The Ultimate Guide to Starting a Self-Care Routine You Wanna Stick With

When’s The Right Time to Think About Self-Care?

You feel tired. But you’re busy. All. The. Freaking. Time! Yet you don’t get anything done, it’s just too much. You’re overworked and mentally drained. Your body feels like shit. Sometimes you’re sad. But most of the time, you’re just very tired.

When you’re finally at home after a long day, all you wanna do is chill on the couch and binge watch the latest shallow reality series with a glass of wine and some left over pizza slices. Alone. Because you can’t stand the thought of any social activity. Sounds a lot like me when I was borderline depressed by the way.

But back to your short story: One of your colleague’s new favorite thing to talk about non-stop is self-care. The latest self-care tips. All the glorious benefits of self-care. Making time for yourself. Phew.

And because you’re tired in general – but also tired of feeling left out – you decide to do some research (also, maybe there’s some truth to it and this self-care thing might really help you a little).

You find out that everybody from Beyoncé to Oprah talks about self-care, how important it is, how you need to make time for it etc. bla bla. It’s obviously the new hype word. The new golden child. But: You also find a lot of fluff. Everything just sounds so woo woo.

You then probably googled “What (the F) is self-care?” and hopefully found this post somewhere in Google’s Top 10. [If so: Hey, mum, I’m on Google’s page 1! Also: Thanks for clicking the link, I’ll try hard to provide something valuable and actionable to you.]

So, here we are now and let me tell you this: I got your back! Let’s try and grasp the concept of self-care together, shall we?!

Self-Care: Definition, Benefits & Ideas

I’ve talked about the importance of self-care and how I believe it’s a 24/7 thing on my blog already left, right, front and center. What I haven’t done so far?

Compile something as awesome as this Ultimate Guide to answer all your self-care questions. My hope is that you won’t need any other resource once you’re done reading this post. So – let’s jump right in!

WHAT is Self-Care?

I admit, self-care is a pretty vague and kind of broad term. So no wonder, there’s so much fluff out there. Here’s a self-care definition that resonates well with me (maybe because it’s by yours truly lol):

The deliberate and self-initiated practice to look after one’s personal wellbeing on a regular basis through healthy lifestyle choices and mindful daily habits & routines.

That’s a compilation of various definitions thrown together (one is straight out of the dictionary ;)) because none of the ones, that I researched really explained the whole concept behind self-care in an easy and digestible way imho.

Let’s go through it one by one.

First up: Deliberate and Self-Initiated.

The most important part about self-care? The little word “self”. It’s about you and no one else. But because it is about you, you’re also going to be the one who needs to take matters into her (his?) own hands. That’s where “self-initated” and “deliberate” come into play.

Translated into simple english: If you wish to change something, YOU NEED TO START DOING STUFF. No one else is going to force you (gosh, imagine this) and if you’re not truly ready for a new chapter in your life, there won’t be a new chapter.

Dead simple.

“But, Nina: I don’t have time and can’t find any motivation to get going!”. I got you. Pause this blog post for a second and head over to: “How to be motivated AF. Every. Single. Day.”

Next up: Personal Wellbeing.

What do you do for fun? What are your hobbies? What makes you happy? Who are you friends with? And also super important: What does your health look like? Your physical and mental health? All of these factors are part of the personal wellbeing equation.

Here’s the thing: there’s always room to improve one’s personal wellbeing, because our lives are ongoing journeys – so looking after our wellbeing never really stops (until it does for real).

Next: Healthy Lifestyle Choices.

That one’s pretty simple and in theory we all know intuitively what to do: Following a healthy diet, regular exercising, getting enough sleep, no smoking, more walking instead of driving, limited alcohol consumption, taking good care of your body, drinking 3l of water… you get the gist.

And last: Mindful Daily Habits & Routines.

These are less obvious and I’m sure vary greatly for everybody. These routines and habits help to structure the day, to help the mind relax, to sharpen one’s focus and to be more present.

