This post has been sponsored by OuiTM by Yoplait®. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
If y’all remember, I started out this year beyond stressed out. I was leading a massive global project, working nights and weekends, and things were starting to get pretty miserable. I posted on my Insta Stories about how stressful things were and did a simple poll asking if others were feeling stressed, too. The results were surprising. 75% of people who responded said that they, too, were super stressed out. Seventy-five percent! I would never have guessed that three quarters of us are walking around like a bunch of basket cases carrying around so much stress. Self care ideas has become such a hot topic of conversation over the last couple years. I truly think it is because we are constantly on the go, online 24/7, and have information and ping overload, so we are feeling the need to self-correct and make sure that we take care of ourselves more than ever before.
After I saw my poll results, I posted another Insta Story asking for everyone’s self care ideas. I’ve incorporated a lot of these suggestions into my personal regimen, and I’m sharing a few of my favorite self care ideas with you today.
8 Self Care Ideas
Meditate. I started meditating a few years ago, and it’s been such an important part of my self-care. I can physically feel my heartbeat slow down, even if I’m just doing a short, 15-minute meditation session. If you don’t know where to start, there are a lot of great apps out there that can help gently guide you through it. My personal favorite is the Headspace app.
Exercise. Working out is my saving grace when it comes to stress relief. I like high intensity interval training (HIIT), boxing, and pilates.
Masking/Mani-Pedis. I love putting on a face mask for a few minutes or giving myself a mani/pedi at home. You deserve to make time for little personal care things like this!
Take a break during your day to indulge. Sometimes a 15-minute break during your workday to slow down and enjoy life’s simple pleasures can do wonders for you. I like to curl up in a comfy chair, put on my favorite podcast, and indulge in OuiTM by Yoplait®. Oui is a French-style yogurt that is poured and set in a glass pot. There are no artificial flavors, and it is subtly sweet, thick and creamy, which makes for the perfect late afternoon treat that you can easily find at your local Safeway. Oui By Yoplait is a simple pleasure that you can incorporate into your everyday routine as a way to slow down and savor the moment. I’ve been enjoying Oui’s strawberry yogurt. You can also check out their Oui Petites, which have the same texture and more indulgent flavors like chocolate with shavings and sea salt caramel. Whenever I’m at Safeway, I stock up on these!
Take a bath. At the end of a long day, a bubble bath can feel so luxurious and is a great way to unwind. Bonus points for a glass of wine.
Sometimes if I’m feeling anxious, I listen to these songs about anxiety while I’m in the bath. They help me feel less alone and make my bath so much more relaxing.
Journal. There’s a lot of science behind the mental benefits of journaling. While I’m not really one to open up a blank page and start writing away without a prompt, I’ve found that the Five Minute Journal is a great way to start the day with a grateful heart by writing down three things you’re grateful for. You also set your intentions for the day by writing down three things you’d like to accomplish. And at the end of the day, I write three things that went well or that I’m proud of myself for doing.
Read a book. I used to be such an avid reader, and for a few years when I was busy with work and managing my blog, I don’t think I even touched a book. I realized how sad that was, and over the last year I’ve been incorporating reading back into my routine. Sometimes it’s fiction, and sometimes it’s purposeful content like books on happiness or running an online business.
Get a massage. When you’re stressed, your body often carries a lot of that tension physically, and getting a massage is a great way to relieve that. I’d get one once a week if I could!
If you have other self care ideas, I’d love to know—what do you do for self-care?
Elise Armitage is an entrepreneur and founder of What The Fab, a travel + lifestyle blog based in California. At the beginning of 2019, Elise left her corporate job at Google to chase her dreams: being an entrepreneur and helping women find fabulous in the everyday. Since then, she’s launched her SEO course Six-Figure SEO, where she teaches bloggers how to create a passive revenue stream from their website using SEO. Featured in publications like Forbes, Elle, HerMoney, and Real Simple, Elise is a firm believer that you can be of both substance and style.
Peggy Honeysuckle
Monday 20th of August 2018
Thanks for the wonderful self-care ideas! As I enter my 60’s, disabled, battling chronic pain, I’ve literally had to reinvent a life for myself where I can palpably feel complete freedom to live every single day doing what pleases me! My whole life I’ve been a care giver, taking in the homeless, the poor souls that no one else wanted, including animals, and now it’s my turn to rest! I call my space, The Sanctuary, and every single thing in this space is something I love, inherited, collected, received as a gift or something that I purchased or made for myself. My oldest son moved home three years ago to take care of me while lawyers battled it out for disability and I was living on nothing! My son still works full time as a comic book artist, penciling, inking, coloring, creating all day while taking breaks to check on me, make me lunch, discuss his new ideas or whatever. How very blessed I am to have such love! Taking care of one’s self is the best way to learn about yourself! To figure out what you need, to listen closely to your body, your heart, your gut instincts and live every day accordingly! No stress, negativity, or anything that opens doors that aren’t in line with The Sanctuary, the healing, loving, giving space that feels like a warm, soft womb of safety and security is allowed in! When you find your space, you have to fiercely guard it, being vigilant about what enters in that will change or affect the quality of your being! For the first time in my life, I love my life! I love me! I love my redhair, my freckles, my white eyelashes, I love my unique, zany, quirky, crazy, left handed, middle child, Gemini paranoid multiple personalities that thrive on laughter and hugs...my two greatest survival tools! Yes indeed, I am so very loved, especially by me! That’s the meaning of self care in a nutshell!