Category: Self Care

30 habits you can incorporate into your life to help you build your self care routine.

1. Positive Affirmations

Create positive affirmations that resonate with your life. Affirmations can be as simple as “I am” statements that represents what you want to be in life. This can be “I am confident or “I am beautiful”. Create affirmations that you will repeat on a daily into your life until it becomes something that you fully believe.

2. Solo Date

Go on a solo date, romanticize your life. Create a routine where you take yourself out, whether it be something you enjoy doing or something you’ve never done before. It’s so important to spend time with yourself and learn to love being with just your own company. You are with yourself forever so learn to love yourself and become your own source of happiness.

3. Learn to Mediate

Meditation can look different for everyone. There is the classic example that you may see on television and for many this doesn’t appeal to them. Meditation can be simply taking ten minutes in the morning or right before bed where you spend time with just yourself. Your mind doesn’t have to be quiet, you don’t have to hum to yourself, you don’t have to have a fancy setup to meditate. Take this time to observe your thoughts or to repeat the positive affirmations you’ve created earlier. Or to just a have moment of “fresh air” before you begin your day.

4. Perform an Act of Kindness

Do something nice for someone. Not only does this make someone else feels good but it will make you feel good as well. An act of kindness doesn’t have to be monetary either, you can give a compliment to someone or help someone who you see struggling with something.

5. Go Outside/Take a Walk

Ideally this should be done as often as possible. Being outside is a great way to clear your head. Nature has a way of helping you de-stress from the problems you are facing. Most time we are so much in a go mentality that we forget to just take time out and be present in the moment.

6. Create a Morning Routine

Morning routines provides a sense of structure in the morning and it can help you feel more in control of the day ahead. This is your time that is just for you, your time to focus on yourself and your goals. Morning routines can help you become more productive throughout your day. If you need some advice on how to create a productive morning routine check out this post.

7. At Home Spa Day

Pamper yourself. There is nothing better than pampering yourself. Create an at home spa day with all of your favorite things. Relaxation and rejuvenation should always be incorporated into your life. Here is a guide to create the ultimate at home spa day.

8. Create a Gratitude List

Write a list of all the things you are thankful for, Thanksgiving should not be the only day you give thanks! Finding things that you are grateful for helps you notice all the aspects of your life that you have that may be taking for granted. Or when you’re having a bad day, this list can help you realize all the things in your life that is going right.

9. Celebrate your Achievements

Take time to recognize all the achievements that you’ve made and celebrate yourself. You did it! And that is enough reason for a celebration, even if it’s just as simple as getting out of bed.

10. Clean Out your Following

This is the time to block anyone whose post makes you feel anything but good. Unfollow anyone who doesn’t provide you with inspiration, motivation or entertainment. There is no need to fill your mind with information that does not benefit you.

11. Learn to Let Go

Let go of anything that does not serve you, whether that is a person or an object. These things are just holding you back from the person you are trying to become. Unfollow the person or throw out the object. Forgive anyone who you hold ill feelings towards, this all will benefit you in the long run.

12. Express Your Creativity

Find a way to express yourself. Find a healthy way to get your feelings out. This can be drawing, cooking, photography, music, writing etc.

13. Create a Vision Board

Vision boards help you to visualize your goals and achieve them. It is a great way to help you set goals and it’s a great manifestation tool. Vision boards can be a powerful tool in helping you create your dream life. If you want to learn how to create a vision board check it out here.

14. Mindful Breathing

Find a quiet place, close your eyes and focus on your breathing. Take deep breaths and focus on yourself. This is a great practice to do when you find yourself in a challenging position. Taking time to focus on your breathing can help center your thoughts and calm you down.

15. Journal

Daily journaling provides you with an insight into your life and gives you a chance to reflect on your day. This is also a time when you can write down your gratitude list as well. Journaling gets ideas out of your head and helps you see them more clearly. It also provides documentation of where you are so its a great to use to look back on later in life.

16. Self Reflections

Reflect on who you are as a person and if it aligns with who you want to be. Realize what you need to work on and create steps to make the change into the person you want to be.

17. Set Boundaries

Learn how to say no. Not only that, but figure out what you want to put up with and say no to anything else that does not align with that.

18. Forgive Yourself

This is soooo important. Forgive yourself for any mistakes you made, forgive yourself for any decision you are less than proud of. Know that you are living this life and you don’t have all the answers. Let go of any negative perceptions you have of yourself and forgive the person you were in the past.

19. Declutter your Space

As you are learning to clean your mind, it is important to clean your space as well. Get rid of things that no longer align with who you are and create a new space for the new person you are becoming.

