Easy ways to practice self care and feel the best you can!

We all need to unwind at some point, but sometimes it gets difficult to figure out how. In this post, I’m sharing the ways that I carry out self care to hopefully help you relax and encourage you to start self care if you don’t already as I believe it’s so important to love yourself and care for yourself as often as you can.

Have no to-do list

My first tip is that before you carry out any self care, make sure you’ve crossed off everything on your to-do list. You’ll never be able to allow yourself to fully relax if you know, in the back of your mind that you still have things to get done. You’ll just stress about them and the things that you’re carrying out will just be ineffective and pointless. You may not want to do it but once you have, then you don’t have to think about it and it feels a lot better when it’s not playing on your mind!

Relax

Most of my ways of practicing self care is the types that you’ve probably seen before. I really enjoy slapping on a face mask and having a bath. I’m usually not fussed about the face mask I use as I know that they all work with my oily skin type but a personal favourite for self-care nights is the glam glow glitter mask. I love glitter and I always think it’s so fun to peel it off when it dries! As for the bath, I of course love to use Lush bath bombs! My go-tos are either Sex Bomb bath bomb or the comforter bubble bar. As well as being really fun, they contain lots of oils which make my skin feel super smooth and soft. I also have a soft spot for Lush’s snow fairy that is unfortunately only sold for Christmas.

Get comfy and have a snack!

Once I’m out the bath, I like to either slip on my vs robe or change into my pyjamas and grab a snack which happens to be chocolate-based, it’s been known to released endorphins which make you happy so, just this once, it’s a completely rational reason to eat chocolate!

Engage in off-screen activities

Then, after I’ve settled, I like to busy myself. I stay off social media and only use my phone for music. I usually occupy myself during these times by reading, planning my bullet journal or watching a film on the tv we have in the conservatory while wrapped up in a blanket. These are just really relaxing for me, and I feel that sadly, I don’t get enough time to do these as often as I’d like-especially reading. I used to read all the time and I love to lose myself in a book, but recently, revision has had to become a top priority, so my self-care time has massively decreased which isn’t all too good. Once they’re over though, I’ll be making up for all the time I’ve lost out on!

Try practicing gratitude

Something that I’ve recently incorporated into my routine is gratitude. I make a list of all the things that I’m grateful for and I feel that it’s very uplifting and makes you realise how lucky you are and how much worse it unfortunately can be. You can add literally the smallest thing to the list and it doesn’t matter to anyone else because it’s something you appreciate and when you look back over the lists, you’ll be reminded of the reasons why you were grateful for it and it greatly increases your mood.

Stretch

Personally, I really like to stretch. I feel like not only is it good for you but it also helps me feel less sore and, if I need it, a little more energised. I don’t just keep self care to an evening, I sometimes start off my Saturday or Sunday morning with it so stretching really helps me prepare for the day and gives me the extra boost of energy that I need. It’s particularly helpful on a Monday morning when the last thing I want to do is pull myself from my warm bed. It can be such simple stretches like touching your toes or a couple of lunges but I feel it really helps on the days when I feel sluggish and unproductive.

I hope these tips at least helped a little bit for when you want to carry out some self care and if you have any tips to share them comment down below!