What Are Some Self-care Ideas - 25 Self-care Ideas to Help You Be a Better You

Importance of self-care

• Reduced mortality

According to several studies, self-care reduces the risk of death because it allows us to be healthier. Several empirical studies have also shown that our chances of getting diseases like heart disease and cancer reduce significantly when we practice self-care.

• Less stress and anxiety

Practicing a self-care routine also reduces stress and anxiety and their effects, which is always good.

• Improved concentration

Mental self-care leads to many good things, one of which is improved concentration. With less stress on our cognitive faculties, we can better focus and concentrate on items that have priority and the more general ones.

• Increased levels of happiness

All-round self-care leads to less stress which means we will experience the opposite – happiness. And like a cycle, the happier we are, the more we engage in things that make us happy, thereby making us even more content.

• More energetic

Physical, spiritual, and mental self-care allows us to be more energetic because we would be physically healthy and mentally cleared of those things that weigh us down.

• Helps us realize meaning in life

Engaging in self-care tasks, for instance, those related to spiritual wellness will allow us to better understand ourselves and what we can offer in life, thereby giving us meaning.

25 self-care Ideas

1. Get a positive mindset

This is one of the best self-care things to do because it begins your journey to self-care. Telling yourself that you do indeed deserve to be taken care of by yourself is how you start to take care of yourself. Adopt the mindset that you love yourself and need to do better for yourself, and other self-care practices will follow easily.

2. Work out often

We cannot talk about self-care topics without the need to exercise. Exercise simply must be incorporated into whatever weekly self-care routine you have as it aids in physical well-being immensely.

We get that you might not be a fan of all exercises, so feel free to try out different routines before you settle on a preferred choice. You can also reach out to a fitness coach for more help.

3. Eating healthy

One of the best things for self-care is eating well because the proper nutritional intake helps you achieve physical well-being. Ensure you eat enough fruits and vegetables and other foods that maintain health.

4. Get enough sleep

High on the list of self-care ideas is the need to sleep. There are several proven benefits of sleeping, such as a reduced risk of health problems, reduced stress, and better concentration. Sleep is also one of the more cheap self-care ideas, but be careful not to overdo it as this can have adverse effects. A healthy sleeping routine involves at least 7 hours of sleep per night.

5. Sign up for annual medical checkups

Much like a car needs to be serviced to ensure it is in good condition, so does a human. This is why an important self-care suggestion is that you go for medical checkups as recommended. Experts generally recommend that people younger than 50 go for checkups every three years and for those above 50 every year.

6. Hang out with friends and family

A fun self-care idea would be hanging out with friends and family to maintain your social connections and wellbeing. Try your best to avoid negative social relationships, however, as those are not good for your mental wellbeing.

7. Going out to places

Sometimes you can simply go out to places with friends and engage in fun self-care activities for groups such as karaoke night, games night, or even a potluck. You could also just take yourself out on a self-date where you can treat yourself.

8. Keep a gratitude journal

We can get so lost in the negatives that we forget the positives. These positives can make us feel better and are good for our well-being. Therefore, a simple self-care idea would be to keep track of those things you are thankful for. Going back to those things will remind us that at least some things are going well in our lives which can lift our moods and provide emotional self-care.

9. Read

Another easy self-care idea is reading.  Reading is considered mental self-care as it can broaden your horizon, and there are so many things you can read to accomplish this, ranging from self-help books to financial help books to instructional books and even history books. Feel free to throw in some novels as well for creativity.

10. Sign up for a class

As long as we are alive, we can never stop learning, so why not sign up to a class to learn something new or that you have always been interested in, such as art, geography, crafts, or marketing. Weekly classes can then be considered weekly self-care, and with so many courses being taken online, this can also be thought of like a self-care idea at home.

11. Take a walk

The beautiful thing about taking a walk is that it is one of those self-care things to do when bored and when excited or filled with any other emotion; you feeling sad – take a walk; happy – take a walk; angry – take a walk.

Taking a walk allows you to breathe some fresh air and enjoy the stars – including the sun – and appreciate life. It is, therefore, most definitely a relaxing self-care idea.

12. Put off your phone for the day

You want to know an unusual self-care idea? Try putting off your phone for the day. Just a day so that you can focus on yourself with no distractions. You could do it on a Sunday as part of a weekend self-care routine. This exercise will show you that there is life away from the internet, and trust me, it’s a good feeling.

13. Listen to good music

Even when our ancestors could not record music, they still found a way to listen to it. Music has been a self-care activity for millennia, and it is not changing now. You need a daily self-care idea – music, music, and more music is your answer. You get bonus points for coming up with different playlists to reflect your moods.

