You have decided that it’s time to make a lifestyle change and create a self-care regime. Good on you!
However, when it comes to changing your life it takes commitment and focus. Also, it’s important for you not to be hard on yourself when you fail in a commitment. After all, we’re talking about self-care and, sadly, we can be our own harshest critics.
It typically takes at least 30 days on average to create a new habit in your life (or to break an old one) and that’s why you will find a rash of 30-day challenges on the net.
Here we will run you through a one-month program that will introduce new self-care routines into your life. If you miss a day, don’t panic. Just start from where you left off and keep going.
Feel free to change whatever you like and individualize the program for yourself. By making it personal and taking ownership of the program gives you greater motivation and invests yourself in the challenge.
So, let’s get the challenge going! Excited? You should be!!
My 30-day self-care challenge plan
Here I will run you through a suggested 30-day plan that will help you take care of yourself mentally, physically, and emotionally. You can switch the activities to other days or replace the suggestions completely.
Day 1
Take 30 minutes out for yourself. This could be in the morning, afternoon, or at night. Find somewhere that you can be alone and undisturbed and take the time to relax and destress. The way you choose to unwind is up to you (but shouldn’t include alcohol or drugs).
Day 2
Declutter your home. When you have too much stuff lying around your house, it can cause you stress as well as create potential health issues (if you trip over something). Go through the stuff in your house and see what you can throw away and what you should keep. You will be amazed at how the atmosphere in a room can change when it has had a good cleanout.
Day 3
Go outside and spend time in nature. Find time to take a 30-minute walk in a park, forest, along the sea, or a river. You will be amazed at how refreshed you feel at the end.
Day 4
Get more sleep. Go to bed an hour earlier or wake up an hour later. By allowing yourself to have extra sleep you will find that you feel more alert when you wake up and you have more energy
Day 5
Look at how you can change your diet so that you eat healthier. That doesn’t mean you go completely off fast food (unless you want to). Keep things in moderation.
Day 6
Consider how you can get more exercise into your day. Maybe you could combine exercise with the getting outside idea from Day 3.
Day 7
Drink more water. How do you stay hydrated during the day? What do you drink to keep up your fluid levels? Men need 3.7 liters of water each day and women require 2.7 litres.
Day 8
Start journaling and write down how you feel. Allow your emotions to flow onto the page unhindered as, by doing so, you are accessing the subconscious part of your brain that knows a lot more than your conscious does!
Day 9
Read an uplifting book. It could be a fiction story or a self-help book.
Day 10
Ring a friend and have a chat.
Day 11
Work on combating one negative belief that you have about yourself. Find positive affirmations that contradict that belief. Listen to these at least once a day for 30 days (as it takes that long to reprogram your subconscious)
Day 12
Watch a comedy or something else that will make you laugh.
Day 13
Listen to your favorite music and sing along. Don’t worry about how you look, it’s about enjoying yourself and the music. Have fun!
Day 14
Maybe there is something new that you have been wanting to try and do. Now is the time! Perhaps you have felt that you lack the skill or talent. Ignore the negativity in your head and give the thing a go. All things take time and practice, so be patient with yourself. Commend yourself for stepping out of your comfort zone.
Day 15
Have a luxurious bath and let yourself relax. Feel free to add several drops of your favorite essential oil to the water.
Day 16
Learn to say “no” to others and think about how you can increase your self-confidence. This can be a hard area to develop as there are so many factors that contribute to a lack of self-confidence. Start with small areas in which you can decline requests for favors and then work on stepping up to bigger areas.
Day 17
Make a list of positive affirmations that you can use to help build up your self-esteem. You can categorize the affirmations into confidence, fear, anxiety, self-love, self-care, self-esteem, and whatever other areas in your life you are struggling in.
Day 18
Think of 3-5 things you are grateful for and write them down. Expand the list by including why you are grateful for those things.
Day 19
Too often it’s easy to complain. Spend the day not complaining and then see if you can last several days, then a week or longer without whining about things. You will be surprised at how positive you become!
Day 20
Start a morning routine. Include things that will set you up for having a great day. It could be that you have your favorite cereal, do a little workout, have a good coffee or tea, or spend more time with your family before they or you head out the door. The routine you establish is completely up to you. The goal is so that you feel good about yourself when you leave home for the day.
Day 21
Spend the day offline and unplugged. Too often we are busy checking emails, notifications from apps, messages from friends, or jumping onto social network sites to see what our friends or those we follow are doing. Decide that you will not go online, use your phone, or run every time you hear a ping from a notification. The amount of time that is freed up may astonish you and make you decide to spend more time in digital isolation. Also, you could be setting a great example for the rest of your digitally-addicted family and friends.
Day 22
Create a list of goals you want to accomplish in the next year, five years, and ten years. Then work out steps on how you are going to achieve them and why they are important to you.
Day 23
Get in touch with your creative side. If you think you don’t have one, you will be surprised by what you may uncover if you start drawing, painting, coloring-in activities, model-making, or building.
Day 24
Volunteer your time. Doing acts of kindness towards other people, animals, or the planet has a wondrous effect on your self-esteem. It may cause you to discover an aspect of yourself you didn’t know you had. You’re not only helping humanity, animals, and the environment, but you are also helping yourself become a better person.
Day 25
Start blogging about what you have been up to. You might think that writing a blog could be a waste of time, but you have a unique perspective on life that may inspire and uplift other people. Who knows? Your blog could end up becoming a wee money earner for you on the side.
Day 26
Identify what stresses you out and sets you off. Then consider ways in which you can react differently to those situations or, if it’s possible, to eliminate them from your life. Sometimes your responses could be due to a deep-seated emotional issue that could require professional help.
Day 27
Go to your favorite spot and enjoy your time there. There are places we all love going to as they bring us joy, help us relax, or allow us to appreciate the beauty of nature. The purpose of this exercise is to help you destress and recharge.
Day 28
Write a love letter to yourself. So often, we find it easier to love others than to love ourselves. We struggle with self-compassion as we think we don’t deserve it. We feel uncomfortable when we show the slightest degree of self-love. By penning a letter to yourself, you will appreciate what a beautiful, awesome person you are. This exercise will also help increase your self-esteem.
Day 29
Treat yourself. That doesn’t mean you have to go out and buy something extravagant. Maybe you pamper yourself at home with a good grooming session. Or you could go out to a restaurant for a meal. Do something for yourself that will make you feel happy.
Day 30
Take the time to reflect on the journey you have been on over the past month. Look at the victories you have had and those areas that you may have missed the mark on. Remember, don’t beat yourself up about the areas you weren’t so successful on. It’s a process and you have made a tremendous effort to establish a new self-care program into your life.
Let this final day be a celebration and throw yourself a party! You deserve it.
Enjoy the process
Self-care isn’t meant to be a chore in which you lack enthusiasm. It’s a process in which you develop the skills to look after yourself physically and mentally so that you can relax more, enjoy life better, and have fun.
The program listed above is simply a blueprint of what a 30-day self-care challenge looks like and you can swap out and change whatever you desire.
As you step up and take on the challenge, we want to congratulate you on your decision and wish you all the best for your success.
spiritually.enlightened.being 