Self-Care Routines: How to Build a Personalized Plan for Better Mental Health

What do you think of when you hear “self-care”? Is it woo-woo, something some people need but not you, or something you regularly take part in?

When it comes to your mental health, self-care is so important. In the same way you need to take care of your body, you need to take care of your mind as well. Self-care isn’t optional, it’s a necessity. 

But maybe you’re wondering how to do self-care or what it could look like for you. You’ve come to the right place! In preparation for Mental Illness Awareness Week in early October, we want to offer advice on creating a self-care routine tailored to individual needs and preferences. 

Let’s get started!

Frequency of Routines

Before we get into the questions, it’s important to note that it's okay to have a few different self-care routines tailored to different time frames. Some activities can be part of your daily routine, while others may fit better on a weekly, monthly, or even annual basis. Embracing this diversity is key to effective self-care, so consider how each time block can enhance your well-being.

What Do You Like to Do?

One of the easiest places to start is by figuring out what you like to do and doing more of it! Self-care doesn’t have to be tedious or boring or involve doing all the things you think you “should” be doing. Effective self-care routines include things you enjoy and find pleasurable—that’s such a beautiful gift in life that we get.

So, take some time to write down 3-5 things you really enjoy doing. Try to split them into things you might like to do daily or weekly and then things that are more monthly or yearly. For example, you might love to color and want to color something every day or every week, but weekend trips might be more of a once-a-month kind of thing.It's important to identify activities you can weave into your daily routine, while also embracing larger experiences to look forward to that ignite your excitement. 

Once you’ve got your list, start finding ways to incorporate them into your life. Maybe that means calendaring in your baking session once a week or deciding you’ll read 5 minutes before bed every night. Even small increments of the things you love to do can make a big difference when it comes to your mental health and taking care of yourself.

What Do You Do a Lot?

This should hopefully be another easy list to come up with as these are common things in your life. The reason we’re looking at things you do a lot is it may highlight areas that are being overlooked. For example, if you are really focused on eating nutritious meals, moving your body, and prioritizing sleep, maybe you’re neglecting connecting with others. Or, are you missing out on more relaxing techniques like a hot bath or rest? If you’re wholly devoted to praying and reading Scripture, but refuse to see a therapist or journal, you may be missing out on some mental or emotional well-being practices.

The truth is, we can’t be perfectly balanced in all areas of our lives all the time. However, self-care is a holistic endeavor, and it’s important to make sure you’re adding in physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and relational tasks into your self-care routine. And by seeing what you focus on, you might also be able to see that which you want to add more of into your life.

What Do You Need to Do?

While a lot of self-care is light and fun, it can’t be all bubble baths and naps. There is a component of things that need to get done in our lives that very much constitutes self-care. Things like cleaning our spaces, showering, exercising, running errands, cooking, etc. They might not be as thrilling, but they are necessary and not doing them could negatively impact your mental health.

So, think through and make a list of everything you need to do. Also split these into daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly tasks if you can. Once you have the list in front of you, you’re better able to see which ones you’re naturally good at getting done and maybe which ones you’ve been neglecting or are more difficult to do. Don’t beat yourself up for that—we all have things that are hard to do or things we fall short on. What’s important is that you recognize it and can actively work to add it into your life and your routine.

Putting the Routine Together

We know we just gave you a lot to think about, but there’s no need to get overwhelmed. Why? Because you’re not going to do all these things all at once all the time. Thinking you could would be silly; we’re all humans with limitations. What this exercise was intended for was to get you thinking about ideas and possibilities you could add in a self-care routine. So, let’s put it all together.

Pick one thing from each category—what do you like to do, what are you neglecting, and what you need to do—and have that be the focus of your week or month. These can be daily tasks, weekly tasks, or monthly tasks, that’s up to you! Once you feel like you’ve gotten the hang of those things, consider adding on or swapping them out for different things. But, there’s no rush. Start as small and go as slow as you need. 

Another note, you can also have different self-care routines for different parts of your life. For example, maybe after a hard day at work what you need to do is take a bubble bath while reading a book and then cook yourself a yummy dinner. But, on days where you’re feeling sad, what’s best is to go for a walk, journal, and watch your favorite movie. It’s okay to have multiple routines, to try something new, and to switch things that aren’t working. Make sure that your self-care routine is working for you!