How to Create a Self Care Plan to Keep You Zen

You have a schedule for work, school, and other responsibilities, but what about a schedule for the things that fill up your cup?

With the busyness of everyday life, sometimes you become your last priority. But you can’t give from an empty cup.

Taking the time to take care of yourself and do things that make you feel good makes every other part of your life that much more enjoyable. Still, it can be hard to make time to do the things you know you should be doing. 

One way around that is to create a self-care plan. Sound like a lot of work? Once you get into the swing of things, you’ll be thanking yourself for putting in that little bit of planning to come up with self-care strategies that will keep you grounded.

Yes, Self Care Plans Exist! Here’s What You Need to Know

If you take thirty seconds to scroll through Instagram, chances are you’ll see the phrase “self-care” pop up at least once. But what exactly is it? 

Self-care is doing behaviors that positively affect your well-being including your physical, mental, and emotional health. This can include things like meditating, going to therapy, workout, and even skincare!

A self-care plan is using whatever tips and tricks work best for you and creating a rough schedule or game plan for how you’re going to squeeze in the activities that make you your best self. Coming up with a self-care management plan is also a huge buffer for stress.

Stress is one of the biggest factors that can impact the health of your skin. Creating a self-care plan can not only help give your skin a little extra oomf, but it’s also essential for your overall wellbeing.

It's important to note, though, a self-care plan is very particular to you. This means that while some activities and plans may work for one person, it may not work for you.

The best plan you can find to help improve your life is to create your own self-care plan. And good news: it's not as hard as you think it is to create one!

Let's dive into how you can easily put together your own self-care plan in just a few simple steps.

5 Steps to Creating A Calming Self-Care Plan

Ready to feel the best you can in every area of your life?

Let's dive into everything you need to do in order to create the best self-care plan to help keep the good vibes coming, even in times of stress and chaos.

Identify Your Current Habits & Stressors

The first step to keeping calm is to figure out what’s preventing you from getting there. What are the biggest sources of stress in your life? What habits do you have that could maybe use some tweaking? Take a second to write these down, be honest with yourself.

This could be things like…

• Pressure from work
• A difficult new project
• Health issues
• Family or friend drama
• Financial Strain

Getting clear on what’s messing with your energy gives you a chance to be real with yourself, and then figure out a game plan to help you deal with those problems head-on. 

What Brings You Joy?

Now let’s get a bit more positive, think about the things in your life that bring calmness and joy. I’m sure you have plenty. Write those down too!

Here are some of the things that may help you feel calm, joyful, and at peace:

• Your favorite products
• Your favorite water bottle
• A nap – catch those zzz’s! 
• Sustainable practices: Caring for the environment is another way of caring for yourself, and everything around you.
• Cuddling with your pet
• Laughing with your friends
• Spending time outside
• Spending time going through your skincare routine with your favorite playlist on

The list goes on and on, because around every corner you have an opportunity to experience more joy and calmness. The more you pay attention to what makes you feel good, the more you tend to seek out those experiences, instead of stressful ones. This can help break the stress cycle and make you naturally seek out self-care routine ideas and activities that boost you up. 

Coming up with this list can help get you started with some ideas for a self-care plan.

Match Your Self-Care Activities To Your Stressors

It’s one thing to know what your stressors are as well as your uplifting activities, it’s another to be able to match them up to customize your self-care management plan. With so many things on your plate, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed when everything starts to pile up. Stress has a tendency to feed itself, and sometimes take you to a place where you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.

That’s when it’s vital that you have an anchor. Something to lean on so that you don’t drown in a sea of stress. How do you create your own flotation device? Matching your stressors to specific self-care activities will help you feel grounded and like you're on top of the world again. 

It’s one thing to create a self-care plan, it’s another to actually do it. Not only do you then have a set plan for what to do in any given situation, but writing it down has another huge benefit. Writing things down has been proven to help with follow-through.

Putting pen to paper means you’re that much more likely to do the activities that you know boost you up. When you list out the things that you know help you, you can then connect them to the things that prevent you from relaxing. Does your work stress ease with a quick walk outside? Is a nap the answer to feeling ungrounded? Think about what specific self-care tools work in certain situations. 

Having this clarity will help you know what to do in a moment's notice when life feels like too much, or you just need a little extra bit of calm. Before you know it, you’ll start to get in the groove of knowing what you need at any given moment, without even having to reference your list. 

After this, you’ll have a map of what to do when a certain trigger hits or when a certain situation arises to address your self-care needs. You can even have this align with your holistic skincare routine. Skincare is self-care after all. Looking for some self care routine ideas? We’ve got you covered. 

Share Your Plans with Loved Ones

While self-care is a very personal, preventative measure for dealing with the craziness of everyday life, it's also important that you communicate your self-care goals and needs with those you see on a daily basis in order for them to help understand your needs and boundaries.

That's why one of the best self-care tools you can use is to surround yourself with awesome, supportive people in your life. Now that you’ve honed in on what your stressors and tools are, as well as matching them up to each other, it’s time to put your plan into action.

Pick one or two close friends or family members who you know will help keep you accountable, and to help you share the excitement of creating your self-care plan. Your loved ones have your back, they want you to be the best you that you can be.

Accountability helps keep us on track towards our goals, even if our goals are just to chill out a bit more!

When we’re having an intense moment, sometimes we need someone else to come in and say “Hey, what about your tools?”

They can help keep you on track and remind you that you’re not in this alone.

Not only can your loved ones help keep you on track, but you may also inspire them to up their self-care plan too! Friends holding each other up and inspiring each other makes the world go round. 

Plan Your Schedule to Include Self-Care Practices

You know why and how to make a self-care plan, now it’s time to put it into action. Think about your schedule. Are you someone who uses a planner? Do you have some sort of organization around your days?

Creating a self-care schedule can feel like a big task, but it actually creates space for you to have more calmness in your life and enhance well-being. 

Think about it like your skincare routine. If your skin is feeling irritated and neglected because you haven't been putting the time and energy into it, it's going to keep up that state. But, if you spend a little bit of time nurturing it each day, your skin (and mood) significantly improves!

When you make time for self-care you actually create more space in your life. Lower stress levels mean you tend to be more efficient, at ease, and have fewer random hiccups that interrupt your days.

What might a self-care plan look like in your schedule?

Here’s a self-care plan example to give you some inspiration:

• Step 1: Wake up, stretch, do a quick meditation.
• Step 2:  Have a healthy breakfast and get dressed – don’t forget your skincare routine!
• Step 3: Physical activity – this can be as simple as going for a walk or a quick YouTube Yoga routine in your living room.
• Step 4: Head to work!
• Step 5: Healthy dinner.
• Step 6: Do something you love.
• Step 7:  Relax in bed. You might journal or read a book.

That’s just one simple way to incorporate a self-care plan into your daily routine. Make it your own, let it be flexible, and leave plenty of time for hobbies and things that fill you up. 

Welcome to The New Zen You

As you move forward, add things into your self-care routine or leave them out as you see fit. Your needs change, and what works for you one month may not work the next, so be gentle with yourself and allow your plan to ebb and flow with your personal seasons.

While this may seem daunting at first, you’ll quickly get into the swing of things, and be able to add a little more to your plate.