14. Check out some documentaries

Another unique self-care idea in the mental self-care department is to watch documentaries; yes, there are documentaries outside NatGeo Wild. There are documentaries on the history of various groups, environmental issues, fashion, and just about everything. With the internet, these have become very accessible as well. A suggestion from us to you – an excellent self-care Saturday idea would be documentaries on Netflix.

15. Volunteer/ Be more altruistic

Experts have noted that, generally speaking, we feel better when we help others. Therefore, a relaxing self-care idea is one where you engage in a charitable endeavor such as volunteerism. Even small acts such as being kinder to people and being more mindful of the emotions of others count. It’s simple – a nicer you feels nicer.

16. Meditate

Need a free self-care idea? Meditation is an answer. Benefits of meditation include; reduced stress, increased work rate, and better regulation of our mood. Meditation is therefore good for our wellbeing and is a part of self-care.

17. Attend a religious service

For your spiritual well-being, you should consider attending a religious service as a thing to do on a self-care day. While this does not work for everyone, several people have spoken of how they felt more wholesome after attending a religious service. So if you are interested, pick a religion you don’t mind too much, and try this out.

18. Pimp out your resume

Your career is a massive part of who you are, so practicing self-care in that regard is also a part of self-care. Set some time apart to engage in the small self-care idea of going through your resume and updating it to reflect your current station and keep yourself ready for the next job application.

19. Apply for that job you have always wanted

Self-care includes career advancements which is why an excellent self-care idea for adults is to apply for your dream job. If you feel as though you don’t qualify, come up with a roadmap to get the qualifications you need and start getting things done. This is your dream job, and dreams are nothing but a reality that is yet to come to pass.

20. Learn a new skill/ trade

A fantastic self-care activity for men and women involves learning more skills that will benefit you at work. By becoming a better employee, you stand a better chance of being promoted, thereby achieving self-help in terms of your career.

21. Come up with a budget/ financial plan

Financial self-care is also quite important because money is necessary for survival. Therefore, it is vital to keep our finances in check, and a fantastic way to do this would be by creating a budget. You could include this in your monthly self-care routine to take regular care of your finances.

22. Meet a financial advisor

Another significant way of showing self-care in your finances includes reaching out to a professional financial advisor to help you grow your wealth and achieve long-term financial goals. This excellent self-care idea for women and men will ensure that your finances are well organized and poised to grow.

23. Recycle, Reuse, and Reduce

Much like being more altruistic is good for us, so also is helping the environment. Environmentally friendly self-care activities for women and men include recycling the things we can recycle, reusing the reusables, and reducing things like our energy usage.

24. Become environmentally friendly

Apart from the 3Rs, there are other ways to be more environmentally friendly such as avoiding littering, buying products that use less packaging, reducing your purchasing of water bottles, and using green electronics. Knowing you are helping the environment can make you feel better, part of self-care.

25. Talking to someone

There are several ways to achieve self-care, and one of them is talking to someone. You can find more insight into other self-care routines and get feedback on your own. You can also engage in mental and emotional self-care by talking to people about issues you face, such as therapists, trusted friends, and even mentors. Humans are social beings; remember that.

If you need some help here, check out How to Get Better at Talking to People.

The Self-Care process

1. Determine compatible activities

After asking the question, “what are some self-care ideas?” and receiving some suggestions, you then pick some activities that you feel you will be able to do.

2. Incorporate activity into routine and maintain usage

Once you have picked an activity, you can then work on integrating it into your life. Start small by doing it now and then to get a feel of it but try to be consistent. Gradually increase the usage of the activity to a level you feel is appropriate or that would do justice to the activity.

3. Reflect on effects of activity

You should then reflect on what you have accomplished so far by engaging in that activity to see if it is the right one for you and if it is, feel free to continue. If it isn’t, try to find out why this is so and if it is something you can fix. If you realize that this activity is just not for you, you can drop it.

4. Add other activities with time and repeat the process

You can then repeat this process with other activities.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are examples of self-care?

• Eating healthy
• Exercising
• Taking a walk
• Listening to good music
• Meditation
• Going out to places

2. What are some good self-care activities?

• Exercising often
• Eating a healthy and balanced diet
• Coming up with a reasonable budget
• Becoming more environmentally minded
• Being more charitable and mindful of other people
• Getting enough sleep

3. What are the 5 types of self-care?

• Physical self-care
• Emotional self-care
• Spiritual self-care
• Financial self-care
• Social self-care

In Conclusion

We hope we were able to shed some insight into the question, “what are some self-care ideas?” and that you will practice more self-care from now on. Remember, there are different types of self-care, so try your best to engage in activities that can target them to be a better “you” all around.