Daily self nurturing activities are a significant way to care for yourself at the same time as helping you to Find the Good Everyday.
I’ve read a lot about self care, self love and nurturing yourself the last few years. It’s becoming a fashionable topic. I think this is a good thing because we can all do with looking after ourselves better. One of my life goals in recent years has been to teach myself more about self care, self love and self nurture. Being able to commit to daily self nurturing activities has helped me keep focus on this goal and enables me to take better care of myself.
“perhaps we should love ourselves so fiercely,
that when others see us
they know exactly how it should be done.”
― Rudy Francisco
How I determine my daily self nurturing activities
As part of my work on The Artist’s Way I completed a task that involved setting myself a self nurturing activity every day and carrying it out. I enjoyed this task and found so much benefit from it that I’ve continued it all year.
Each month when I draw up the monthly pages in my Bullet Journal I include a double page spread to plan out and keep track of my Daily Self Nurturing Activities. Each activity has to be something I want to do and look forward to doing.
Some activities are repeated each week and I’m always on the lookout for new activities to add to my plan. I sit down each Sunday and plan an activity for each day of the upcoming week based on my schedule and what I have on.
Examples of my self nurturing activities
Regular items which feature are:
- Having an early night
- Having a lay-in
- A bubble bath
- A Face mask
- A special/extra Yoga practice (e.g. an online retreat)
- Lunch or coffee with a friend
- A date with my husband
- A date with my son
- Watching a movie or programme that I really enjoy (not just mindless TV watching!)
- Taking myself for a walk (especially at a park, along a river, in a natural-setting)
- Trying something new
- Journalling (if you’re looking for ideas and prompts for journalling -try my workbook – Find Your Happy)
Many of these things would happen anyway without becoming an item on my task list. But in setting the activity, anticipating it and recognising it as a decent way to take care of myself it becomes so much more than a bubble bath or an early night. It’s a nod to myself, it’s reminding myself that I am important and deserve to take good care of myself.
Some of the more one-off, individual activities that have popped up over the months on my activities lists have been:
- Seeing The Killers live at Hyde Park
- Going to see Wicked with my friends followed by dinner and drinks
- Having a free massage (courtesy of SpaBreaks we11ness hour)
- Going for afternoon tea
- Going on holiday!
- Getting an astrology reading
How I make it work for me
I’m not rigid with the tasks. Some days the task I set doesn’t work out for some reason or another. But I always make sure I do something else instead. I make a note of what I did do on my log.
Last month I added something else to my monthly plan/log. I made space to note my favourite self nurture activity that month, 3 that I’d be happy to repeat and 3 new ideas I have for next month.
Some activities have become more regular in my life as a result of setting them as self nurturing tasks. Between these tasks and the weekly Artist’s Dates (another fantastic tool from The Artist’s Way) I’ve added some regular creative pursuits that I thoroughly enjoy. I’ve begun to take regular pottery classes (I love playing with clay!) and have even had a go with the potter’s wheel a few times!
Some days my self-nurture activity may be as simple as an early night or a 10 minute meditation and other days it will be something new and exciting and completely different. It’s one of the easiest ways I Find the Good Everyday.
Do you have any suggestions for daily self nurturing tasks? What would make it onto your list? Leave a comment or visit the contact page to let me know.
Find Your Happy for Self Care
I’ve created a workbook containing twenty-one journalling prompts to help you find more happiness in your everyday life. It’s a great tool for self care and self nurturing. You can dip in and out or work through it steadily. Each prompt takes 10 minutes or less so you can fit some self care into your day!
You can read more about it here. And buy your own copy here.
