Whether you're in a self-care rut or are completely new to self-care, figuring out how to incorporate daily self-care so that it doesn't feel like one more obligation on your to-do list will truly change your life.
In fact, a good daily self-care routine will actually end up creating a life that doesn't feel like a plate with obligations constantly pouring over.
How can I practice daily self-care?
Daily self-care is essentially getting into the habit of loving, honoring and taking care of yourself. It's figuring out the small ways in which you reconnect with yourself consistently.
Every year that we grow older we learn so much more about ourselves. I definitely learned more this year about what I love and what I don't love so much; I like to go ham on twinkle lights and a minimalist-styled home, and I don't like over-extending myself with too many outings or obligations.
Since this past year I really learned the importance of a self-care routine, it got me thinking about creating a new daily self-care routine that is more in alignment with who and where I am now.
I did a little mini review of what worked for me and what didn't. It looked like this.
What daily self-care things worked for me
Morning worksheet: I love a morning worksheet because it's simple, quick but extremely powerful. There are different ones depending on what you need; I have one for moms, entrepreneurs, law of attraction/mindset, moon/spiritual and one that incorporates the spiritual energy points.
Yoga: I'm still a beginner, but yoga has made me begin to fall in love with my body. It's spirituality for your body and it feels so damn good. Definitely a keeper in my self-care routine.
Clean house: this past year, I've made my bed every day and tidied up all around me. I've done several big purges and I still do them about twice a year. I've always thought I have to fill up any empty space with some sort of decor, but no....I like empty space. Clear, empty spaces help me to feel like I can breathe and think.
Clothes that make me feel good: I have embraced the fact that I am a homebody. I used to fill up my closet with "outside" clothes and wear clothes around the house that didn't make me feel good, but this year I bought lots of cute lounge clothes, even though no one sees them except me pretty much. They are worth the mood boost!
Journaling: journaling remains my spiritual therapy. The way it works is I write down my thoughts and I receive guidance back through the Universe/my higher self.
Reading inspirational books: one of the biggest ways to shift your life is to shift your beliefs, and a hack to doing this is inundating your mind with material that supports new beliefs. I wrote a post here on my favorite mindset books and another one here on self-care books.
Listening to inspirational videos/podcasts: I love listening to Abraham Hicks recordings on Youtube, as well as anything by Bruce Lipton. It's more of the idea of the whole inundating the mind with a new belief system that actually supports you rather than brings you down.
Screen free time: nothing resets me quite like disconnecting from the world. I removed notifications from my phone a few months ago and that really helped me cut back on checking it. I want to start leaving it in another room rather than feeling the need to always have it with me.
What didn't work for me
Forcing anything - sometimes I felt anxious when I was doing self-care time because I didn't feel like doing anything "productive". That's okay! When I feel like that, I know it means I need to go get some food, get under the covers and binge watch my favorite show or read a good book. That in itself is revolutionary self-care as well, because we all go through phases throughout the month, and sometimes we just need to veg out.
Going without self-care for even a few days - if you read this post, you know what happened to me when I went one month without self-care. It wasn't pretty and I learned a lot from it. From now on, even during times when things get busy, I will take at least 30 minutes to myself a night and will for sure make time for my morning worksheet every morning.
New things I want to incorporate
Hygge: I think hygge should be my middle name. Pronounced "hoo-guh," it's a Danish term that means "a quality of cosiness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being,". Yes to this.
More twinkle lights. More cozy blankets. More candles, more pillows, more pretty coffee mugs.
Be more daring with my daily intended feelings: every day on my morning worksheet I write down 3 ways I want to feel because when I do that, I almost always end up feeling that way during the day whether I realize it at the time or not. Intention is super powerful and writing things down is basically signing your name on the dotted line to the Universe.
Last year I wrote down things like "still" and "calm" a lot. Those were great, but I want to be more daring this year. I've been writing down "successful," "abundant," and "inspired." I cannot even begin to tell you what a shift this one small thing is causing in my life. Write down how you REALLY want to feel, don't limit yourself.
Heal my body image: my self-love improves every year that I get older, but it's definitely an ongoing process. I've honestly never liked my body. It's never been enough in my mind, and now that I've had kids and it's changed, I've been even harder on it. It's not something light, this dislike I have of my body; it goes to the very core of me.
I can't be fully happy when I feel ashamed. And what am I ashamed about? This healthy body that has given me children? That allows me to do so much? That's my portal to being here in this human experience? That's soft and mine? Part of my self-care is going to be releasing these damaging thoughts regarding my body through meditation and EFT tapping.
Practice feeling my dreams NOW: I don't know about you, but I keep so many of my desires in a future feeling place. But in doing this, they stay in the future and never the NOW.
I want this AMAZING house. I don't even know what house or where it is, but it's amazing because it's perfect for me. It's got big trees in the yard and multiple fireplaces. It has a huge, luxurious bath tub and a place for everything. (Update, I totally manifested this house last year).
How to create a tailored self-care routine
Come up with a routine that is personally tailored to you. Even if you don't currently have one, here are some ideas and questions to ask yourself when creating your self-care routine:
What drains you? For me, bright lighting, loud sounds, clutter, and outings drain me. Start eliminating or reducing things that drain you from your daily schedule.
