ideas you can choose from to design your habit lists and it’s only $5 a year! I’ve set mine up to reflect everything I want to do in my morning routine, nighttime routine, health & fitness goals, along with my Sunday Self Care habits. I’m not sure what it is that makes me feel so happy about ticking things of a list and seeing my progress but it’s so soothing!
Environmental
Clean & Reorganize Your Home
Call me crazy, but cleaning my home has become a task I love! It can be seriously therapeutic if you let it be and taking care of your home environment so that it reflects the way you want to feel can be a form of self care. Clean with products that smell amazing and also get the job done. Mrs. Meyer’s Basil is my favorite and I’ll use their rose or honeysuckle in spring and summer, then I can’t wait for the holiday time so I can whip out my apple cider and Iowa pine scents. Being in a clean home or organizing my home in a new way to freshen the place up always puts me in a good mood.
So, there you have it!
These are just a few ideas for your next Self Care Day. Start prioritizing yourself and take time to care for you. Incorporate some of these ideas into your next Self Care Day & see what makes you feel appreciated, happy & restored.
Thanks & We Wish You Best,
Let’s Do BetterTogether!