Here are mine as an example:

• Waking up early,
• reading at least 20 pages,
• not drinking coffee excessively (rather tea),
• daily exercise,
• meditating,
• journaling,
• going for a short walk,
• taking deep breaths randomly,
• writing down 3 things I’m grateful for,
• banning my smartphone during work
• and social interactions…

Some people put self-care on the same level as stress management and although yes, I believe self-care plays a big part when it comes to stress and how to reduce it, it is NOT the same thing as stress management. Let’s just put that out of the way right from the beginning.

WHY do We Need Self-Care in Our Lives?

The deliberate and self-initiated practice to look after one’s personal wellbeing on a regular basis through healthy lifestyle choices and mindful daily habits & routines.

I could have stopped writing after that definition. I’m sure a lot of people would have been happy with that explanation and would’ve walked away knowing more about self-care than before. Goal achieved. Check.

But this isn’t that kind of post. This is the kind of post where we go deep! So let’s continue and try to answer the “Why” for self-care.

Why bother with it? Why are people going crazy about it? Why do we see #selfcare all over instagram and twitter?

People already DO a lot of the things, I explained above, without proclaiming explicitly “Oh hey, see me running in the park? That’s part of my self-care routine by the way!” (and let’s be honest: they have been doing it long before hashtags or social media existed).

Social (Media) Comparison

My opinion is this: Since lives are so publicly visible thanks to the gram and all the other social media options, mental health has been declining (here’s a study and here’s another one discussing that phenomenon).

Trying to keep up with the Joneses (or Kardashians lol) is more popular than ever, yet failing is inevitable. No one will ever be the hottest, most handsome, prettiest, richest, most-traveled, fittest, most intelligent person on earth.

There will always be someone who’s richer, leaner, more intelligent or (in your super critical eyes) prettier.

But before social media, the options we could compare ourselves (and try to keep up with) were limited to our social circle, neighbourhood and maybe the next city.

If you were someone who traveled every now and then, than you could compare yourself to the people you would meet along your journey. That was it. Period.

Celebrities were so far away and unattainable, that they had some kind of holiness to them. Why was that? Because we only had access to them through TV and magazines, so (usually) people would never really try to compare themselves to them. They were out of reach.

Now though, we ALWAYS have access to the the whole freaking world, everybody’s opinion, the most gorgeous holiday images and stunning selfies (#wokeuplikethis, yeah sure) scrolling through a never-ending feed (from hell), that sucks us in with zero possibility to escape. It’s a 24/7 vicious circle. Yey. Happy times.

Self-Care Benefits

I absolutely believe in having role models to aspire after and dreams to put on a bucket list, because that often gives me the extra boost of motivation. I find it healthy to have bigger goals than the situation I’m in at the moment.

To achieve these goals, I inevitably have to compare my status quo to my goal, otherwise I won’t know which steps to take in order to move forward.

For me it gets unhealthy once I obsess over something a lot, once that something has the power to make or break my day and once I attach strong negative feelings to it.

So here’s why I believe everybody benefits from having an on-going and strong self-care routine:

• To keep our sanity,
• to feel great about ourselves,
• to be more at ease in stressful situations,
• to be more resilient,
• to feel more balanced,
• to keep our anxiety in check and
• to shield ourselves from too much (online) BS.

HOW to Implement a Strong Self-Care Routine

I guess that’s now the million dollar question: How do you create and implement a strong self-care routine within your busy and hectic lifestyle? A routine that is easy to follow and maybe even fun and works for every day? Which method and practice out of the thousands available should you follow?

Here’s my suggestion: Start small and be consistent.

Don’t try to tackle a huge change, rather start doing one thing at a time until it feels natural to you.

Start Small, Be Consistent

When I was prepping for my time at university, I read a book about efficient learning strategies. One advice stuck out and I started using that method for different areas in my life as well.

The method works as follows: Any big goal looks daunting at first, so the author of that book compared it to a huge grey elephant that sits there and occupies your mind.

