We all know the drill. You wake up, drag yourself out of bed, shuffle through your morning routine like a zombie, and head off to work. You’re so busy taking care of everyone and everything else that you barely have time to take care of yourself. Sound familiar?
If you’re in dire need of some self-care, don’t worry—you’re not alone. In fact, you’re in good company. Research shows that most caregivers don’t take time for themselves. But the good news is that it’s not too late to change that. Keep reading to find out why you need a self-care plan and how to make one that works for you.
What Is Self Care?
Self-care is any activity that we do deliberately in order to take care of our physical, mental, or emotional health. Although it’s often seen as selfish, self-care is actually crucial to our well-being. When we neglect our own needs, we’re more likely to experience burnout, anxiety, depression, and even illness. And let’s be honest—we can’t pour from an empty cup. If we want to be there for our families, we need to make sure that we’re taking care of ourselves first.
Why You Need a Plan to Put Yourself First.
By having a solid plan, you’re more likely to actually stick to it and carve out time for yourself, even when life gets hectic. If we attempt to fit it in without structure then, it’ll never get done. Am I right? LOL!
Make a Self Care Plan Step by Step
1. Identify the areas that need improvement:
Think about the areas of your life that are causing you stress or negatively impacting your health. Check back to this post on categories of self care for ideas.
For example, if you’re struggling with anxiety, that would be in the mental health category. You might want to focus on activities that help reduce stress and promote relaxation.
Or if you’re trying to boost your energy levels that would be in the physical category. You might want to focus on activities that promote healthy sleep habits and physical activity.
Once you’ve identified the areas that need improvement, it’s time to assess how big of an impact they’re having on your life using a 1-10 scale…
2. Rate each area that needs improvement
Assess the negative impact that each category has on your life. This step is all about being honest with yourself. On a scale from 1 (low impact) to 10 (high impact), how much is each area impacting your life?
For example, if poor sleep quality is causing fatigue and affecting your productivity at work, you might rate it an 8 or 9. Or if unhealthy eating habits are leading to weight gain and low energy levels, you might rate it a 6 or 7…
And YES, please write this down in a notebook! Because we are kidding ourselves if we think we will remember any of this three weeks from now! LOL!
3. Set realistic goals
When setting goals for your self care plan, it’s important to be realistic. Don’t try to bite off more than you can chew. Start small and build up from there. Remember, the point of this exercise is to make your life better, not add more stress…
How to write goals:
In simple terms, it’s “WHAT” you want the end result to be. It could be that you want to be able to sleep 7 hours a night or be able to finish reading one fun book a month. It’s not the “HOW.” That’s the next step.
4. Make a plan of action
Now that you’ve set some goals for your self care plan, it’s time to put them into action. This is where you’ll decide “HOW” you’re going to achieve your goals. For example, if your goal is to get better sleep, your plan of action might involve going to bed earlier, cutting back on caffeine, and avoiding screens before bed. My preference is melatonin with a camomille tea chaser – hehe…
Your plan of action will likely involve some combination of lifestyle changes, mental health strategies, and relaxation techniques.
And if you still haven’t written anything down, then all those great ideas you have had the past three minutes will float away! Now go get a pen and paper! Pronto!!!
5. Hold yourself accountable
The final step in creating your self-care plan is holding yourself accountable…
One way to do this is to keep a self care journal or calendar. Every day, write down what steps you took to care for yourself. This will help you track your progress and see how far you’ve come.
I published my own self care journal. It has helped not only parents of special needs kids, but many others who needed more prompts to prioritize themselves. You can get it with this link on Amazon.
Adding an accountability buddy is another great way to get the job done. Using a combination of accountability strategies works amazingly well.
It’s important to remember that taking care of yourself is not selfish, it’s essential. So following this plan is a great way to start putting yourself first.
