Holistic Self Care Tips and Tricks

I’ve touched on mental illness, proper hygiene, and healing. But now it’s time to talk about self care.Holistic self care is a vital thing to put into your daily or weekly routine. It’ll make you feel good, amazing, and worth all the good things in life. So, today, I’ll be throwing down some holistic self care tips and tricks to maintain your mental and physical wellbeing.

Who Is Self Care For?

It’s for everyone! Every person of every identity can and should practice self care. Doing the bare minimum can take a toll on your wellbeing. You should most definitely put it into your routine to go above and beyond. Taking extra care of yourself will make you feel great inside and out.

Personally, I take one or two days a week, depending on my schedule, to pamper myself and recharge from the daily stresses of life and work.

Holistic Self Care Tips

This doesn’t always mean pampering yourself physically. It also means treating yourself mentally so let’s go over a few tips to improve mental, physical, and spiritual wellbeing.

Love Letters

This may sound weird but writing yourself a love letter to read later can boost the serotonin in your brain and just generally give you the warm fuzzies. If you’re in a relationship or you have friends that are particularly close, then exchanging love letters to each other to read during times of sadness or depression can really help.

Compliments

I know it can be hard to take compliments. It’s hard for me too because I never know what their intentions are but just focus on the positive words coming out of their mouths rather than the tone. But did you know that giving people compliments can also boost your mood? Seeing someone else’s mood be boosted by a wholesome simple compliment can boost yours too.

Time Alone

Spending some time alone can help you recharge your energy, meditate, and reflect inward. I love the days where I don’t have to interact with people. It’s not because I’m a hermit or anything. It’s more because at those times, I don’t have to put on a facade and I can focus on what my body is telling me.

Dinner

Take yourself out to dinner or make yourself a early well done dinner. This way you don’t have to wait for someone else, worry about who’s paying for who, or think to hard about what to eat. Doing nice things for yourself like this will make you feel worth it. So cook your favorite meal or go to your favorite restaurant.

Movies

Personally, I don’t like going to the movie theaters. But taking yourself out for a movie has the same effects as taking yourself out to dinner. I treat myself to movies that might make me cry so I can get it all out of my system then I play movies that make me laugh so I go to bed in a better, more relaxed mood.

De-cluttering

So, I know that after an episode of depression or just good old mental instability, my house is cluttered and a little dirty. Taking a day to de-clutter and clean up will give you a sense of satisfaction and relaxation. Seeing your space clean and organized is also just so satisfying.

Airplane Mode

You probably hear this all the time but, PUT THE PHONE AWAY! As a person who is constantly working in front of a screen, it’s very rejuvenating to put them away for a while and read or nap or go for a walk. It’ll give you time to breathe and reflect over the day or week. Screen time is inevitable in this day and age but you can regulate yourself and give yourself time away from them to recharge.

Asking Questions

The best way to reflect is to ask yourself what you need. More often than not, we ask about what others need and get ourselves lost in the fray. I do this all the time. All you need to do is take a step back and say, “Wait. What do I need?” It’ll get you to be nicer to yourself as well as provide yourself with what YOU deserve in life.

Say NO!

Especially as women, we might find it hard to say no sometimes. But you can. And I know it‘s difficult especially if whatever is being asked of you can help someone out. If you know you might not be able do it or it’s not within your power, you are allowed to say no. Don’t feel bad because others can say no to you too. It takes practice but this will create boundaries for yourself, boundaries that are to be respected. You deserve that respect, keep repeating that to yourself if you feel bad or someone is trying to make you feel bad. You deserve to have your boundaries respected.

Investing in Yourself

You have the power to achieve what you want in life. So give yourself the chance. Give yourself the little push forward to get it done. Sign up for that class. Buy those supplies. Write that story. Paint that masterpiece. Do it.

Learn A Skill

Have you ever seen someone do something and all you thought was, “Wow, I’d love to be able to do that!” Well, believe it or not, they weren’t born with that skill. They learned it and so can you. Use YouTube, sign up for a class, watch tutorials. It’ll give you a sense of purpose and duty. On top of that, it’ll focus different parts of your brain and strengthen it.

Focus on Accomplishments

This is by far one of the simplest practices in concept but one of the hardest in execution. However, if you tell yourself about the accomplishments rather than your failures, your brain will start to see them in everything else.

SLEEP!!!!

I’m not just talking about regular sleeping. I’m talking about a full set of restful sleep. Not doing this is so mean to your body. I don’t care when you do it, because I am a night owl and sleep most of the day, but get 7 to 9 hours of consecutive sleep to stay fueled and feeling your best.

