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21 Simple Self-care Ideas To Do Anytime You Need

You can do this especially when you're busy. You only need one (or maybe until ten) minutes.

By Ria RayaniPublished 2 years ago 4 min read
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Feeling stressed and burned out lately? This can't be helped with the pandemic, although, we already face alarming stress even before the pandemic hit. If you're feeling stressed, please do take care of yourself seriously. Even it's not easy to alleviate stress, know that most of the time, we can handle the stressful condition by ourselves. Taking self-care is one of the ways to cope with stress.

Sometimes we might don't have much time to take care of ourselves. So, here are 21 simple self-care ideas to do anytime you need.

1. Stretch your body. Straight up and move your body! This is especially helpful if you have been staring at your laptop all the time. Taking a mini-stretch can break the gloomy cycle that has been accumulated throughout your day.

2. Dance like nobody's watching (and preferably when nobody's around). Besides stretching, why not try dancing? If you stay at home then it's a perfect place to dance around every time you're feeling stressed out. Dance it out!

3. Try a one-minute breathing exercise. You can check xhalr.com where you can try a box breathing (4-4-4-4), relax breathing (7-4-8), or customize your own breathing exercise. You can also install the Current Mindfulness chrome extension.

4. Watch a short funny video. There's no reason we can't find funny videos online now. Take yourself some time to laugh. Laughter is the best medicine!

5. Have laughter with your friend. To make it easier, you can share the funny videos you just watch. Or you can just bump with each other. Have a laugh together would be better!

6. Wash your face. Coldwater can help to wake us up and lower our irritation.

7. Drink a glass of water. Just drink plain mineral water. No coffee or added sugar. Besides this is doable anytime, literally, drinking mineral water won't give an adverse side effect of sluggishness like we drink sugary drinks.

8. Eat a healthy snack. It's so tempting to grab an ice cream, cookies, or french fries when we are feeling stressed. However, sugar and unhealthy food can increase anxiety levels or mood disorders. So, if you want to eat something, grab an apple, protein bars, or other healthy food that you would like.

9. Write down your frustration. It's no secret that journaling is the key to boosting our mental health. Even the great Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher, Marcus Aurelius Seneca, journal regularly. Writing out our frustration will help us to lash out the inner harangue more healthily and harmlessly.

10. Write something you're grateful for today. However classic, an act of gratitude can boost your mood in an instant.

11. Write your accomplishment. Don't be too hard on yourself and notice the awesomeness you already did!

12. Write something you look forward to today. There's always something interesting that you can do to improve your mood!

13. Taking a quick 10-minutes nap. Give yourself some time to rest. You will not regret it.

14. Smile to yourself in the mirror. However awkward or corny this might sound, but forcing yourself to smile can literally improve your mood. In his book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman said that the act of forcing a smile can make things a bit funnier. The experiment was conducted for college students to hold a pencil between the teeth for a few seconds with the eraser pointing to the right and the point to the left. Those who were smiling find the cartoon of Gary Larson’s The Far Side funnier than those who are not. When backed up with research, this doesn't sound so corny again, right?

15. Opening the window and watching the weather. Somehow, connecting to nature can lower our stress and anxiety. The sky is part of nature, too.

16. Massage yourself. There might be a tense head, stiff neck, or sore legs. Follow this instruction to give your body a massage.

17. Turn on energizing music, soothing music, classical, jazz, lo-fi, or anything that you like!

18. Play with your pet if you have one! If you have houseplants, you can play (or spend some time) with them, too.

19. Do a random act of kindness. Paradoxically, when we do something good for others, we will make ourselves feel happier. You don't need to go outside to open the doors for a stranger, tho. You can leave a positive message for your friend. Leaving a good comment on the online purchase you just made counts as an act of kindness, too.

20. Do nothing. Seriously. You might need to take a break from anything you do right now.

21. Turn off your phone. Finally, the ultimate way to relax is to ditch all the never-ending distraction devices out of the way. Have some time to rest in solitude and tranquility.

Self-care is one way to reduce stress and boost your mood. In addition, know that you can improve your mood by changing the way you think about yourself.

Hope this helps!

self care
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About the Creator

Ria Rayani

Finding the extraordinary in the ordinary life.

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