Let’s say you have to wash that elephant. There’s no way for anyone to tackle the whole elephant at once, but rather you’d make a plan, “break down” the elephant into smaller parts, and then start washing maybe the feet first. Next the face, then one ear, then the other and so on.

To use that metaphor for our self-care routine project, let’s break down once again what self-care means:

The deliberate and self-initiated practice to look after one’s personal wellbeing on a regular basis through healthy lifestyle choices and mindful daily habits & routines.

How to Set Up a Solid Self-Care Routine: Tips

What I did (and still do) for my own self-care practice is the following:

1. Taking action yourself as in “deliberate and self-initiated” isn’t always the easiest. In fact it often takes a huge amount of willpower to start any new action or to change something for the better.
   
   Although, you first need a plan before you can get going, I want to share two methods with you right at the beginning of this. That way you already know how to turn your self-care routine into reality and the amount of energy and willpower will be much lower with these life hacks:
• The 54321 Rule by Mel Robbins. Here’s the one sentence explainer by Mel Robbins herself: “If you have an instinct to act on a goal, you must physically move within 5 seconds or your brain will kill it.”
  
  This, my lovely people, is pure gold. So use it to your advantage. Start your internal 5 second countdown whenever needed and move towards your goal. Be it in bed in the morning before grabbing your gym clothes and heading to your workout, or journaling, or even cleaning.
  
  5-4-3-2-1-GO.
• Make it as easy as possible to achieve your goal. For example, to use the gym reference one more time, if your goal is to go to the gym in the morning, try having the least amount of obstacles to get you there. Don’t give your mind any time to ponder about the decision, just do it.
  
  Some obstacles would be finding your gym clothes in the morning, packing your bag, finding a healthy morning snack. While doing all this, your mind will start wondering “Should I even go to the gym? It’s still dark outside… I could watch some morning TV instead and be nice and comfy on the couch… bla bla bla.” just to trick you into some good old self-sabotage.
  
  Avoid that scenario by packing your bag the evening before and preparing your clothes, so the only thing you got to do in the morning is changing into your gym attire, grab your bag and leave the house.
2. Defining my “ideal personal wellbeing self” through brainstorming the following:
   • What do I do for fun? Is there anything I’ve been thinking about often and would like to give it a go (e.g. visiting an art opening, drawing with watercolors etc.)?
   • Is there a new hobby I would like to try or maybe an old one you’d like to refresh?
   • Am I happy with the people I’m friends with or is there a (toxic?) person, that I need to let go? Is there anyone I’d like to spend more time with? Or someone I would like to get introduced to?
   • What do I want my physical health to look like?
   • Do I prioritize my mental health and what can I do to take even more care of it?

   In the end this could look like e.g. “I want to feel more energized through getting enough sleep every night.” or “I want to be someone who works out on a regular basis 3 times a week.”.

3. Then: Making a list of healthy lifestyle choices I wanted to implement in forever e.g. drinking enough water, more walking instead of driving, less alcohol consumption, less (or no) smoking…
4. A second list with mindful habits & routines.

Need inspiration? Here you go:

Self-Care Ideas & Activities

Physical Self-Care

• Work out on a regular basis, at least 3 times a week. A workout doesn’t have to be boring or always in the gym if that’s not your thing. Try a few different things, maybe adult classical ballet, maybe martial arts, yoga, pilates, boxing, plain old running or join a group workout. There’s plenty of choice.
  
  
• Up your activity level, especially if you’re an office person or someone who sits a lot (like me). Take breaks every hour to walk a couple of steps. Does your office offer standing desks? Use these every once in a while.
  
  Do standing meetings or make your calls while walking (e.g. in an empty meeting room). Take the stairs instead of the escalator. You’ll see the more you focus on that, the more possibilities to move your body you’ll see all of a sudden.
• Take 3 deep breaths at random times of the day.
• Focus on healthy eating habits and ban junk food. I believe most people overcomplicate nutrition especially the food and the diet industry. Healthy nutrition is simple: Eat a variety of fresh regional food (best if locally sourced). Avoid processed food whenever possible. Cut out sugar as much as you can. That’s it.
  
