My Secret to Taking Better Care of Myself

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This post has been sponsored by Cetaphil®. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

By this time of year, any talk about new year’s resolutions has completely died down. No one is posting on social media asking how you’re doing with sticking to your resolutions because they’ve long been forgotten! Normally, I would be part of that group that has forgotten all about their resolutions but this year, I did things a little differently when setting my new year’s resolutions and intentions to take better care of myself, and it’s been working! So today, I’m excited to be partnering with Cetaphil® (which, btw, you can use this coupon to get $4 off of any 2 Cetaphil products) to share my new self-care trick.

Ok, so you want to know my secret? I created a little chart that showed Sunday – Saturday and seven things I wanted to make sure I did every day, like working out or skin care using Cetaphil® Daily Facial Cleanser. Each day, I check off these items throughout the day and it helps keep me on track by doing small things to take care of myself. And while I don’t check everything off every single day, I do check a lot of them off and I definitely do a lot more of these things for self-care than I normally would before I started using my checklist. Plus, it’s so satisfying at the end of the week to see all my little checks and know that all the small actions I took throughout the week are adding up in a big way! And I know that if I had just said at the beginning of the year that my new year’s resolution is to take better care of myself, I probably wouldn’t have actually done anything differently. But by breaking this resolution up into small actions that I track daily, I’m able to make big changes. ✅

Here’s what I have on my daily checklist:

✔️ Take my vitamins: I’ve tried on and off to incorporate vitamins into my daily routine, but I used to always forget and then the bottles got pushed to the back of my cupboards. Now, vitamins are part of my daily routine and I hardly ever forget to take them. I take a woman’s multi-vitamin, Omega 3 oil, cranberry, and CoQ10.

✔️ Journal: Whenever I read articles about the habits of successful people, journaling is always one of them. I used to think there was no way I could incorporate journaling into my routine because I didn’t have time to do it and also I wouldn’t know what to write about. Now, it’s part of my morning routine and I actually really love it. I don’t force myself to write a certain amount, just whatever I’m feeling that morning. It helps me notice patterns, set intention for the day, and reflect on things I want to focus on or improve.

✔️ Skincare: Taking care of my skin is super important to me and when my skin is looking and feeling good, I feel good (and vice versa—when it’s looking bad, I don’t feel like my usual confident self!). As part of my daily checklist, I try to do something nice for my skin every day, whether that’s a face mask, taking time to use my jade roller, or working while wearing de-puffing patches under my eyes. Before I do any of this though, I use Cetaphil® Daily Facial Cleanser that I pick up from Walgreens to cleanse my skin and make sure I have a clean base to work with. My husband and I both use this cleanser because it cleans without stripping, which means it removes surface oils but leaves your skin’s natural oils—which is super important. It’s like my skin’s daily reset. This is one of my self-care steps that I absolutely do not skip no matter what I’m doing or where I am in the world. Fortunately, there are so many Walgreens throughout our city. If I ever run out of Cetaphil Daily Facial Cleanser, I can text Omied and ask him to pick some up. I’m pretty much guaranteed he’s just a stone’s throw away from a Walgreens. ?

✔️ Drink 2 liters of water: Before I started doing this daily checklist I was definitely not drinking enough water! I was getting maybe half to 75% of what I actually needed. Now, I pace myself throughout the day. I know that in order to check this one off my list, I need to drink five large glasses by the end of the day.

✔️ Meditate: I use the Headspace app and I do 10- or 15-minute meditation sessions.

✔️ Work out: I’ve written about this on the blog before several times, but working out is my freaking savior! I get super grumpy and irritable if I miss my workouts for a few days. I’ve gotta get my endorphins and I’m pretty good about checking this one off my list, except for on my rest days.

✔️ Stretch: I work out pretty hard, and HIIT workouts usually involve a fair amount of running and deadlifts…which my lower back gets pretty annoyed at me for. I do use a standing desk which definitely helps, but sometimes I can get a super stiff lower back for no apparent reason (other than now being in my 30’s, I guess). I have a few lower back stretches I like to do but often forget, so putting it on my checklist helps!

✔️ Read: This is the one that I probably check off the least on my list, but I’m still incorporating it into my routine way more than before. I love reading; I just feel like I don’t have enough time to do it while I’m at home, caught up in the day-to-day. But I’ve started reading more in the evenings, even if it’s just for ten minutes before I go to bed. I’ve found it’s a really nice way to unwind, instead of mindlessly scrolling on my phone before falling asleep.

This is my little trick that I’ve been using to take better care of myself this year! Let me know if you’re going to try it out and what you’d put on your checklist!