What re-sets you? Listening to music, going for a walk, reading a good book, cooking; what de-stresses you? See where you can begin incorporating these things into your days and weeks.
What negative habits or thoughts are holding you back? Looking at your phone too much, focusing on the negatives, talking bad about yourself, believing self-care is selfish; what do you want to discard and let go?
How could you make the most out of your mornings and evenings? When you're getting ready for the morning or for bed, you could listen to something that boosts your mindset, or you could do a morning worksheet (I've got a nighttime one too with this bundle), journal, stretch, read a page from an inspiring book, etc.
Most people feel like they don't have time for self-care, but it's really these small pockets of time throughout the day where we're able to add in little things that make the biggest difference in our moods and lives.
If you'd like to know my routines, check out my morning self-care routine and my nightly self-care routine. I also made a free 2-page printable for you to help you get your thoughts out onto paper and start creating your own self-care routine for the year.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this article. For spiritual self-care tips every Sunday afternoon, you can sign up for the Dwell in Magic weekly newsletter.
If you’d like more real life examples of daily spiritual self-care, you can connect with me on Instagram.
And if you’d like more direct support and community with like-minded people, come join the Dwell in Magic Facebook group.
Lots of love,
Jessica
Jessica Dimas is the author of Manifesting Magic with the Moon, a self-care guide and worksheet bundle for spiritual self-care. Connect with her on Facebook and Instagram for more inspiration and updates.
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Nícia Cruz
hey jessica,
you're the first person that really inspired me to take care of myself. on 2016 i really wanted to take daily practices, but i never did it. but reading your words, made me give it a try. i started by just taking a shower in a warm environment, with the bathroom only lightened by candles. i'm a romantic person, so i thought this would help me to love myself. and you know what? it worked perfectly! i am able to relax and take my time, instead of rushing and not even looking at me in the mirror. now i put oils on my body (oh my, that was such a struggle before!) and really appreciate myself as i am. this gives me the confidence to go one step further and try other self-care routines (i still want to add a fragrance to my showers!).
thank you so, so much for all of this. <3
Jessica Dimas
Nícia that makes me so happy to hear that my words inspired you to take care of yourself. That's so awesome that you started taking the steps towards loving yourself, and I love that idea for adding fragrance to your showers! I'm totally going to start doing that as well. Self-care and learning to love yourself is one of the greatest journeys you'll ever go on, and I know it's a journey we will be on our entire lives. Thank you for taking the time to leave your thoughts here, I love reading them! xo
Chelsea @ Life With My Littles
First of all, gorgeous printable! Second, I love this! I love journaling too, and it helps me stay relaxed and think through my problems. I also definitely am an advocate for thinking of your body as a friend! Our bodies do so much for us and they are so amazing! We need to take care of them and really appreciate all they do for us! I also really like the idea of having cute comfy clothes instead of just like old tees that have holes haha. I definitely need a few more of those!!
Jessica Dimas
Chelsea!! I hope you had a good New Year's celebration! Yes, I am really going to work on focusing on how much my body does for me instead of always feeling negative about it. And yes, out with the holey tees! 😉 Thank you for stopping by, I always love to see you here <3
Marietta Berueda
There is so much good in this post! I am going to have to read it over a few more times to really let it sink in. I have been trying to get a self-care routine in place, but I barely have a routine of any kind going right now. Things are so crazy lately! I downloaded the printable. Thank you! Definitely going to take some time this weekend to go over it and figure out what will work best for me. Thank you so much!!!
Jessica Dimas
Thank you Marietta! I hope the worksheet helped you figure out a good self-care routine. I love to have my "bare minimum" self-care routine in the back of my mind, like if the day is busy or I'm trying to ease back into more regular self-care, if I at least do certain things, like reading a page out of Simple Abundance or doing my morning worksheet, that makes such a difference in my entire day 🙂 Thank you for commenting, xo Jessica
Ali | PunchDrunkSoul
This is such a great and helpful post! I too have recently come to terms and embraced my homebody-ness! haha I love the new Hygge term!! I am going to make my place even more cozy and welcoming now. You always have such amazing self-care tips, I am probably going to implement this entire list! I have recently started a bullet journal that has been helping me stay organized. Now i need to implement more of the care stuff ;). Thanks girl! <3
-Ali (punchdrunksoul.com)
Jessica Dimas
Aw thank you Ali! I actually have yet to try a bullet journal but I've heard so much about them, I'll have to check that out. And yes, I'm so obsessed with Hygge, the term totally encompasses everything I love. I hope you definitely start implementing more self-care stuff this year! Thank you for commenting <3
Sheri
Thank you for this post. I love the section on cute comfy clothes. I work from home and usually buy myself work clothes to wear around the house, but I find them so uncomfortable and have resorted to sweat pants and t-shirt's and now I feel sloppy. I was just thinking the other day that I should get rid of the majority of my work clothes and find stylish, comfy at home work clothes. I do need to keep a few things as I still have meeting outside my home. Taking most to a consignment store this weekend and restocking. I loved your whole post, so many good tips and things to think about creating your self care and setting yourself up for success in the coming year. thanks
Jessica Dimas
I'm glad you enjoyed the post, Sheri! Yes, I work from home too and the whole clothes thing had gotten bad. I never felt attractive and it was really affecting my self-esteem. It's amazing how much of an affect the way we dress has on us.