Blog Posts
How to Build a Self-Care Routine
By Wen Soon
When everyone talks about self-care, many people think that when “want” something hard enough, they can make it happen. That could not be further away from the truth. Wanting something to happen does not automatically make a habit successful. Many of us have heard success stories but do not hear the challenges and failures they had to go through before ultimately becoming successful. Here are my tips on building a successful self-care routine.
The first step is to prepare to build your routine. You have to make sure that you’re in the right mindset. Come up with a list of self-care ideas that you want to try out and write them all down. This is the list you’ll go off of while building your routine and want to make it as realistic to your life as possible. After that, come up with a day and time you want to try those out over a typical week. Try to be as specific as possible. An example is that I want to go to the gym on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 10 AM every week. It’s very clear what you want to do.
The next step is to experiment with each idea on your list. This is the place where it’s okay to find out what works in your life and what does not. Do not feel discouraged if you find out that one self-care idea does not work out for you. You’re one step closer towards the idea that does work for you. Keep a running tally of what has worked and what has not on your list. If there’s an opportunity, feel free to change those ideas to fit your lifestyle. If I discover that I cannot go to the gym at 10 AM, I could either change my days or the time. I could now say that I want to go to the gym on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 6 PM. After I change it, I want to experiment and try it out again.
After testing out these different ideas, this is the step where you finally take action. Declare a date and time when you want to implement these ideas. Do it one idea at a time and not overwhelm yourself. Keep pressing forward with your ideas and don’t hesitate to change what does not work.
The last stage is called maintenance. This is where you have been successful with your self-care routine for quite a while. Triggers and old habits may pop up and you may have to be prepared for these situations. Think about how you can avoid these triggers and focus on your own well being.
I hope these tips have been helpful to you. Looking forward to hearing about your success. You can find more about Wen and his work on self-care and relationships at www.selfcaid.com.
By Wen Soon
When everyone talks about self-care, many people think that when “want” something hard enough, they can make it happen. That could not be further away from the truth. Wanting something to happen does not automatically make a habit successful. Many of us have heard success stories but do not hear the challenges and failures they had to go through before ultimately becoming successful. Here are my tips on building a successful self-care routine.
The first step is to prepare to build your routine. You have to make sure that you’re in the right mindset. Come up with a list of self-care ideas that you want to try out and write them all down. This is the list you’ll go off of while building your routine and want to make it as realistic to your life as possible. After that, come up with a day and time you want to try those out over a typical week. Try to be as specific as possible. An example is that I want to go to the gym on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 10 AM every week. It’s very clear what you want to do.
The next step is to experiment with each idea on your list. This is the place where it’s okay to find out what works in your life and what does not. Do not feel discouraged if you find out that one self-care idea does not work out for you. You’re one step closer towards the idea that does work for you. Keep a running tally of what has worked and what has not on your list. If there’s an opportunity, feel free to change those ideas to fit your lifestyle. If I discover that I cannot go to the gym at 10 AM, I could either change my days or the time. I could now say that I want to go to the gym on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 6 PM. After I change it, I want to experiment and try it out again.
After testing out these different ideas, this is the step where you finally take action. Declare a date and time when you want to implement these ideas. Do it one idea at a time and not overwhelm yourself. Keep pressing forward with your ideas and don’t hesitate to change what does not work.
The last stage is called maintenance. This is where you have been successful with your self-care routine for quite a while. Triggers and old habits may pop up and you may have to be prepared for these situations. Think about how you can avoid these triggers and focus on your own well being.
I hope these tips have been helpful to you. Looking forward to hearing about your success. You can find more about Wen and his work on self-care and relationships at www.selfcaid.com.