5 Free Selfcare Tips I Use Everyday

Photo by madison lavern on Unsplash

Valentine's Day is around the corner, and the timelines will be flooded with couples celebrating love. I love a celebration just as much as the next person, but I think it’s important also to celebrate the love you have for yourself. Not just on holidays like this one, but all year-’round. 

Love is such a beautiful thing, and I believe you can show love to your community by showing love to yourself. Self-care has been monetized as unobtainable standards that the average person can’t meet. But that is not what proper self-care is to me. You have to care about yourself to care about others. And I believe by incorporating these five tips every day, I show up for my community with a full cup. 

A Consistent Routine

Routines help ensure you are consistent in your daily life. By adding and sticking to your routines, you can always get the prioritization you need. Every day I wake up, do my skincare, brush my teeth, eat breakfast, and stretch. This is a routine I stick to, and when I don’t, I feel off.

Yes, this is a beauty blog, so of course, I will mention sticking with a good skincare routine. Your skincare doesn’t have to be ten steps for it to be good enough. You can have a cleanser, a moisturizer, and sunscreen and be ready to tackle the day. 

Move Your Body

You don't have to do an intense HIIT workout or even lift weights, but you should do something to get your body moving every day. Any kind of physical activity will help your mindset. Go on a walk, or follow a workout routine on youtube. Whatever you decide to do to get your body moving, just do it. You will feel refreshed and maybe even a little more energized to do something else you enjoy. 

Tidy Up As you Go

When you wake up in the morning, make your bed. Place your clothes in the bin when you take them off instead of on the floor. Wipe your counters after cooking. Wash your dishes or place them in the dishwasher so that you don’t have to come back to a mess later.

If messiness tends to increase your stress, then tidying as you go can help alleviate that. It takes as much energy to throw clothes on the floor as it does putting them in the bin. I promise you will be happy you chose the bin later. 

Journal Daily

The point of journaling isn’t to magically fix all your problems. But it is a point to help you figure out what precisely the issue is in the first place. Making an effort to write daily can help you face your emotions and express them more healthily.  

Don’t know what to journal about? Write that. My therapist told me that if I had no idea what to write, I could just write that. 

I don’t know what to write. And I don’t know what to write because…

The goal is to get you in the habit of writing down how you feel or what has impacted you, good or bad, in the long run. It’s okay if you can’t manage to write every day. Hell, I’m a blogger, and I find it hard myself. But the point is to try. So give it a go. 

Treat Yourself

Self-care does not equal spending money. I want to make that clear. So when I say treat yourself, I mean give yourself the little things. Eat the extra cookie, have that glass of wine, or binge-watch shows. Treating yourself doesn’t have to cost you a dime. You have everything you need to reward yourself right at home. 

Sometimes deterring from your routine can break a rut or make you feel less restricted. There’s nothing wrong with caring for yourself. You should do that guilt-free always. But keep in mind that if we genuinely want to improve society, it can’t always be about us. So take these steps to get yourself back into the cup in a half-full mode. When you show up for yourself, you can show up for your community.