A Self-Care Routine That You Can Actually Keep Up With This Year

I’m back to blogging after taking over a year off to focus on myself and get aligned with how I want share my passion of holistic health with you. I spent a year coaching women one-on-one, blogging, sharing tips on social media and I experienced burn out. I was feeling both burnt out and not aligned with where my coaching practice was heading. Taking a year off allowed me to clear my mind, self-reflect, and re-establish my priorities.

As a Certified Holistic Health Coach, I thought I SHOULD be seeing clients one-on-one, creating social media content for hours upon hours, with the goal of increasing my client base. I was focusing on the “should’s” instead of focusing on what I actually wanted. And what I actually WANT and LOVE to do is write. When I write, I do not feel burnt out, I feel excited and joyful that I get to connect with the world in this way.

I could not prioritize my wants until I got real with myself about what makes me truly happy and brings me joy. I needed to develop self-awareness so I could move forward, knowing that the reason I was choosing to prioritize certain things was because I WANTED to do them.

Self-awareness is the key to discovering what you want and need. Without a strong sense of self, you will most likely go through life trying to please others and in turn, your own wants and needs will sit on the back burner. This will build resentment, stress, and anxiety, which is no way to live. When you develop self-awareness and truly know WHY you want to make certain decisions, you will worry less about how others react because you will be living your truth. And living your truth will provide you with an overwhelming sense of peace.

The best way to develop self-awareness is through self-care. Self-care does not have to be fancy or time consuming. It can be a simple, five to ten minute morning and evening routine. It can be a Saturday afternoon of walking, listening to a podcast, or writing in your journal. We all have busy schedules and to-do lists that never seem to end so I want to share my simple self-care routine that I can sustain no matter where I’m at or what is on my schedule.

Morning Routine

1. The first thing I do every morning is turn off my alarm and leave my phone on “Do Not Disturb” mode. I do not open social media when I first wake up (even though it is tempting to see what happened while I was asleep). If I look at social media, my morning will be filled with thoughts from the internet and I would rather start my day with my own thoughts.

2. After waking, I get ready for the day by showering and starting my skincare routine. Three to four times a week, I move my body first thing by doing a virtual spin class, strength class, or yoga class. My skincare routine is non-negotiable and leaves me feeling fresh and clean. Click here to see what I use to keep my skin looking and feeling good.

3. Once I’m showered and my skin is feeling fresh, I make a cup of hot lemon water with 1 tsp of apple cider vinegar and 1 tsp of honey. There are multiple benefits to drinking this every morning. The benefits of hot lemon water are: a) lemon and honey help to boost your immune system and b) lemon and apple cider vinegar improves your digestion. If that combination of flavors sounds unappealing to you, I encourage you to drink a glass of water before drinking your morning coffee or tea.

4. While I’m drinking my hot lemon water, I meditate for five minutes and follow that with five to ten minutes of journaling. I enjoy meditating to this song on the Insight Timer app. My journal usually consists of the following: a) three things I’m grateful for and b) five affirmation statements. An affirmation statement is something you want to have in your life. For example, if you are working towards a financial goal of paying off your student loans, your affirmation statement could be “I am free of debt”. After I’m finished journaling, I read each affirmation statement aloud three times because I believe speaking things into the Universe helps them manifest. I write in another journal (yes, I am obsessed with journaling and have two journals) for a few minutes to map out my day. The journal I use is called The 5 Second Journal.

Mid-Afternoon Routine

1. After my workday, I like to meditate again. I meditate from anywhere between five minutes and thirty minutes, depending on my schedule and how much time I feel I need to decompress from the day. A great, twenty minute meditation that helps me to relax my body is this body scan meditation. After I meditate, I free write in my journal, meaning I write whatever is on my mind. The amazing thing about journaling right after a meditation session is your thoughts easily flow onto the paper. This is super helpful in developing self-awareness because you are releasing the unconscious thoughts that are on your heart and mind. When you do this, I guarantee you will have “aha” moments and find answers to your own questions within yourself.

Evening Routine

1. My phone automatically sets itself on “Do Not Disturb” mode an hour before I want to be asleep. This helps me stay away from my phone because it is not lighting up with notifications throughout the evening. If I receive a text or a social media notification, it can have my attention the next day.

2. About forty-five minutes to an hour before I want to be asleep, I start my evening skincare routine.

3. When I’m completed with my evening skincare routine and brushing my teeth, I read for about fifteen to thirty minutes (depending on how tired I am). I just finished reading Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover and I’m now reading A Promised Land by Barack Obama.

As you can see, self-care does not have be glamorous or take up too much time. I definitely love treating myself to a spa day (post-pandemic) every once in a while but self-care on a daily basis needs to be practical and easy to implement. I hope my routine sparks some inspiration in you to start your own. Find activities that speak to you and start by introducing one per week. Take mental notes of which ones work best for you and then establish a routine that is easy to stick to.

For more self-care ideas, use this template I created or click here to learn more about my coaching programs where we can address self-care together.

Photo by bruce mars on Unsplash