  
• Prepare and cook your own meals. I LOVE delivery food. It’s yummy, it’s convenient, it’s time saving – and despite the many “healthy” delivery options out there I’ll never exactly know how my food is prepared and which ingredients are used. That’s why I prepare and cook almost all my meals myself and only get delivery food if there really is no other option.
  
  Sure, you need to find time each day for meal prep and cooking but reconnecting with the process of creating something tasty out of a couple of ingredients has been priceless. I believe that a lot of people lack the understanding of where their food comes from (especially meat) and how much time and effort go into preparing a great meal.
  
  It’s as if people have lost touch with the earth that is nurturing us. Learning how to cook a decent meal helps to appreciate food more and the process of cooking is almost like meditation. Focus on the present. Focus on cutting veggies. Focus on not burning yourself. And then focus on the amazing taste.
• Watch your caffeine intake. I love coffee but there was a time in my life where I would only start functioning after 5 cups of black coffee. Anything in excess isn’t good no matter what we’re talking about. So now I’m happy with one great coffee ideally with some coconut milk and love to drink tea as well.
  
  
• Drink enough water. What’s “enough” though? Bare in mind that I’m not a nutritionist but I feel great drinking 3l of still water daily (as a kid I’d drink only a glass of water a day, my mum didn’t know what to do with me ;)). It helps the body to keep the system hydrated and it’s good for the skin. Especially in the morning I drink about half a liter, that tells the body that the day started and the internal organs can wake up as well.
• Have regular dates with yourself to take care of your body:
  • Establish a regular skincare routine, if you don’t have one already. If you’re struggling with having healthy skin, the blog Simple Skincare Science helped me a lot.
  • Schedule weekly time off to do a mani/pedi (either yourself or at the salon).
  • Go and see a hairdresser every couple of weeks or months. There doesn’t need to be a huge change afterwards, but after a relaxing head massage, you’ll feel 100% less stressed.
  • Have a facial every once in a while. It’s great for your skin and also has a soothing effect.
  • Schedule full-body massages every now and then. What’s better than taking a little staycation at your local spa to get pampered from head to toe? Full energy recharge guaranteed.
  • Have little pampering sessions at home once a week. Light some candles, prepare a bubble bath, put on a nice loungy playlist and turn off your phone for the next hour.
    
    
• Take some time to focus on one of your senses e.g.
  • smelling the special scent of freshness and moist soil while walking through a rainy forest
  • listening to classical music while lying down for 15 minutes
  • tasting a rich and fudgy chocolate cookie
  • feeling rays of sunlight on your skin while sitting outside
  • watching the movement of the sea or (one of my favs) a bonfire
• Have sex. With someone that treats you well and that you at least (!) like a lot. (And with yourself, like, idk weekly?!)
• Challenge yourself to do something different like visiting your local library or museum (that you’ve never been to) or going to the cinema by yourself (I do this every now and then and a lot of people find it weird. But isn’t going to the cinema the least social activity one can do?). Or how about visiting a local farm?
  
  

Mental Self-Care

• Wake up early. Some people say that “if you master your morning, you’ll master your day”. I hate to wake up early. Hate it. But the feeling I have once I’m awake is priceless. Whenever I’m up earlier, I get more stuff done and am always amazed at how much things I checked off my to-do list by noon.
  
  I’m none of the people who wake up at 4am by the way, 6am is the earliest I get up. All the mums out there will now probably laugh at me, but with no family (yet) that I have to feed and get ready each morning, 6am gives me plenty of time to organize a normal day.
• Make your bed every day. This is a great life hack. a) Your bedroom looks much nicer when your bed is made. b) You’ve already achieved something that day: You made your bed. 5 minutes awake, first goal already achieved, you’re already winning. Isn’t that amazing?!
  
