Start Building Your Self-care Habits with These 4 Insightful Tips

Taking the steps to improve yourself is an accomplishment in itself. But don’t let social media fool you, creating sustainable self-care habits is no easy feat. It’s important to remind ourselves that while challenging, everything is possible so long as we set ourselves up for success.

As someone who has failed many many times (and continues to get back up), here are four simple but insightful tips that we feel are incredibly relevant to your journey:

1. Do something you love.

When it comes to exercise, eating healthier, or even practicing meditation, it is definitely never a one-size fits all. Instead of starting off your week by practicing things that are popular within your circle but may not necessarily be fulfilling to your person, find something that truly resonates with you.

Many of us get “stuck” with the same old boring routine simply because we’ve never known anything else. But taking care of yourself doesn’t have to become another chore. Finding your niche within the exercise, mindfulness, and healthy-eating world will make keeping up with your new self-care routine that much easier.

Trust us, there are so MANY ways to workout, meditate, or to be spiritual. Lots of them don’t involve things you might hate like going to the gym, going to church, or practicing breathing exercises at home.

2. Start with Baby Steps

Suddenly revamping your whole routine and trying to stick with it for more than week can be almost impossible (trust me, I’ve been there). The reality is, attempting to change your habits from one week to the next solely on raw willpower just doesn’t work. Why? Because your levels of motivation fluctuate as the days go by.

Instead, implement self-care activities that work with your current routine. Developing new habits can take up to 21 days, it’s important to be patient with yourself. Slip ups will inevitably happen.

Remember that beating yourself up about your inability to keep up with your expectations is not effective but detrimental. Regardless of whether or not you failed to workout during the week, try practising some self-love. Shower yourself with encouraging words each morning instead.

3. Don’t give up.

Probably one of the most important aspects of attempting to change your life for the better: Do. Not. Give. Up.

As someone who has developed unhealthy eating habits over the years, it has always been incredibly easy to default back to the status quo (ie. “I’m already unhealthy. What’s the difference if I give in just for one more day?”).

It will always be that much easier to give into temptation than trying to stick to your new diet, workout routine, or meditation exercises. Perfection takes time. Do not be discouraged by your failures; use them as stepping stones to get to your end goal.

For instance, if you find that afternoons make it particularly difficult to resist old habits, find alternative activities to avoid making the same mistakes. Don’t be afraid to fail. Not only are failures bound to happen, they are also are opportunities to truly get to know yourself.

4. Be Wary of Pseudo Self-Care.

Ever heard or used the term “shop therapy”? Many people (myself included) partake in something called Pseudo Self-Care. Pseudo self-care is comprised by bad habits in disguise, activities that make you feel better in the short-term but are not actually good for you in the long-term.

A great example of pseudo self-care is shop therapy. Sure, going on a shopping spree might make you feel great instantly. But this sort of superficial elatedness doesn’t really last, does it? Eventually, you may even start to nurture a pseudo self-care cycle as you begin to rely on these habits to cope with life’s challenges.

The same can be said about nurturing only one area of self-care, like mindfulness for instance, but ignoring other parts of you that may also need attention. Remember to think “Mind, Body, and Soul”.

Conclusion

Whether you’re just about to get started or have been trying to develop your new habits for a while now, setting yourself up for success goes a long way in keep up with self-care habits. Start by sticking with activities you already know and love. Don’t give up, and remember the holy 3: “Mind, Body, and Soul”. You’ll be on your way to self-care heaven sooner than you think.

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