20. Learn to Accept Compliments

So many of us have a hard time hearing positive things about yourself. But once you start speaking these positive things into your life it becomes easier to accept compliments given to us from strangers or family. You are amazing after all so of course people will see that and comment about it.

21. Challenge Negative Thoughts

Speak positivity into your life. This is more important than you may realize. It is so easy to speak negativity in your life that you may not even realize you’re doing it. It can be as simple as applying for a job ,but then thinking “they are not going to hire me because the job market sucks right now or I am not the most qualified person for the job. Or even with your relationships; simply thinking “there’s not any good men or women left in the world.” So take a few days and really think about the words you are speaking into your life. When you find that you are speaking something into your life that doesn’t agree with what you want, correct it immediately and make that a habit.

22. Choose Your Flock

It so true that who you hang with is a reflection of who you are. Just like how you cleaned out your digital following, it’s important to clean out the people you surround yourself with. Take note of who in your circle does not align with who you are and make adjustments.

23. Check in With Yourself

See how you are feeling and doing. Notice your feelings and what is making you feel a certain way. Are your actions aligning with who you want to be. Check in with yourself periodically and ask yourself these questions.

24. Treat Yourself

Treat yourself! Get yourself something you’ve always wanted because you deserve it.

25. Set Time for Your Hobby

Create time every week for your hobby. It’s important to make time for the things that you love. Doing something you love helps with the feelings of stress you can feel throughout the week. Life just simply isn’t fun if you aren’t doing the things you love.

26. Take Care of Your Body

Take care of your physical well being, this includes moving your body in any type of way and taking care of your skin. Make sure to fuel your body with the things it needs to function properly. Make sure to create a skin care routine, not only for your face but for the rest of your body as well. Moisturize and take care of your skin. Move your body everyday so that it can perform the best for you.

27. Feel Good Books, Movies or Podcasts

Read, watch or listen to information that makes you feel good. Create a routine where you make time to watch something that brings you complete joy.

28. Drink More Water

Hydrate! Drink more water. Most of us don’t drink the amount of water that we need and we need to be more mindful of the amount of water we consume.

29. Visualize Your Dream Life

This goes hand in hand with the vision board. In order to create the life of your dreams you need to see the life of your dreams. You need to know what it looks like so you can see yourself in it. You can use the time you meditate to see the life you want to live. This helps to imprint your goals into your subconscious mind and change your mind about the goals that you have for yourself.

30. Get More Sleep

We all know how much sleep we need to function for the day so let’s make more of an effort to get to that goal. Set an alarm for the time you need to be in bed so that you can get a good amount of sleep for the next day. Do not doom scroll on tik tok for hours, procrastinating on sleep. Go ahead and shut off the app and try to get some sleep. And if you find yourself having a hard time falling asleep there are multiple methods you can use to help you fall asleep.

Whipped body butter is so simple to make and they are beneficial for your skin. They are super nourishing and moisturizing .They also provide deep hydration which can help with skin elasticity.

Body butters can be made with 3 simple ingredients but you can always add more to customize your body butter to your liking.

All you need to make a whipped body butter is shea butter, sweet almond oil and jojoba oil. And if you would like to add fragrance then essential oils are the way to go.

Why jojoba and almond oil?

Jojoba oil closely resembles the skin’s natural sebum which makes it a great moisturizer. It is lightweight and does not leave a greasy feeling on the skin. Jojoba oil is also unlikely to clog pores which is great for acne prone or sensitive skin. This property is also great for anyone with keratosis pilaris or “strawberry legs”. Lastly jojoba oil is anti-inflammatory which can help calm irritated skin and help alleviate conditions like eczema.

Almond oil is rich in fatty acid which is great for providing deep hydration for the skin. It can help with reducing dark circles and uneven skin tone to help improve the skin’s complexion. It is also gentle on skin and has anti-inflammatory properties like jojoba oil.

Whipped Body Butter

You need about 8 oz of raw shea butter ( the ones sourced from Ghana is the best)

Use the double boiler method to melt your butter

What is the double boiler method?

Fill a pot with water and bring to a boil and place a glass bowl on top (but doesn’t touch the water) and place your butter in the glass bowl to melt.

The Steps

• Melt 8oz of shea butter using the double boiler method
• Once melted add about 3 tbsp of almond oil and 3 tbsp of jojoba oil
• This is where you can add the essential oils if you are using them
• Stir and allow the oils to cool, you can place it in the fridge to speed up this step but make sure the mixture does not completely solidify
• Start to whip your oils, this can take up to 10 minutes
• You are done when your mixture reaches a fluffy consistency
• Once you reach the right consistency place your whipped body butter into clean airtight containers

That’s it you’re done !

