Let’s be honest with ourselves. We oftentimes find our emotional wellness coming in second to our social lives, our schoolwork and our jobs. The reason for this is because friends, school and work have concrete, scheduled days and times planned out for when we need to attend to them. To make our emotional wellness a priority, we need to make a concrete emotional wellness plan.
All you need to create this plan is a piece of paper, some colorful pens, knowledge of things you like to do to express your emotions and some tape to hang your plan on an easy-to-see wall.
A couple of months ago, I used the outline of my physical wellness plan to make an emotional wellness plan for my friend who was going through a rough patch. Together, we outlined the days of the week and wrote in different things she could do each day that she enjoyed and would give her an emotional and mental break from her daily challenges. Making an emotional wellness plan is this simple.
Let’s make one together! Follow my step-by-step process to make the plan that will help you de-stress, become in-tune with your emotions and take emotional care of yourself.
- Materials
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Grab a piece of paper and some colorful pens, markers, crayons or pencils. If you prefer to type your plan and print it, that works too. I will be using colorful pens and a blank white sheet of computer paper, so I have a lot of room to make the page my own. Also, physically writing things down helps me make my plans more concrete.
- Title
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Write the title “Emotional Wellness Plan” at the top of the page in a colorful pen. Spice it up! Add some decorations surrounding the title. Make sure it stands out to you — you’ll be looking at this plan every day!
- Days of the Week
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Write the days of the week going down the side of the paper in a colored pen. Make sure the days are spaced out evenly with room in between to write down your emotional wellness tasks for each day. Depending on how many different colored pens you have, you can write each day in a different color. You can choose colors based on the emotional vibe you want to feel each day. For example, Monday is a bright, sunny and happy day for me because it is my fresh start for a new week. So, I am going to write Monday in yellow.
- Daily Wellness
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Brainstorm and write down different activities you like to do in the bullet-point form under the different days of the week. Be sure to have multiple activities that you can space out throughout the week so that these activities you usually enjoy do not become a bore or a chore. The little escapes you choose throughout the week can be anything you think of that brings you joy, allow you to feel and express emotions or allow you to de-stress.
I like to watch Netflix, so I am going to allow myself at least an hour of Netflix on both weekend days, as well as Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Watching Netflix allows me to cry, laugh and escape reality as I delve into the emotional experiences of the characters in the shows I watch. It helps keep me emotionally in-tune because I can experience so many emotions in such a short time. If I need a good cry during the week, I can opt to watch something I know will make my eyes well up.
Another thing I like to do is listen to music while driving my car. I am going to allot myself thirty minutes on Tuesday and Thursday to drive around in my car and listen to music. Singing along to different songs expressing different feelings allows me to find an emotion I’ve been needing to explore and focus on that. I also have the option to play a playlist with the emotional vibe I need to experience. If I feel inspired and am having a great day, I can listen to a playlist with “Girl Boss Energy.”
Writing is also an activity that helps me de-stress as I put all of my emotions on paper. So, I am going to allow myself 20 minutes on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday to write when I wake up in the morning and before I go to bed at night.
I love going on midday soda runs to Sonic because it gives me a break in my day, so I am going to write that activity in under Tuesday and Thursday. Giving yourself specific days and time slots to focus on activities you enjoy that help you stay emotionally in-tune will help you make your emotional wellness a priority.
- Decorate
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Now, you get to have fun decorating your emotional wellness plan – unless you don’t like to decorate. Then you can skip this step; make your plan your work of art, whatever that may mean for you! I take joy in using stickers, so I am going to use these cute seasonal stickers I have – and since it is spring, I am going to use the spring ones – and decorate my emotional wellness plan with them. In my opinion, decorating your plan allows it to be aesthetically pleasing enough for the final step.
- Hang on the Wall
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Don’t forget to hang your finished emotional wellness plan to your wall because seeing it every day is what will motivate you to take your breaks. It’ll remind you that your emotional wellness is just as concrete and important as school, work and your social life.