This past week was one of those weeks that just absolutely kicked my butt. I had several assignments that were due, a paper to finish, a bunch of things to figure out for work–the list goes on. Toward the end of the week, I was just feeling really drained and not like myself. I felt disorganized, disappointed, stressed, and emotional. Now that it’s the weekend, I’m planning to really dive into some self-care. Self-care looks different for everyone, but I want to share some of the parts of my personal self-care routine that really help me get back to feeling motivated and positive for when Monday comes around again.
Because I’m a very visual person, something that I always find comforting and motivating are YouTube videos. These can be videos of people’s own productive routines, speed-cleaning videos, meal prep ideas, etc. Some of my absolute favorite YouTubers to watch when I’m in need of that kind of content are Brittany Vasseur, Kalynn Nicholson, and Rachel Talbott. These YouTubers have made videos such as, “My Productive Morning Routine & How I Plan!,” ”My Sunday Routine | how I prep for the week,” and “4 Easy Tips For A Clean And Fresh Home – Clean With Me.” Whether I have the video playing on my laptop or phone while I’m puttering around, or I’m watching it before I go to sleep, these are exactly the type of videos that inspire me to get back on track.
I love everything beauty related, so I try to take some time to do all the little beauty things I don’t do regularly. These can include giving myself an at-home mani/pedi, whitening my teeth, doing a face mask, and just generally giving myself some extra pampering that I don’t have time to do during the week. When I take the time to pamper myself like this, I always feel refreshed and rejuvenated.
I’m one of those people who enjoys cleaning because I love having an uncluttered and tidy space. When I’m busy during the week, clothes, receipts, and other random items tend to get thrown around my room. During the weekend, I like to take the time to clean up my space and put things back where they belong. Other cleaning that I do during the weekend includes doing laundry (especially bedding!), washing and putting away the dishes, and taking out any trash that’s piled up. I always feel significantly better when my living space is fresh and clean.
Sometimes there are other small tasks that I haven’t gotten to do throughout a busy week, so I like to take the weekend to go ahead and get those done too. This can consist of cleaning out emails, responding to texts, making phone calls, and even updating my computer or phone. These are things that I think tend to get away from us when we’re constantly on-the-go, and it helps to just sit down and sort out everything that may have built up.
Weekends are also the time for me to plan ahead for the next week. I love keeping my whiteboard calendar hung up in front of my desk, so I can see everything that I have going on. I also keep events on my phone calendar, just so I always have quick access to it. However, when you write out your calendar at the beginning of the month, there is, of course, a chance that things will change or new events will come up. I like to double check both of my calendars and make sure I’ve done any adding, editing, or removing of events that I need to do. This is also a great time to create a new to-do list for the upcoming week, just so you’re aware of what tasks need to be done.
Sometimes I have a busy weekend planned and I’m not able to do as much self-care as I’d like. While I’m still learning how to tackle weekends like this, I think it could be beneficial to at least do a few smaller self-care things that I know I have time to do. Doing a little bit of self-care is so much better than doing none at all. And again, while my self-care routine may be based around planning, cleaning, and pampering, yours may be taking the time to work on your art, going for a run, or baking. I think it’s important to take note of what tasks/hobbies make you feel good, implement them into your life as much as you can, and definitely take advantage of using your free-time to practice self-care without feeling like you need to be doing something productive instead (which is also something I still need to learn too!)