Plan a Self-Care Day

Plan the perfect day that brings you back to your happiest self.

You might think a self-care day means what you’ve seen on tv – face masks, candles, a bath, and soft music. And if that sounds great to you, then go ahead! But self-care is really all about taking the time to do things you love that sometimes you might forget to make space for in your life. Whether it’s tasty foods, your favourite movie, maybe some time in the skate park perfecting that new trick – self-care is as unique as you are!

To help you plan a day just for you, here are some tips to add to your kit!

Step 1: Ditch your phone

The first step for planning your self-care day is ditch your phone and devices. Switch them off and put all technology away. Too much time chasing messages and social media creates an overload of the stress hormone cortisol in your body, which is bad news for anxiety levels and blood pressure.

You might worry for the first hour that you’re not getting some important messages, but ask yourself: how important is it that someone contacts you, today?

Answer: If there was really an emergency, someone can contact your parents. So, relax! It’s now time to choose your self-care activities for the day.

Step 2: Choose your activities and plan out your day!

Self-Care Activity #1 Get walking

The word ‘zen’ means meditation in Japanese. Zen doesn’t necessarily mean going to yoga or sitting in lotus position, but you can definitely find some head space by trying out this walking meditation to your local park or along the beach.

While walking, count your steps backwards from 99. When you reach 1, go back to 99 and start again. This mental exercise forces you to switch off all your thoughts and focus on your steps. After a few rounds of 99, you’ll be feeling completely zen, and the walk in nature will have you feeling energised!

Self-Care Activity #2 Get exercising

Getting your heart rate up is not only good for your body, but you’ll also bring on your feel-good endorphins! Plan a bike ride, a swim in the ocean, some hoops of basketball, a hike, or a run. Your cardio levels and happy hormones will be boosted, fast!

Set yourself a goal of at least five 30 second sprints to get you puffing and sweating, with one-minute cool downs in between. You’ll be feeling so good afterwards, it’ll be worth it!

Self-Care Activity #3 Get creative

Being creative switches on a part of our brain activity which is essential to our wellbeing. Despite what you may think about yourself, all humans are creative. You don’t have to be an artist – you just need to practise creating something. If you’re into mountain biking or BMX, you could design and build some courses, ramps or trails. You could cut up a magazine and create a vision board. If you’re into computer games, you could draw out a new game. Or try planning and building a veggie garden in a small spot in your backyard. Think about how you can transform your skills and hobbies into something that absorbs you into the creation process. You will feel totally on top of the world when you’ve finished!

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