How to Create an Exciting Self-Love Routine! (& Why You Need One)

This past week was a long work week. I felt overwhelmed trying to adjust to working life after spending much of the year in a more relaxed setting. Given that life can get quite overwhelming or busy once you start a new job or a new activity, I decided to set time to practice self-love routines in my day intentionally.

When that happened, I began to feel a lot better.

That’s what today’s post is about. How can we create routines in our day that allow us to connect and check in with ourselves? Being in a work setting with lots of people around you or constantly always in a doing state, can leave you disconnected from your body and your feelings.

When that happens, it’s important to create time to come back home to yourself. Not to disconnect with creature comforts like mindlessly watching Instagram or TikTok videos. I mean actually connect to you and be present with your inner world.

Let’s talk about how to make a self-love routine.

What’s a self-love routine?

A self-love routine is composed of practices throughout your day or week, or really any consistent basis, that allow you to engage in loving and compassionate behaviors to self.

Examples of this can be a 10-minute morning meditation, a mid-day walk/stroll alone to think, a nice warm bath when you come home, etc. It’s practices that you can do to come home to yourself. To connect and be present with yourself.

Having healthy self-love and self-compassion is known to promote greater feelings of well-being, not to mention decrease stress and anxiety.

Self-compassion yields a number of benefits, including lower levels of anxiety and depression. Self-compassionate people recognize when they are suffering and are kind to themselves at these times, which reduces their anxiety and related depression.

Harvard Health, from here

Why do we need a self-love routine?

Basically, self-compassionate practices in your self-love routine allow you to feel more regulated in your nervous system, more relaxed, and more at peace.

Creating good self-love routines allows you to reparent yourself by showing up for yourself often in a loving manner. It’s your body’s way of feeling safe and your way of telling your body that “I love you and I am able to take care of you now. You can trust me, and I’m here.”

Some additional benefits of a self-love routine include:

Better mental and physical health
Greater happiness
Stronger self-awareness
Increased motivation
More regulated moods

Photo by Jackson David on Unsplash

How can we create a self-love routine?

Self-love routines can vary in consistency but I think it’s important to have at least a few daily, weekly, and monthly habits for your self-love needs. Here are some ideas:

Daily:

Taking breaks during work. I like to do the pomodoro method of working for 50 minutes, then pausing for 10 minutes. During that 10 minutes, I get up, walk around, meditate for a little bit, or just play some happy music. It depends on my mood, and part of that 10-minute time is checking in on my body to see what it needs and then doing what it needs accordingly.
Journaling to myself. Journaling is like talking just to yourself and that’s great to build that relationship. It really helps you open up to yourself and emotionally connect, which is great for building a loving relationship with yourself. I try to journal both every morning and every night to check in on how I’m feeling or what happened that day.
Practice mindfulness. Allowing myself just be present with myself and just observe any feelings or thoughts that come up without any judgment. This helps bring more self-compassion to your life.
Fun! I also love to dance or do something that feels like a source of happiness in my life. I think laughing and smiling at least once throughout the day is necessary so this helps me love and connect to myself.

Weekly:

Go on a long walk in nature. Use this time to listen to your thoughts, connect to yourself, and just observe. This really can be a peaceful time alone. I love to sit by the beach and just relax by the water. It feels so loving and restorative.
Gratitude for the week. This can also be daily, but setting time to just write about what you are grateful for is so important. There are so many things we are blessed for and gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions and remember and relish their good experiences of the week.
Surround yourself with positive people. Whether that’s the happy hour or a good event or catching up on Saturday with a friend, it’s helpful to surround yourself with loving, positive people. Plus, you will feel more loved around loving people!

Monthly:

Inventory of your goals and interests. On a more monthly basis, you can do tasks that show love by organizing and setting yourself up for success. Also, doing a regular inventory of your goals can be a great way to show self-love, especially as you make sure these goals are your own and something you care about.
Focus on your internal values. Values become are decision-factors for what we do. You learn a lot about what someone does base on their value system. Focusing on your values and seeing how they are aligned or can be adjusted to align more with your life will allow you to feel more grounded and relaxed in your current environment. Plus, this promotes feelings of self-love! We are going to love and enjoy our lives more when they are aligned with our values since our values impact who we are!
Treat yourself or do something nice for yourself. You deserve it! At least on a monthly basis, do something that feels special and great for yourself. My job has a monthly budget for people to come together to do a nice social activity. Maybe you want to pamper or treat yourself? Or just go a considerate, loving action for yourself that you’ve wanted.

You got this!

Having consistent strategies for self-love via a self-love routine is so important for creating a more loving life. I’d recommend implementing consistent reminders as you begin to incorporate daily, weekly, and monthly self-love routine items. I’d also start slow, and slowly integrate into your life so that you don’t feel overwhelmed by new habits.

Remember, you matter. Building and cultivating a great relationship with yourself is incredibly important…even if it’s just 10 minutes a day in a bathroom break turned meditation session in your stall (hey I’ve gotten creative with self-love routines before).

Check out my free 21 days to self-love checklist here.

Self-love is critical and I hope this helped you think through your own self-love routine and what you want it to look like! Thanks for reading!

Feel free to share with someone who might benefit!

❤

Want to buy me a coffee? https://ko-fi.com/purposeistolove (I’d be very, very thankful! ❤)

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This post was previously published on medium.com.

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