30 Days of Self-Care Summary

Thank you so much for following #30daysofselfcare – I hope you found a handful of ideas that you’ve already tried or that you’re looking forward to trying out. Remember, you don’t have to do them all in one month. You don’t even have to do all of them. Just pick the ones that speak to you and maybe make a practice of doing them once or twice a month.

I’ve put them all together in this full 30-day compilation so you can bookmark it or save it somewhere to refer back to whenever you feel like you need a little pick-me-up.

Take care of yourselves!

graphic featuring 30 days of self-care suggestions

BONUS! Self-Care Day 31

Take Yourself on a Date

self-care graphic: take yourself on a date

Just when you thought #30daysofselfcare was over, POOF! Day 31! Here’s a little bonus self-care tip. Take yourself on a date. I learned about this tip from Julia Cameron’s book “The Artist’s Way” – as a tool for helping boost your creativity. She called them an Artist Date, but you can call it a Vet Tech Date or a Nurse Date or a Tired Mom Date, or whatever makes you happy.

Take a little me time. Find a way to get away for an hour or a whole afternoon. It doesn’t have to be an expensive date. Take yourself to a museum or art show. Go to your favorite cafe. Go for a walk in your favorite park. Treat yourself to lunch at your favorite restaurant.

The key is to do it by yourself. And don’t let it turn into a date with a bunch of errands. Try to do it on a day when you’re not in a rush to get back to work. Just take some time for yourself to do something that brings you a little peace, joy, or relaxation.

Where do you plan to take yourself for your date?

Self-Care Day 26

Buy Yourself Flowers or a Treat

self-care buy yourself flowers

Who doesn’t love receiving a special treat? Who doesn’t like waiting until special occasions like birthdays, holidays, or anniversaries to get special treats?

You don’t have to spend a ton to treat yourself. Maybe you spot a pretty bunch of daisies at the grocery store, or you stop and get a single rose from the flower shop. Take a little side trip to your favorite specialty chocolatier and get a couple of sweet treats. Go to a local artisan shop and treat yourself to a handmade treasure.

Invent your own special occasion! Maybe you’re celebrating getting some of the trickier self-care tips done! You deserve a little treat.

Self-Care Day 25

Print Some of the Photos on Your Phone

In our house, we tend to read/watch a fair amount of dystopian fiction (no, not just the nightly news). One of the themes I’ve seen come up a few times is when there’s no power, a character is carrying around a dead cell phone just hoping for a chance to look at a photo of their loved one again.

While I’m not saying that we’re headed for a dystopian future (fingers crossed), how many happy memories or fantastic photos of loved ones do you have that only exist on your phone, computer, or up in the cloud?

Pick a few this week and get them printed! If you have a decent home printer, you can usually get some photo printing paper and check the printer for photo printing settings. Remember One Hour Photos? They still exist in a more digital format. Many department stores and drug stores have kiosks where you can print your photos. If you want to get really fancy, there are specialty printers just for printing from your phone.

You can frame them relatively inexpensively with frames from a craft store or even a dollar store. Put them on your fridge with magnets. Display them in your office. Get a photo album! Put them somewhere where seeing them makes you smile!

Self-Care Day 19

Create a Bucket List

How many of you have an actual written/typed-out bucket list? Or are you like me, where “things I’d like to do sometime in this lifetime” just sort of rattle around in your head and maybe you remember them, maybe you promptly forget them?

Writing down your dreams and goals can be an important step in actually accomplishing them. Plus, you won’t forget to watch for the opportunity to check that item off your list. If it’s randomly floating around in your brain, you’ll probably only remember it at weird times when you can’t do anything about it. 🙃

Like your accomplishments list, your bucket list can be as simple or as fancy as you like. Add another page to the file on your computer, grab a new color sticky note, or whip out all those scrapbooking tools you got!

However you do it, just get them written down where you can see them occasionally and remind yourself what you’re working so hard for!

Self-Care Day 17

Make a List of Your Accomplishments

I kind of love this idea. Maybe you just write it on a Post-It Note, type a list on your phone or computer, create a resume of your greatest hits, or even get super fancy and make something with colored paper and embellishments.

Take a moment to think about what you’re proud of about yourself. Did you win a spelling bee when you were a kid? Get a ribbon at a science fair? Learn to kayak or ski? Graduate? Have children? Travel? Accomplish goals? Win a Major Award? Anything goes!

If you’re prone to feeling imposter syndrome about your current career or passion, make a list of everything you accomplished to get there. Training, education, hard work, sweat, glory. If you’re stuck ask a friend or family member for ideas!

Keep that list (or lists!) around in case you’re feeling in a funk. Remind yourself why you’re badass.