  
• Read 20 pages a day. Books are my biggest love. Yet when it comes to fiction, I struggle to find time to read. So by stumbling upon a blog post by James Clear that’s about how to read more within a year I adopted his system of 20 pages a day. 20 pages are manageable and don’t take more than max. half an hour. That’s something one can do during the commute or by waking up earlier 😉
• Meditate. Start small and be consistent with it (especially with meditating). 3-5 minutes each day are already a great start. You can then always work your way up to 10 minutes and eventually even 20 minutes. I love using Headspace for it and there are so many other great apps and youtube videos on how to best start a meditation practice. Here’s a link to my favorite meditation playlist on youtube.



• Begin with a 5-Minute Morning Journal Routine. There are gratitude journals and morning journals to buy that already have little prompts printed on each page. You could always start with a plain notebook on your own and keep it simple.
  
  Just write down whatever crosses your mind without editing yourself and stop after 5 minutes. Need prompts? List 3 things you’re grateful for, 3 things you want to accomplish today and 3 things that make you feel energized.
  
  I use both methods. I have the book “Five Minutes in the Morning” because I’m a sucker for cute notebooks with pretty illustrations and use it every now and then, if I need new prompts. Most of the time, I just jot down ideas, feelings and thoughts into a plain notebook.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BrSAdDdhkV7/?utm_source=ig_web_options_share_sheet

• I ban my (private) smartphone during work and socializing. Why and how I do that? I wrote a complete blog post about this topic, because it’s that important to me: “Is your smartphone controlling life? Here’s how to stop it.”
• Interested in further personal development? Is there emotional baggage you’re dragging around with you? Go and see a therapist (to deal with your past) or book in sessions with a coach specialized in the field you want to improve in (to deal with your future) e.g. a personal trainer, nutritionist or life coach.
• Be creative. Start drawing (how about watercolors? Or getting an adult coloring book?), playing an instrument, doing photography or something completely different. Whatever gets your creative juices flowing and makes you happy. Doesn’t have to be perfect, only soothing and relaxing for you.
  
  
• Declutter a space or corner in your home. Don’t push it further away, just do it. Letting go of stuff and organizing your possessions also declutters your mental space, you’ll see. If you need more input on how to let go of stuff, my post on “How to let go: Important life lessons I wish I knew earlier” will help you with that for sure.
• Travel. Plan your next trip either by yourself or with friends, family, partner etc.. Traveling widens our horizon and we learn something new, be it about another culture, food or people. It’s like feeding our soul and mind with fresh insights.
  
  I think traveling often bears the misconception that is has to be fancy, 2 weeks long and needs to happen far away. Take a weekend off and visit the next big city for a short getaway full of culture and sightseeing. Or take a couple of days to hike a mountain close-by.
  
  Travel can even happen at the place you live by finding unexpected places or playing tourist for a day. Go out and never stop exploring.

  

Social Self-Care

• Write letters to a dear friend of yours. Who writes letters on paper nowadays? No one. That’s for sure going to be a nice surprise for your friend.
• Call or message someone you haven’t been in touch with in a while and want to reconnect. Maybe your family? Maybe a distant friend? Or an old colleague?
• Schedule weekly/monthly lunch dates with your girlfriends or rather regular girl’s night out?
• Hug often. Are you in a relationship? Hug your partner and cuddle with each other as often as you can. People who have positive physical contact with one another, release the bonding hormone Oxytocin and thus feel more at ease and relaxed; and the obvious – more connected to the people they care about.
  
  Single? Hug your friend, mum, really anyone you care about more often, and that includes cuddling with your pet 🙂
  
  
• Have date nights with your significant other. Discuss something that’s manageable for the both of you e.g. twice a month, schedule time off on both of your calendars, make sure kids etc. are taken care off and enjoy some time just the two of you. It’s important to make time for love, because healthy and strong relationships don’t just happen, they require some work.
• Join a local charity and help people less fortunate than you. Could be a soup kitchen or spending time with elderly people at their home. Or maybe you’re more of an animal friend: Local dog shelters always need help with walking their dogs. Call in and ask what their process of getting registered as one of their dog walkers is like. Some shelters need you to pass a little test to see if you’d be apt to walk their dogs.
  
