As part of my mental health resolutions, I wanted to set aside some time each week to spend alone. I feel like I’m constantly working and even though I enjoy what I do, I still need some time to step back, relax, and unplug for a bit.
Wednesday
I’ve decided to have some “me time” on Wednesday nights. I chose this night for a couple of reasons.
- It’s the middle of the week so it should serve as a nice break
- My sister and I alternate days cleaning from dinner and Wednesdays are her night – so, I have no “responsibilities” that night
My goal is to have some time for myself for an hour or two… or maybe three. At least an hour – that’s what I’m aiming for.
Of course, at the time of writing this post, the eight-year-old I babysit has horseback riding on Wednesdays now. This means I’ll get home late on Wednesdays and by the time I eat dinner and shower I might be ready for bed. So, we’ll see how this actually goes.
I’ll be flexible though. I can change my day to Thursdays or something. I’ll plan on Wednesdays but take it as a week-by-week basis.
Anyway, how did I do this?
I made a list
First, I made a list of some self-care activities I’d like to do. In case you would like to steal any of these ideas, here they are:
- Take a bubble bath
- Organize Pokemon cards
- Color/Draw
- Journal
- Listen to music and/or create a new Spotify playlist
- Listen to a podcast
- Create a mood or vision board
- Create an aesthetic for one of my novels or characters
- Read
- Play video games
- Jigsaw puzzles
- Legos
- Veg with a movie/YouTube/Twitch
- Declutter or organize something
- Learn something new
- Retail therapy
- Create a collage or scrapbook
- Puzzles (Sudoku, word searches, etc.)
- Craft
Some of these activities might sound a bit weird. Organizing Pokemon cards? I have a ton. I’ve been collecting them since I was a kid and still do. Organizing them has always been therapeutic for me.
Reading and playing video games? I know, these are sort of considered “work” since I write reviews on a few different websites for these. But I still enjoy them and want to spend some time reading books and playing games I want rather than playing or reading something for the sake of a review.
Declutter or organize? I love cleaning. Cleaning is therapeutic for me and decluttering something will make anyone feel good, especially if it’s something that’s been building up for a while.
Learn something new? I have too many things I want to try or learn about. This is a great way to improve myself and focus on something else for a little bit.
Legos? Legos are fun.
Retail therapy? I actually never buy anything for myself. I’m a saver – which is a good thing – but I want to splurge on myself once in a while. Will I spend hundreds of dollars in one week on myself? No. I just want to buy something nice for myself, that’s all.
Only 19?
Yes, only 19. I couldn’t think of anything else. So, what I did was write each activity down on a strip of paper three times. Three of the activities I wrote four times. So, I have 60 total inside a mug.
If you come up with anything else I could do, I’d love to hear it.
Considering I get home around dinner and (at this time) it’s pitch black outside around dinner and also (at this time) we’re still in a pandemic, I had trouble coming up with things to do outside of the house.
They’re in a mug on my desk
After making the list, I cut strips of scrap paper (colorful paper, of course) and write each activity on one. As I said, all activities are written three times and a couple of them are written four times.
I folded them and stuck them in a mug. I was going to steal a mason jar from my kitchen but I have quite a collection of mugs on my dresser and in my dresser drawers (because I have no room for them but I cannot part with them). So I took one of those mugs and now it’s my Self-Care Mug.
As I said, I don’t know if it will be every single Wednesday but I’m going to do my best to set aside time – even if it’s just an hour – every single week. I need this and I think it will help a lot in the long run.
Do you add “me time” to your routine? What do you do for self-care? Let me know in the comments below!