Meditate

I’ve written a whole article about it, you’ll find a link at the end of this article. Meditation can be very beneficial to your mind and body. During meditation, you can align your chakras, reflect on problems, strengthen your mind, and strengthen your spine. Peace can envelop your being with regular meditation.

Toss the Scale

Studies have shown that having a scale in your bathroom can do as much harm as they do good. Specifically, it can hurt your body satisfaction and self-esteem. If you notice that your scale is making you feel worse, get it out of your house. That is an unnecessary bad vibe. Getting rid of it will rid yourself of weight obsession and toxic thoughts.

Your Calories

Just like with a scale, counting your calories is an obsession that can hurt you more than help you. Food diaries are just fine but skip those numbers and just listen to your body. It’ll make you feel better and eat better too. You do not need to count your calories to be healthy, in fact it hurts more than helps.

Daily Affirmations

It might seem silly but giving yourself daily affirmations when you wake up can result in positive changes in your mental health while building self-worth.

The Past is the Past

You can’t change the past so there is no need to obsess over it. It’s very unhealthy and will take a toll on your mind and spirit. You don’t need to keep beating yourself up over it. Process the past and move forward. It’s a small step to being nicer to yourself.

Be Vulnerable

There’s this weird thing that has been circulating about how crying makes you weak or talking about your feelings makes you soft. The unnecessary toxicity towards being vulnerable is horrible and just straight up not true. It’s okay to be vulnerable. Doing so will allow you to speak your truth and can lead to better self treatment. It can be a little hard at first but just put it out there into the universe. Even if you’re just expressing yourself to yourself.

Celebration

When you do something that makes you feel good like reaching a goal or getting a dream job, freaking celebrate! You’ve earned it and you deserve it. Have a drink, go to dinner, just celebrate your accomplishments. It’ll help you recognize your hard work and efforts.

Laugh

Laughing is healthy. Laugh as much as you can. Laugh at yourself, at jokes, at dumb memes, etc. It releases endorphins and will boost your mood. This can mean watch your favorite comedian, scrolling through funny things, listening to funny podcasts, or watching comedy movies. Anything to make you laugh. Remember, laughter is infectious so you can feel better while spreading giggles and joy.

Clothing Sizes

Size really doesn’t matter so stop worrying about the size of your clothes. Wear whatever you feel comfortable in and whatever makes you feel good. You’re beautiful in every size, shape, identity, gender, etc. It’s just a number and this number has magically started to rule our lives. It’s not that serious.

Physical Treating

This would be the more common form of self care. Hair masks, face masks, massages, etc. Do it! It’ll make you feel like the radiant, gorgeous mystical creature that deep down you know you are. There are plenty of holistic, natural recipes for masks and treatments that you can make at home.

Cut Out Toxicity

It doesn’t matter if it’s a family member, a friend, an acquaintance, or whatever. Cut out the negative people in your life. The saying goes, “The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.” You don’t deserve to be cut down by a family member just because they’re blood related. That is no excuse. I know it’s hard but be honest with them and cut those ties. You’ll feel a weight lifted off you. It’s hard at first but I promise you that it is worth your growth.

Forgive

Yes, cut out the toxic people but don’t hold grudges. Grudges aren’t healthy, especially holding them against yourself. So forgive and move on. Life will feel much lighter when you implement the practice of forgiveness. Forgive them but remember not to let the toxicity back into your life. Forgiving is the start of letting it go.

Why So Serious?

Life isn’t that serious so stop acting like it is. There are moments to be serious and that is not all the time. This can take a toll on your mental health. So be goofy and playful and free. That’s okay.

Be Bold

Shoot your shot. The worst they can say is no. No isn’t that bad because you say it too. Take the chance, make a bold change, and at least try to do something that makes you feel good. Just go for it! It’s cheesy but you really do miss 100% of the chances you don’t take. Shave your head, dye your hair, do that thing you’ve always wanted to.

Ask For Help!

This may be the biggest thing that hinders people in life. You are NOT weak if you ask for help. It shows that you want to learn and strive to get better. So just ask. In fact, asking someone for help will not only help you learn, but it can help your teacher improve and are them feel good about their practice. It’s nice to be asked to help someone, it feels like you know your stuff. Asking for help ties into being vulnerable. It’s healthy and crucial to life.

Self care is essential in living your best, most healthy of lives. Put aside your ego and reputation. It’s a good thing to treat yourself and it‘s good to be healthy. Don’t believe those people who flex their unhealthy habits, that’s not how you live life. You deserve to feel good. You’ve worked hard enough so use these self care tips.

Holistic Self Care Tips and Tricks was written, researched, and edited by Emmalie Roberts. For more articles, check out our blog page, here, and don't forget to follow us on social media, here, for daily tips, tricks, and reminders for your path to holistic health.

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