A self-care checklist includes thoughtful activities that will promote your physical, mental, and emotional health.
But how do you make a self-care checklist that fits your needs?
Here’s our list of 120 self-care examples along with a printable daily or weekly Self-Care Checklist PDF.
Now, the ball is in your court.
While self-care seems to be the trend since COVID-19 began, you’d be surprised at how few people actively practice self-care.
In early 2019, before the pandemic, a study ran by Kelton Global and Birchbox found several surprising statistics:
The study ends by sharing that only 30% of people in the US make time for self-care. But, of course, if we learned anything over the past years, it is to take more time for ourselves. Right?
A study by Samueli Integrative Health Programs saw improvement, with 80% of Americans saying that they’ll continue practicing self-care after the pandemic.
However, the most telling statistic is that 44% desired more guidance and support in their self-care. That’s where our daily or weekly self-care checklist PDF steps in.
Self-care, to some, may just seem like a walk in the park — literally. But, according to the Habits of Wellbeing founder, Jane Taylor, self-care is comprised of 8 individual areas, categories, or types of focus.
Seems like a lot, right? Don’t worry, it’s not so hard, and practicing self-care in all 8 of these categories will improve your life (and relationship) in so many ways.
We’ll take the confusion out of it and provide you with a printable Self Care Checklist for guided, daily tasks.
Even if you think your stress levels are under control, keeping tabs on your health is the most important thing you can do for yourself.
While it’s easy to identify big changes and stressors in your life (most commonly in your finances, career, and relationships), it’s harder to determine the smaller patterns that impact your daily or weekly life.
By staying connected with your health and feelings, it will be easier to manage stress and make a strategy for improvement.
While self-care is deeply personal, here are a few things to think about when setting up your basic self-care checklist:
A simple check-in is sufficient. If you don’t think you can spare more than 5-minutes a day on self-care, that’s fine. The point is to reconnect, rebalance, and refresh, not overwhelm yourself.
Self-care is a process, and it’s unrealistic to think that you’ll be able to complete your checklist perfectly every single day.
Instead, aim to practice self-care in each of the 8 areas at least once a month. You’ll eventually find the activities that you love the most (like reading a book before bed or calling a friend every Sunday) and stick to those.
Print the PDF Self-Care Checklist to create your own template with our list of 120 self-care ideas
A major reason why self-care is often left by the wayside is that people feel guilty doing it. Let us say it loud and clear: self-care is not selfish.
If you’re not in tip-top shape, then you can’t care as well for your family, friends, and coworkers.
If you’re still fighting this feeling, let whomever it is that is important to you — perhaps your partner or a child or parent you care for — that you need to take 15-minutes a day, every day at a certain time, to work on yourself.
They won’t say “no.”
Ultimately, self-care is simply taking care of yourself. So, there’s no need to overthink it.
If you’re already brushing your teeth and feeding yourself, then you’re covering the basics of self-care! Take this opportunity to consider your needs, your personal goals, and how various self-care activities will get you there.
