Why You Need a go to Self-Care Plan and How to Create One
Why You Need a go to Self-Care Plan and How to Create One
By now I’m sure a lot of us are aware of just how important it is to take self-care seriously.
When we don’t look after ourselves, we can get burnt out and feel overwhelmed. As the saying goes, you can’t pour from an empty cup.
So, making sure we are regularly taking time out for ourselves is a must. But what about those days where we just don’t have the brain capacity to think up a self care routine? Or identify what it is our body and brain truly needs?
Well, that’s where a self-care plan comes into play.
What is a go to Self-Care plan?
A go to self-care plan is a plan you create that involves self-care activities that you enjoy the most.
Something you can turn to in those moments where you just need to take some time out and focus on you without thinking too much.
This plan can consist of anything self-care related and you can even create a few different ones for different situations.
These different plans could focus on different areas such as
- Physical
- Emotional
- Mental
- Practical
- Social
How to create your plan
When it comes to creating your self-care plan, you want to think about the activities you enjoy the most and get the most benefit from.
This is going to be completely personal to you and your needs. My plan may not be the same as yours and that’s the beauty of it, it’s completely personalised to us.
Start by making a note or mind-map of all the self-care activities you enjoy.
For example
- Half hour walk
- Bubble bath
- Colouring
- Knitting
- Listing to music
- Watching a movie
- Using a face mask
- Reading a book
- Meditate
- Scrapbooking
- Cook your favourite meal
- Journal
Once you have gotten a bunch of self-care activities that you enjoy jotted down, it’s time to start creating a plan that will work for you.
Creating your go to self-care plan
I find creating the plan to be one of the best parts about the whole process. Although actually partaking in the activities is the highlight, I do enjoy getting creative putting together an emergency self-care plan.
You can use anything to put your plan together, but I personally really enjoy using Canva to create mine and then printing it off. This makes it feel even more special as picking the plan out of a folder is an enjoyable feeling.
Here is an example of one of my go to plans
Once you have decided how you will be documenting your plan whether that be in a notebook, on Canva, a piece of paper etc… It’s time to start putting in the information.
I do suggest creating a few different plans as sometimes one plan won’t have the activities that we need at a particular moment. Personally I think having 4 is the magic number as they can then cover a range of bases. But, you can create as many or as little as you like, totally up to you.
Examples of what each plan is used for
- A plan for when you need to switch off from technology
- One for when you feel the need to be active
- Another for an emotional night and feel your feelings
- And another for when you just want to relax and pamper yourself
You don’t have to copy these though, go with what fits with your life and needs the best.
Building your self-care plan
When you begin to build your self-care plan, go with simple and easily accessible self-care activities. This will give you the best chance of being able to have a successful self-care session. Also factor in time and location.
You don’t want to be creating a plan that has a ton of activities on it that you know you won’t be able to do because this may then stress you out that you haven’t done them all.
I point this out for those of you who are like me and get down if you aren’t able to tick off all activities as you feel like you HAVE to do them. So, make the plan simple and not filled with activities that need a bunch of resources to complete.
Example of plans
- Candle lit bubble bath – Face mask – Paint nails – Watch movie
- Go for a run – Drink 1L of water – Take a shower – Make dinner
- Make a cup of tea – Pick up a book – Relax on couch/bed
- Take dog a walk – Make lunch – Listen to Podcast – Stay hydrated
- Put on music – Colour in a colouring book – Have a cup of camomile tea
- Clean house – Listen to music/podcast – Put on a washing
- Get into pyjamas – Put on a movie – Have a glass of wine – Use face mask
- Do some yoga – Write a gratitude list – Meditate
The possibilities are endless which is why I love this system of practicing self-care. I can create plans I know I will use the most in my life by curating them to fit my preferences.
Using your self-care plan
Using your self-care plan is the best part of the experience. This plan is designed for you to use whenever you feel like it and have something you can fall back on when you need to take some time out and cater to your needs.
The go to self-care plan helps save a lot of time, plus it’s an easy process to go through, especially when you don’t feel like sorting out a self-care night and thinking up the activities on the spot.
How you create your plan and use it is completely up to you, that’s why it’s so special because it’s unique to your life and needs.
But the basics are figuring out a few activities that you enjoy doing to help fuel your needs. Putting them together on paper or in a graphic so you can easily access it and then referencing it when you just need to do something for you without thinking too much about it.
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I love this idea Jordanne! I’m going to be using this method for self care, a good idea for when I come home from work and want to relax. Thank you for putting this together and sharing.
Thank you Emma! I really hope that you enjoy creating your go to self-care plan 💜
This is such great advice for creating a self-care plan, I never really thought about creating one for myself but I really want to now! x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
It’s kind of weird that when talking about self-care first things that come to mind are expensive treatments and we dismiss that self-care doesn’t have to be a luxury spa day – it can be a walk in the woods, candlelight bubble bath at home. It just means the time you take to take care of yourself or to be by yourself. Sometimes all I need to recharge is to step outside and just be in the silence. It’s great that you are spreading the word of these simple options.
Emotional, mental, and social ones are the ones I am already doing but I somehow cannot start the physical ones. I feel like 24 hours a day is not enough to squeeze everything in.