  
• Let go of toxic persons in your life. There’s not much more to say about that. Again if you need more input on how to let go of stuff, my post on “How to let go: Important life lessons I wish I knew earlier” will help you with that for sure.

What Gets Measured, Gets Done

Everybody knows that saying, yet it’s unclear, who said it first (in case you want to geek out a little bit, here’s a summary). Apart from being someone who absolutely adores paper, pens and to-do lists, I truly believe that tracking progress doesn’t only belong to office meetings and project management tools. So, how do you stick to your newly created self-care routine?

Yeah, it might seem a bit tedious at first, but in the long-term tracking things makes planning and sticking to a new self-care routine (or any routine really) so much easier. Having a support system in place does not have to be complicated or time consuming, a system can be simple (or if you love setting up complex stuff, go for it!) and light-weight.

For the most simple system setup, you’ll need:

1. Paper
2. A pen
3. A monthly calendar sheet

And here’s what you’ll do next, after you defined your ideal self-care routine (as explained above): Start small and be consistent.

1. Prioritize 1 to maximum 2 things you want to change or implement (aka start small).
2. Set a realistic schedule e.g. “15 minutes yoga every Monday morning and Thursday evening” and “5 minutes of morning journaling every day” (aka be consistent).
3. Use the Seinfeld method for tracking.
   
   Short explanation: Mark every day, that you journaled/meditated/worked out/read 20 pages/whatever with an X on your monthly calendar sheet. After a few days, you’ll see a chain of X’s. Don’t break the chain.
   
   Wanna know, why this is called the Seinfeld method? Here’s the story behind.
4. When your new self-care habit feels natural to you, start with the next one on your list.
   
   

How Long Does it Take to Adopt a New Habit?

There’s a fascinating story about the “21 days to form a new habit” rule, that James Clear explains in great detail in his post: How Long Does it Actually Take to Form a New Habit? (Backed by Science).

I’d say this: Once you feel happy and look forward to your new routine e.g. waking up and being excited about going to the gym vs. hating the thought of it, then I think you’re ready for the next little puzzle piece of your personal self-care routine. I don’t think that a complex habit like working out will ever feel automatic but it will feel much more normal after a while.

Another thing that helps me to stick to my routines is scheduling time off in my calendar. Scheduling time off? For real? Yep, fo’ real.

Life gets hectic and it’s easy to skip a habit that’s not our second nature yet “only once”. And again, and again, and again until it’s not a new habit anymore but just some remnant memory.

Although self-care should be soothing and relaxing, starting a self-care routine might seem a bit tedious at first, especially because it’s hard to break old habits and establish new ones.

So, here’s a list with my favorite self-care systems, that I either use myself or think they’re genius, to make your life even easier.

Define your personal ideal self-care routine. Pick and choose a support system (or multiple). Get going. Repeat. That’s really about it 🙂

Choose a Self-Care System That Works For You

1. The most simple system: Paper and pen. I use A5 sized plain notebooks I buy at MUJI to bullet journal and Cal Newport’s system of day planning.
   
   
2. Meditation tracking system: Headspace app. My current run streak is 600+ days. I didn’t break that chain so far. Headspace offers free content to get started and to access the huge library, you’ll have to pay a fee.
3. Workout tracking system: Strong app (for the gym – free). Runtastic (for running – a lot of free content)

   

4. Healthy eating habits system: MyNetDiary. I use that app to track my food intake and makros. It offers so much more though e.g. water intake, exercise, body measurements, daily steps taken (can be linked with smartphone step counter). I use the free version, since there’s plenty of functions available, there’s also a premium version with even more options.

