INSIDE: Self-care is something most of us forget to do when life gets too hectic. Treat yourself to this 15-day self-care challenge and observe how your mental, physical, and emotional health increases.
If you feel uninspired, exhausted, or overwhelmed in life, there’s a good chance you could use a little more self-care to improve your state of being.
Self-care is simply defined as caring for yourself by ways of doing anything that makes you feel healthier mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. When you take the time to care for yourself and your health, you are taking the initiative to achieve the following:
- Reduce anxiety
- Mitigate stress
- Increase happiness
- Improve overall energy levels
Self-care can look different and varies from person-to-person. To some it might mean taking a long hot bath and to others, it’s going for a hike in the mountains. Whatever the action may be, the goal is to refresh the mind, body, and spirit.
Here’s a 15-day self-care challenge you can adopt today that could introduce a healthier mindset and better habits into your life.
15-Day Self Care Challenge
Get yourself into a habit of self-care by doing something everyday that takes care of your whole self. Let’s get started!
Day 1: Set Goals
What better way to start off a challenge than to establish some goals for yourself! Whether you’re starting this self-care challenge at the beginning of the month or not, this is the perfect opportunity to pause, reflect, brainstorm, and write down what you want to accomplish in the days ahead.
This is your time to decide what is important and when you want to achieve it by.
Day 2: Create a Gratitude Jar
At the end of each day, write one thing you’re grateful for that happened that day and place it in a jar.
When we intentionally brainstorm things we are grateful for, we change the way our mind thinks and we invite in a positive perspective to life.
Even if you have a day where you feel like nothing good happened, it makes a big difference to intentionally think of the positive.
After this self-care challenge, revisit your gratitude affirmations on a day you may need it the most. Your gratitude jar is there to cheer you up whenever you need it.
Day 3: Take a Walk
Leave the phone behind, strap on your walking shoes, and head out the door. This is something you could do in your neighborhood or at a local nature trail. Either way, enjoy your time away from the endless to-do lists.
Observe Your Surroundings:
- Stop and smell the flowers.
- Listen to the birds chirp.
- Smile and wave at others enjoying their time outside too.
Allow yourself the time and space to be fully present on your walk and just breathe.
Day 4: Meditate
Your meditation doesn’t have to be long to be effective. A 10-minute meditation can go a long way in terms of reducing stress and clearing the mind.
Find yourself a comfortable seat on your bed, in a chair, or on a cushion. Close your eyes, and prepare to go inward.
There are a ton of resources available that offer free guided meditations, such as Youtube, Insight Timer, and the Calm app.
Day 5: Sit Next to a Body of Water
Is there a lake, river, or ocean nearby that you can pay a visit to? Even a water fountain at a nearby park or in a backyard will do. Sitting next to a body of water offers that perfect time and space to sit quietly with yourself and reflect.
Observe the ebb and flow of the moving water and breathe with the movement.
Just like you’d observe your reflection in a mirror, you can reflect on your life while next to a body of water.
Day 6: Take Yourself on a Date
Is there a restaurant or cafe that you’ve been dying to visit but struggle to find people to go with? Why wait for a companion when you can take yourself on a date instead!
This is your chance to enjoy the food and atmosphere without distraction. You might choose to people watch or bring a nice book to read. Just do whatever makes you feel good.
Day 7: Listen to an Uplifting Podcast
Podcasts are the perfect form of entertainment to listen to while you’re doing chores around the house, driving to work, cooking, or going for a walk.
There are so many podcast options out there too, between healthy living podcasts, inspiring Ted Talks, adventurous outdoor podcasts and more!
Today, listen to something that brings a smile to your face or inspires you to take that next step in life.
Day 8: Declutter Your Space
We all have unnecessary items taking up vacant space in our lives. A cluttered space makes for a cluttered mind.
Use Day 7 in the self care challenge to declutter ten items in your life that are no longer serving you.
If this item is still useful but just not for you, find a place to donate it, sell the item for a few extra bucks, or hand it off to a friend.
There is nothing like a clean, fresh space so don’t forget to take care of any dirty dishes or trash piling up in your sacred places.
Day 9: Create a Vision Board
Do you have big goals and dreams you are…
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