Reposted from the Spiritual Sunflower's wordpress blog, originally posted on October 6th, 2018
I’ve been working on another story for my school’s newspaper about self-care. I received a lot of positive feedback (thank you!!) on my last post involving my own self-care routine, so I wanted to go into a bit more detail about how to create one and remain accountable.
How do you create a self care routine you'll actually follow?
Actions of self- care and self-love have become more emphasized to include in society’s day-to-lives, but how to put together a routine that will actually stick can be difficult to accomplish.
Setting aside time for yourself can make a difference in your emotional, physical and mental health, according to Kristen Adaway at the Huffington post. If you’re going to make time for self-care activities, they should be things you find interesting and enjoyable.
“Plenty of people have an idea what self-care looks like – yoga and quinoa might be involved – but if those aren’t your things, you won’t stick with it,” Laura Vanderkam, writer of Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done, said.
Possible activities to include in a routine may be writing in a journal, stretching, going for a walk or even just washing your face, but the list is never ending. Anything that lights you up and makes you happy can be

Vanderkam recommends asking yourself, “What makes you feel whole and energized? And then, what are some ways you can build these routines into your life?”, when deciding on what to include in your routine. Remember, the idea of a self-care routine is to bring out the best version of you.
Another aspect of a self-care routine to consider is the length. Vanderkam suggests to incorporate short activities because it’s more likely that you’ll keep up with a short practice than one that takes hours.
“Mornings tend to be a great time to get things done because the day’s work and personal emergencies have yet to come up,”

A self-care routine can take as little as five to fifteen minutes depending on what works in your schedule, and waking up a little earlier every morning may be the best option for consistently setting aside time for self-care. According to Vanderkam, by setting aside time in advance, you’ll feel less overwhelmed when you have more going on than you expected.
Amalea K. Seelig, a clinical psychologist based in New York, encourages practitioners of self-care to exercise mindfulness while going about their routine.
“One of the best ways to remain in your experience is to notice when you are having thoughts that are unrelated to it,” Seelig said.
Practicing mindfulness simply means focusing your attention solely on what’s happening in the moment, rather than worrying about everything else that needs to be done after the task is finished. It’s about learning how to take pleasure in the little things.
For those of us who really struggle with routine, Vanderkam recommends getting an accountability partner, or someone you can check in with to make sure you’ve done your routine.
“Sometimes knowing that someone expects something from you can nudge you to do it,” said Vanderkam.
A self-care routine should be yours, and yours alone. It’s a time to destress, to reconnect and reset for another day ahead.
Thank you so much for stopping by and reading! I hope this guidance can help you create more space in your life for intentional self love and care through setting up a routine that works for YOU.
Namaste