My Self-Care Checklist – And How To Make Your Own

Well hello there, I have returned from the abyss. Since returning home from America, I’ve started a new job (!!!) and am nearing the end of my second week, hence the silence around here.

I’m back to re-discovering the work-life balance and as a result my blog has slipped a little bit. For the moment, I’m going to try my best to upload as much as I can but not put myself under any pressure, ’cause that’s not fun, is it?

As I mentioned in my last post, looking after my mental health is a priority for me for the rest of the year. I want to be my best self in body and in mind (not sure where this gal came from tbh) and I often let things slip around this time of year. The dark days mean I just want to wrap myself into a burrito blanket, eat biscuits and drink tea until March comes rolling around. As a result, my mood usually slips and I’m determined not to let that happen this year.

While planning my week last Sunday I came up with the idea of a simple self-care checklist to use as a marker for each day. As you’ll see, the things on the list aren’t major or groundbreaking, but they can have such a huge effect on how I feel each day. I thought of the basic things I can do each day that will help to keep me in a good mood and headspace, so no matter whether it’s a crazy busy day or a lazy Sunday, I can achieve them.

Sometimes self-care is making an online order, having a bath or going out with your friends until 3am, but it’s the small things that build a solid foundation for how you feel day-to-day.

My self-care checklist consists of:

Take a break from social media in the morning

…Just while I get out of bed and eat my breakfast. I couldn’t stay off my phone all morning, but even going without it for the first 5 or 10 minutes of my day gives me a chance to wake up before consuming 5739 Instagram posts and Whatsapp messages.

Use my time commuting doing something I enjoy

It takes about an hour for me to get to work and I want to make use of that hour the best I can. Whether that be listening to a podcast, reading a few pages of a book or writing a blog post, I want to spend that hour doing something I enjoy, which in turn will give me good start for the rest of the day. Sometimes I just want to sit and scroll on my phone, but I want to make sure that I’m actually *enjoying* scrolling and not just doing it for the sake of it, yano?

Drink water throughout the day

As much as I’d love to live off Diet Coke and coffee, water is what clears my head and keeps my energy levels up. I haven’t been great at this so far, but I want to keep a bottle of water on my desk to sip on throughout the day and fill up as needed.

Eat a good lunch

I’m not the kind of gal who skips meals, but sometimes the day goes by and all I’ve eaten is oat cakes and hummus. The result is a very grumpy, tired Amy who wants to eat one thousand donuts. I’m going to try my best to bring in lunch that isn’t just a sad sandwich and make proper food that will give me energy.

Go to bed early

I loveeeee to sleep and promise myself every morning that I’m going to have an early night… and then each night I get a surge of motivation and decide to clean my room/solve the world’s ailments. Then the next morning I wake up exhausted and do the same thing all over again. Who’s with me? I’m going to try to have a set time for going to sleep and get into a routine so that I don’t feel like I need a gallon of coffee to survive.

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It literally took me about two minutes to put together my checklist because all I had to think of was what basic things I need to function well as a human being and not merely exist, yano? So if you’re thinking of making your own list, try look back at the past week and see where you feel things could improve.

Ironically, it’s now 10:30pm and I was supposed to be in bed by 9:30pm so I’m off – goodnight!

[PS – I’m sorry these photos aren’t the best, I had to rush getting them done before it got dark!]