17 Self Care Tips for Women (with Examples)

You have your calendar scheduled for the day.

And you sit on your work desk at 9 sharp, as you had planned.

You open the docs attached to the calendar entry and are ready to work.

But instead of your fingers flying on the keyboard, you stare at the screen while your mind and body go numb. You don’t feel like doing anything.

You must finish the current task in time because you have an important client meeting scheduled after that. 

So you try to motivate yourself by reminding how important the meeting is. But still nothing comes of it!

To tell you the truth, a diligently scheduled calendar, starting work in time, having all the research done and having all resources accessible is no guarantee of getting the task done.

You must be in a sound mental and physical health to get anything done.

And to achieve sound mental and physical health, the first step is to intentionally care for yourself. Regular self-care and self-love go a long way in ensuring you achieve your goals without burning yourself out.

Here I give you 17 easy and doable self care tips.

#1. Accept flaws that stand in way of self care

On the journey of self care you must first promise to love yourself unconditionally. With all the flaws and limitations you possess.

If you cannot see your own flaws, ask those around you. People you can trust to be empathetic and loving.

Accepting your flaws strengthens your mind and equips you to face challenges and failure with grit and determination.

#2. Reading is a form of self care 

Reading for 30-60 minutes every day widens your horizons, exposes you to varied ideas and keeps your mind stimulated. You cannot experience everything first hand. That’s why you have books, so you can see and experience the world through others’ eyes. 

Fiction, non-fiction, newspapers, magazines, ebooks, newsletters. Read whatever you can lay your hands (and eyes too!!) on. 

Don’t limit yourself by reading only about what is related to your profession or passion. Read about people with interests and life conditions different to yours, you learn so much.

#3. Wake up 15 minutes earlier 

Yes, just 15 minutes earlier than your normal wake up time. I am not asking you to get up at 5 AM just because half the world thinks that is the ideal wake up time. 

You get to choose what is right for you according to your body clock.

When you wake up 15 minutes earlier, you get 105 minutes more during the whole week. Just imagine how much more time you will get during the whole year.

Now you cannot have any excuse that you do not have time for self care. Trust me, 15 minutes a day is good enough to start with.

#4. Develop a morning routine that helps in self care

XYZ once said, if you want to start your day right, try making up your bed just after getting up. I would suggest following it up with a morning routine that takes care of your physical, emotional and mental health.

Morning routine helps you ease into the day because you know exactly what needs to be done. You don’t move In a dazed state lost around the house considering what all you could do.

Depending upon when you get up, you might also be able to steal some quiet time That you can devote completely to yourself.

#5. Plan your days at least 12 hours in advance

I am a big fan of non-negotiables and you should be too if you are serious about personal and professional growth. Non-negotiables are activities that you must do every day, every week or any other regular interval you have set for them.

Self care activities should be part of your daily non-negotiables.

Planning your days in advance allows you to put in time for these self-care activities. Because trust me whenever you run out of time self-care activities tend to take a backseat and it’s our aim here to ensure they are top of your mind not relegated to some corner to gather cobwebs.

#6. Set self care goals that stretch your limits

When it comes to caring for ourselves, we tend to take the easy route.

If you are really serious about self care which you are if you are still with me, set self care goals that stretch your limits.

If you haven’t stepped out for a walk or run for a long time, Set a goal of 15 minutes walking every day.

#7. Seek feedback proactively 

Whether we care for ourselves or not, we all love ourselves. So we think that we are the best that we can be.

But there is always room for improvement.

Ask others around you what your better self would look like to them. Listen carefully and choose a couple of things you could work towards without too much burden.

#8. Choose one good habit and practise it

Select one good habit you have been meaning to acquire for a long time and practise it for 15 minutes every day. Include it in your calendar so that you do not forget. Of course, you must not snooze when the reminder sounds!

When you practise it regularly for 30–60–90 days, the habit will become a part of your life.

#9. Audit your environment 

Get rid of negative people around you and add things that induce positive energy in your environment. There are times when we cannot rid ourselves of the negative people. A job you cannot quit immediately. A partner or a family member you must live with. 

If that’s the case with you, try to include more people and activities that bring positivity. It’s simple maths, to counter negativity you must increase the positive component. And it works.

#10. Drop bad habits one by one

Did I ask you to pick up good habits earlier?

While you are building new good habits, you need to let go of the bad habits to compound the effect of new ones.

Picking up a new habit is easier than dropping a bad one because it is already a part of life. You need to keep reminding yourself to stop doing it when the urge takes hold.

Daily affirmations and journaling about the impact of quitting can help you in getting rid of the bad habits.

#11. Start journaling

Which brings us to an important tool in your self-care journey – journaling.

Journaling about your feelings and emotions and challenges helps you understand yourself better, which is always the first step towards self-care and self-love.

I typically journal on these aspects:

• How am I feeling today?
• What upset me in the last 24 hours?
• Am I meeting my financial and business goals?

For you it could be different, depending upon which area of your life you want to explore.

#12. Learn a new skill to grow professionally 

At the cost of repeating myself, I will say again that your personal and professional lives are intertwined. You cannot, and should not, separate them into silos.

If your professional life is not going satisfactorily, you will find it that much more difficult to love and care for yourself.

To grow professionally, keep learning new skills. Something as basic as learning to write efficient, impactful emails and their subject lines is sufficient.

It is more important to keep learning new things rather than taking up one huge skill that takes you ages to accomplish. 

#13. Pick up a hobby

A hobby is something that you are passionate about and love pursuing. When you are in your hobby hour or hobby zone, you are completely focused on doing the work at hand. This reduces stress and improves satisfaction levels.

Research has shown that those with a hobby are less stressed and happier.

#14. Get some physical activity

The hormones released by physical activity reduces stress, alleviates pain, induces a feeling of euphoria or happiness

#15. Get a self care accountability buddy

When you are working on your own – which is invariably the case when you are focusing on self care – you need an accountability buddy  to hold you to your stated goals.

It is better if your body is also focusing on self care so that you can swap notes and motivate each other.

#16. Be kind to yourself 

If you failed at something, it doesn’t mean you are a failure.

If something is lost, not everything’s  lost.

Your entire life can never depend on a single outcome. If it did, there is something grossly wrong with what you are doing and aiming to achieve.

So be kind to yourself when things are not going your way. Remember that you get to start afresh tomorrow. 

#17. Just Do It.

I have listed 16 simple ways of self-care till now, but this last one is the most important.

Do what needs to be done to care for yourself.

Just reading these tips and marvelling at how doable they are is not sufficient.

You need to actually get down to doing them.

Here is what I suggest. Pick 3-4 ways that seem most likely to succeed without disrupting your daily schedules. Practice them diligently till they become a part of your routine.

If something is not working out, give it some time. If it still doesn’t work out, replace it with some other method of self-care.