3 FREE Self-Care Activities: Bring Self-Care To You
Last week was the last day of the 21-day self-care challenge. We concluded with an hour-long self-care hangout. A group of us got together and did some of my favorite self-care activities: meditation, journaling, and facial massage.
I have to admit that I was quite sad after the challenge ended. I'd gotten used to connecting with you daily and it served as a personal reminder for myself as well.
I originally came up with the idea of the challenge because I hear from so many of you that you don't know how to care for yourself, or you don't want to spend money. Or worse, that you don't have the time to take care of yourself. We live very hectic lives and our culture rewards burnout more than anything else. If we're not going 24/7 then we're not positively contributing.
I’ve said it before, but you can make anything self-care. As long as it satisfies your needs and you're purposefully doing it as self-care (for more on self-care, including benefits and different types of self-care, check out this previous journal).
Daily self-care activities
The lessons I hope you took away:
Self-care is very individual. What works as self-care for me might not be the same that works for you. The key is finding what you enjoy and incorporating this as much as possible to your daily routine
Self-care doesn't have to be complicated, lengthy, costly. Anything can be self-care as long as you're intentional about it. Some days the challenge was to turn off social media or to drink water upon rising. These are examples of simple things you might already do, but when you shift your attention and do them mindfully, they can easily be turned into self-care
Be gentle on yourself. That's the biggest form of self-care. Building a habit takes time and some days self-care will come more easily than others.
Bring self-care to you
On the last day I hosted a self-care hangout where we gathered and focused on ourselves for one hour. The event was scheduled around the time of the new moon, which is a time in which I personally like to set intentions for the next four weeks as well as take a personal inventory of what the previous cycle has been like. However, you don't have to wait for the next new moon or the first of the month to evaluate how you're feeling in your life right now.
Besides doing self-care together, my wish was to get together in community to support one another. I think these are times where support is extremely important. Having a community of like-minded women is extremely valuable and I was honored to hold the space.
You can still do self-care on your own and I would love to support you as well. If you weren’t able to attend the event or if you’re looking for ideas to do some self-care, you can recreate the experience.
Find a quiet space where you won’t be interrupted and set aside about 40 minutes for yourself:
Listen to this short body scan meditation guided by me
You can download the prompts for journaling here (to set the mood, I recommend listening to some soothing music: I played Jai-Jagdeesh The Expansive Spirit)
Follow along to this 10-minute facial massage
And if you’re looking to deepen your self-care through skincare (one of my favorite things!), download this FREE guide I made: How To Give Yourself An At Home-Facial.