Simple self care challenge ideas

Want to join us in a 30 day self care challenge? Commit to one of these 5 practices every single day, for 30 days, and see if you can feel the transformation. You can use these self care challenge ideas to become more mindful, improve your relationships, feel calmer and make life a little bit easier. At the end of the month, you'll have learned some new skills and built some habits that will help keep you happy in future.

What are the 6 types of self-care?

Before we begin, let's get clear on what self care is (hint: it's a lot more than taking a bubble bath or drinking tea). There are 6 types of self care to consider:

1. Physical

See: Exercise and the Brain

2. Mental

See: How to Improve Your Mental Health

3. Spiritual

See: The Science Behind Meditation

4. Practical

See: How to Be Productive

5. Social

See: How to Fight Loneliness

6. Emotional

See: Top 3 Mood Boosting Foods

Self-care is about taking care of your body, mind, and spirit by doing things that make you feel good. It's not selfish to practice self-care; It's important to let yourself get in touch with your feelings, emotions, and needs so that you can be fully present with others in your life.

Simple self care challenge Ideas

A self-care challenge is a way to practice better self-care so that you can feel more relaxed, rested, and motivated. The goal of the challenge is to help you create positive habits and routines that will last beyond the 30 days. Here's how:

• Set aside at least 20 minutes each day for self-care. You might want to start small—maybe just five minutes per day—and gradually build up your time until you’re able to do at least 20 minutes every single day.

• Keep track of your progress. This can be as simple as writing down what kind of self-care activity you did each day or using an app like Habitica (available on all platforms).

• Make it fun. Try playing music while taking a bath or cooking dinner; watching TV shows with friends who have similar interests; listening to audiobooks while working out; painting pottery in a studio class; anything else that makes you smile.

So what are some good personal challenges when it comes to self care?

What are 5 self-care activities?

1. Start a workout plan and stick to it.

To get started with a workout plan, you’ll want to start by thinking about your goals. What do you want to accomplish? Do you want to get an endorphin hit? build muscle? tone up your body? Or maybe it’s all three.

If you don’t know what kind of workout will best help you reach these goals, consider the following options:

• Cardio exercise—Activities like running, walking on an incline treadmill, riding an exercise bike and swimming are great for cardiovascular health.

• Strength training—This type of exercise uses resistance from weight machines or free weights (dumbbells) in order to build muscle mass.

2. Go to bed early.

Getting enough sleep is crucial for your health and well-being. Our bodies need 7-9 hours of sleep per night, but most of us get less than that. Here's how to make it easier:

• The National Sleep Foundation recommends going to bed at a consistent time every night and waking up at the same time most days of the week. This helps promote healthy circadian rhythms, which are responsible for regulating our bodies’ internal clocks.

• Turn off screens an hour before bedtime—Shutting off your electronic devices an hour before going to bed will help prevent you from being distracted by the blue light emitted from these devices.

• Try using an app—like f.lux or Twilight on Android devices so you don't have any visual sources left lighting up while in bed—just make sure they're turned off before getting into your jammies.

3. Read one book per week for 30 days.

You can read a book that interests you, you can read a book that you have been meaning to read, or you can choose one of these recommendations:

• The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

• Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker

• The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

4. Start meal planning and prepping your meals in advance.

Meal planning is one of the most important parts of self-care.  Go through your cupboards and refrigerator first so you can see what kinds of ingredients you already have in your kitchen. Then look at recipes online or in cookbooks and decide what dishes would use up those ingredients best. This way you don't waste food or money.

Once you've got an idea of what recipes will work best based on your current stock pile, it's time to start prepping. This involves chopping veggies into small pieces so they'll be ready when needed; washing fruits like apples or pears, until everything has been prepped ahead of time for each recipe on your menu plan for this week.

5. Invest in self-care products that make you feel good when you use them (e.g., make-up, body wash, lotions, candles, essential oils).

It may seem like a superficial and unnecessary part of your daily routine, but Pinterest is right—a little pamper it can be a great form of self-care. If you're feeling down or having a bad day, taking care of your appearance can help you feel more confident in yourself and boost your mood.

30 day self care challenge

We know that it can be hard to keep up with all of these self-care practices, which is why we created the 30-Day Self Care Challenge. To make it easier, feel free to work on one idea a week and slowly start building up more positive habits in your life. Each week, you can add new practices that build on what you did last week—so at the end of thirty days, you’ll have a whole new routine for taking care of yourself.

Are you up for the challenge? Tag us on Instagram if you're joining.