Like many people, I have always found it difficult to practice habits of self-care on a daily basis. For the past couple of years, I have been trying to get into it by taking on new activities.
I started off with journaling every night, writing about the thoughts and feelings I experienced throughout the day. At first, I was enjoying it, but as time went on, I found myself only journaling because I felt guilty if I did not write that night.
Don’t get me wrong, I think journaling is an amazing way to look after yourself, however, it just wasn’t the right form of self-care for me.
After that fell through, I honestly did not think I had anything else going for me and I was pretty bummed that I couldn’t be like all the other happy and healthy self-care endorsing people.
Right when I felt like I was being run dry out of options, I realized that the whole time I was searching for a self-care activity, I was already taking part in one: skincare.
I’ve had a pretty interesting relationship with my skin, in the sense that, throughout my high school years, my skin was very on again off again; one day my skin looked great, but the next day I was breaking out all over my chin and around my nose.
It wasn’t until college that I began feeling fed up with the constant breakouts, so I did what any sane person would do: I asked my mom for help. Once I bought the products she recommended to me, I’m not kidding, my skin started to seriously improve.
I started washing my face every day and I guess since I was doing it so often, I didn’t realize that I was actually performing an act of self-care. When I realized this, I started really taking my time with my skincare and making sure I did it at least once a day.
Washing my face has allowed me to take time out of my days, especially my stressful ones, to do something that is not only relaxing, but also healthy for myself.
I have noticed that after a long day of school or just life in general, having my skincare routine to do always calms me down and allows me to reset.
Although I still do break out, sometimes just as bad as I did in high school, having a skincare routine has also allowed me to become more forgiving with my skin. I’ve come to terms with the fact that it’s okay to break out, our skin is not always going to be perfect.
Self-care does not always have to mean doing crazy acts of kindness towards ourselves because that can be a little unrealistic for some people, like myself. Sometimes all you need to do is take a few minutes and do something simple for yourself, like brushing your teeth, saying some quick affirmations, or even just washing your face.