Create Self-Care Habits by Starting & Ending Your Day With A Little Self-Care

Self-Care Habits

Like any new habit, adding self-care into your life can seem kind of tricky. You probably wonder how you’ll manage to find time to do anything extra for yourself, let alone how you’ll actually remember to do these things. One of the best ways to get started is to build your activities into predictable parts of your day. In order to make something a habit, it has to happen regularly. Keep reading, and I’ll show you some tricks to making self-care a routine part of your life.

Make It Personal

The first thing that will help you in creating your self-care habits or rituals is to choose activities that are meaningful to you and that you enjoy. This is your practice, so you want to be sure it’s customized in order to get the most out of it. Consider making a list of things that help you to feel relaxed, peaceful, excited or happy. These activities should be able to be done in a short amount of time and easily fit into your life without special equipment or tools. At least as you begin your practice, the things you choose to do should be as simple as possible.

Affirmations Can Help You Stay On Track

Creating new habits is hard. Changing your thought patterns is even harder. It takes dedication and constant reminders to make it happen. Without those, it’s too easy to fall back into our old ways. That’s where affirmations come in. They can help you stay on track and serve as a reminder of what you want to change and practice.

If you’re new to affirmations, I encourage you to give them a try. They may seem a little silly at first but are a great way to get your mind ready to embrace new habits and thought processes. Positive affirmations are usually crafted in the present tense and work for any changes you want to make in your life from getting more exercise or organizing your house to getting a promotion at work or growing your business.

For this post, we’re going to focus on using affirmations to help us improve our positive and creative thinking. Here are a couple of examples of affirmations to get you thinking about writing your own.

Examples

Positive Thinking Affirmations

I am full of positive thoughts from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep.
My mind is full of optimism about what the day brings.
I find positivity even in the most difficult and stressful situations.
I am full of optimistic thoughts.
My positive thinking affects those around me in a beneficial way.

Creative Thinking Affirmations

I come up with creative solutions with ease.
Brilliant ideas and clever solutions come to me all the time.
Every day I come up with more creative thoughts.
Fresh new ideas come to me daily.
Creative energy flows through me.

While these examples are a great starting point, it’s important that you make the affirmations your own. Change them up or write something from scratch that resonates with you. Then, get in the habit of saying these affirmations several times throughout the day. At the very least, get in the habit of reciting your affirmations every morning as soon as you get up.

I find it helpful to write these affirmations down. The process of writing them by hand alone will help you remember them and start to internalize them. Then, hang the note with your affirmation or affirmations for the day in a prominent place.

You can stick them on your bathroom mirror or pin them up in a prominent place on your desk. Make sure you choose a spot where you will see the note several times per day. These visual reminders will help you read and recite your affirmations several times throughout the day.

Last but not least, I want you to realize that affirmations change and evolve over time. When it no longer serves its purpose or you feel that you’ve mastered that part, change it up. Craft a new affirmation and replace the old one. Rinse and repeat as often as you like.

Fitting In Your Self-Care Habits

You should add your self-care rituals to the most convenient parts of your day. Choose times that are already somewhat flexible so that incorporating something new into that space will be less stressful. Many people go with morning or evening routines, right when they wake up and before going to sleep each night. Getting up fifteen minutes earlier than usual and setting aside a window during the usual night-time schedule are usually things most folks can do. However, maybe designating your daily lunch break as your self-care time might work better for you. Consider activities like writing a gratitude journal entry before bed, listening to music while having your morning coffee or going for a short walk over your lunch hour. Trial and error may be required, but find a moment to call your own every day.

Be Flexible

It’s best to come up with a routine that works for you and stick to it. Committing to a particular schedule will help you to create a habit and ensures that you get the self-care you need. However, try to cut yourself some slack. Some days are more hectic than others. You may not be able to fit in your anticipated self-care activity, and that’s okay. Tomorrow is a new day, and you can try again. Soon, you’ll find yourself wanting to take part in these rituals, and getting back on track will be easy.

Getting into the practice of regular self-care doesn’t have to be difficult. Making a few adjustments to your existing schedule can free up some space in your day. Choose things that will refresh you and that are simple in nature will make getting started a breeze.

To creating new selfcare habits

Fran Watson

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Self Care Habits