   

5. Activity tracking system: I use my smartphone for that. My current phone is a Samsung and the inbuilt health app offers a vast amount of options that can be tracked. I only use the step counter, because I don’t want Samsung to know my whole life story (and the other apps work kind of anonymously).
6. To track any kind of habit and achieve single goals: Habitica app. This app allows you to gamify your life and looks super cute (especially if you’re into the 90’s gaming world of pixely role-play characters)! You choose a character and by achieving your own daily goals, your character thrives.
   
   If you don’t check off your goals, your character starves (very similar to another 90’s must-have: the Tamagotchi!) I tried the app but don’t use it because it’s too time consuming for me, however I read about others that use and love it, so maybe Habitica might be the right tool for you! Oh yeah, and it’s free!

   

7. To track any kind of habit: Spreadsheets. Here’s an interesting article I read the other day on medium: The Next Wellness Trend Should Be Google Spreadsheets.
   
   I’m sure you’re aware of it by now: I LOVE tracking stuff and to-do lists, so spreadsheets are right up my alley. These are a couple of programs I’m a fan of (and most work on smartphones as well):
• Notion: Just started using it and it keeps my whole life organized. Absolutely loving it (and yes, there’s a free version to get started and Android/iPhone apps, that work surprisingly well). Have a look at the prebuilt templates and choose one that fits your needs best.

  

• Airtable: My second favorite tool, I started using this year. Super powerful and versatile database provider and fun to use. Also has a free version, that is more than enough if you want to use it just for yourself. Their app is great for having a quick glance but I never edit any information here. Their templates are a great starting point for your own little project.

  

• Excel: Well that’s for sure the most straightforward option, but also the least fun to use imho.
• Google Sheets: Same as with Excel, but also available online since everything is stored in their cloud. You need to be a Google user to be able to work with it.
• Apple Numbers: For my fellow Mac users out there, the equivalent to Excel. It’s a robust program and worth trying since it’s already a part of any Mac and much more intuitive to use (unless you’re a heavy Microsoft Office user, then it’s not ;)).
8. Set reminders to keep up with your new routine. This could be done with your inbuilt smartphone calendar (most have an option to set daily or customized reminders) or an app. Since I also work on a couple of different freelance projects, I use a program called Slack to communicate with clients and team members. But why not use that awesome program for my self-care routine as well?
   
   Slack can do so much more than just sending instant messages, for example it also allows for programming a little bot, that accomplishes tasks for you. One of the tasks I recently created is a set of different self-care reminders, that the bot sends me on my customized schedule (e.g. to take my probiotics at a certain time, because that’s something that I forgot often, or to check in with me throughout the day to see how much I’ve walked so far).
   
   In case you’re a Slack user as well or want to try the app, here’s the formula to set reminders: “/remind [@person or #channel] [what] [when]”. So an example would be “/remind me “to drink water” everyday at 9:00am”. Find more information here.

   

9. I’ve created the Mindful Lifestyle Workbook, in which you’ll find a vast amount of healthy lifestyle choices, mindful & healthy habit ideas, more input on how to create the self-care routine that works for you best and a 30-day worksheet, that’ll help you to keep up with tracking your new habits. Have a look and sign up for my mailing list to receive it!

   

In the end, the most important thing is, that you create the kind of feedback and support system that doesn’t overcomplicate your life but makes it easier, something that gives you joy and makes you feel good (e.g. I feel A LOT of joy while checking off to-do lists).

What’s Your Takeaway?

That guide is a lot, I know, and it’s long af. Bookmark it or clip it to Notion, so you can come back whenever you feel like it. Self-care is a journey and it needs to be fun. If it’s not, chances are you’re not going to stick with the whole self-care thing for long, so please set up a self-care routine you wanna fall in love with and that feels great to you.

Let me know your thoughts on the guide, I’m so curious to learn more about your take on self-care: Do you already have a routine? If not, do you feel more at ease now after reading the guide? What’s your favorite self-care habit? Anything I should include in here, that I’ve missed?

Talk soon and take care, Nina