Tips

Test the whipped body butter by taking a small amount and rubbing it between your fingers. If it feels too greasy, continue whipping. If it feels too stiff, you can add a bit more oil and whip again.

These are the basic steps to create whipped body butter, once you get the hang of this you can customize the recipe even further to meet your needs.

Everyone deserves a home spa day. Here are 9 easy ideas that you can do to help you unwind from a long week.

9 Easy Ideas to Pamper Yourself For your At Home Spa Day

1. Candles

Start off your at home spa day by creating the mood. Certain smells like lavender and eucalyptus are great for relaxation. But you are not limited to just these two scents, choose any scent that feels good to you.

Candles are not the only way to create the mood. You can also use essential oil diffusers or wax melts. Diffusers are easy to use, you can pick one up at Target and you can combine multiple scents to personalize your home spa day.

Wax melts can also be found at Target. Wax melts are basically candles without wicks, that uses heat to release their smell. And now wax melts can be so unique. There are certain shops online that sells wax melts shaped like everyday things like food, which is the most popular one I see. These unique shaped wax melts can be a fun addition to your home spa day.

2. Music

Music is essential in setting the mood for you at home spa day. Like Bob Marley said “One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.” Create a playlist with all your favorite songs, or you can play relaxing sounds. There are even songs with different hertz or frequencies that evoke certain feelings.

Nature sounds are also a great choice, things like rain sounds, ocean waves crashing or the natural sounds of animals are common themes for relaxing music.

Another great option to choose from are the lo-fi tracks that you can find on youtube or moving train sounds.

3. Draw a Bath

Every spa day has to include a bath. You can infuse your bath water with bath salts, epsom salt is great to help with muscle relaxation. Some epsom salt are scented with smells like lavender which also helps increase the feeling relaxation. You can also add flowers or bath bombs to make your bath feel more luxurious.

This can also be your chance to do the “everything” shower (you know what I’m talking about ladies).

Other items that can help your bath feel more luxurious are a bath tray, a waterproof seat for your tub and waterproof lights which can further elevate your mood.

4. Books or Audiobooks

While in the bath, this a great time to take out the book you have been meaning to read. But if holding a book while having wet hands sounds insane to you there is always the option of listening to an audiobook or your favorite podcast.

5. Skin Care

Make sure you incorporate your skin care during your at home spa day. This can be your everyday skincare but elevated. Add things you don’t normally do, this can be a face mask, facial steaming or a lip treatment.

Don’t just treat your face but treat your other body parts as well. This is a great time to use body scrubs, exfoliating the skin will get rid of the dead skin cells hanging around so that you can end your bath with softer skin. Skin scrubs can easily be made at home or they can be purchased from just about anywhere.

Another great product for your skin that you can make at home is whipped body butter. Whipped body butter provides the skin with extreme hydration, helps with skin elasticity and can help with common skin problems like eczema and keratosis pilaris. Here is the recipe if you would like to give it a try.

6. Soft Robe

Once you leave the bath there is no better feeling that getting into your nicest robe. Just the act of putting on a robe can make you feel more luxurious. Take out your softest robe or towel to elevate your at home spa day.

Don’t forget your comfy bath shoes as well! There is nothing worse than getting out of a warm bath to only walk on the cold hard floor.

An additional tip to elevate your experience is to get a bath towel warmer. These warmers can be found on Amazon and will gently warm your towel. You know that feeling when you put on clothes fresh from the dryer? This will give you that same feeling. Sometimes it’s the little things that can bring so much joy.

Also in this category I’d like to add changing into fresh pjs and bedsheet. We just did all that self care to renew yourself so stepping into fresh clothes is a must.

7. Drinks

Make your favorite drink to enjoy. Whether it’s a glass of wine or chamomile tea choose something that will get you in the right head space. If you prefer to take your drink into the bath but you don’t have any space for it, amazon provides some solutions for that too. You can get a bath tray to hold your drink or they even have a suction cup that holds drinks for you.

8. Manicure or Pedicure

Take care of your nails especially if they get neglected during the week. Use a foot spa to soak your feet and shape your nails.

9. Reflect

Reflect back on your week or month or year. Think about the things that you are grateful for. Think about the things that went right and what made you smile. Being grateful for what you have can help put life challenges into perspective. Be thankful that you can even create an at home spa day.

And if you have the mental space to, then think about things you can do to help create more of what you want in life. You have 1 life, make it count.

But if not, there is nothing wrong with laying in bed after all that self care and falling asleep to some cheesy hallmark movie.

That’s It

At home spa days can be real simple but still provide a feeling of luxury and rejuvenation. Pamper yourself as much as you can cause if you don’t take care of you no one will. Love yourself more.