These are the 11 self-care habits that changed my life.
I'm an amazing bitch and I know it.
Welcome back to yourself.
My name is Sheer and I'm so happy you are here.
This is the podcast where we listen to the voice of our higher self
rather than the voice of our ego and move from a place of love rather than fear.
So let's get into it.
Today we are talking about the 11 self-care habits that changed my life.
Some of these habits are daily habits and some of them are weekly habits
but really it's the practice of including these things in my life
that has changed my outlook, changed my mindset, changed my state of mind
and this really just keeps me in alignment so let's get started.
The first self-care habit is sleep.
Now this has subcategories like the time I go to sleep, the amount of sleep I get,
what I do when I go to sleep, like having a nighttime routine is very helpful.
Even if it's just brushing your teeth and turning off the light, keeping the room cool,
I like to listen to a meditation while I sleep and sometimes keeping it silent is also very nice.
But for those nights when my mind is really restless or when it's just really hard for me to slow down my thoughts,
I like to listen to a meditation to focus my energy and thinking on something specific and calming
and that also really helps me get to sleep and stay asleep.
I am still working on this but it's also very helpful to fall asleep at the same time every night
and wake up at the same time every morning.
So that is definitely something I'm working on, a habit I'm looking to strengthen,
but just something to keep in mind as far as the sleeping habits go.
Now one of the most impactful parts of my sleeping habits is waking up to a nice alarm.
I know that for iPhones the default alarm is very jarring and waking up to that alarm every morning
starts my day on a really stressful note right away and I don't appreciate that.
So what I like to do is choose an alarm that I don't mind waking up to.
Definitely not a song that I like because that will get old very fast and ruin the song.
But if it's like a nice little jingle, that's the vibe.
So I really recommend to find a nice calming sound to wake up to every morning
and bonus points if it can start quiet and slowly increase in volume.
That's really much nicer to wake up to and starts my day off on a much calmer note.
The second habit is to brush my teeth with my non-dominant hand.
So I am right-handed and when I brush my teeth normally I just use my right hand
and it's a very automatic system.
So Joe Dispenza talks about how if we continue to do things in autopilot like waking up to the same sound,
getting out of the bed on the same side of the bed, walking over to the bathroom,
using the bathroom, brushing our teeth with the same arm every day, that is living in the past.
And this is a habit that is ingrained in our brains at this point.
So to create new habits we need to create new neural pathways
and one way that you can do that is to start brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand.
And this also opens the door to the subconscious especially when you have just woken up and you're still in that theta brainwave state.
Your subconscious mind is most accepting of change in that theta brainwave state
which we get into as we fall asleep and as we're waking up.
So that's why I like to listen to meditations while I'm falling asleep
and I like to do affirmations when I wake up.
So once I finish brushing my teeth with my non-dominant hand,
I like to think of this as opening the door to my subconscious mind.
And this is when I will do affirmations and I will also do EFT tapping while I'm staying those affirmations.
Because EFT tapping is the emotional freedom technique that is usually used for acknowledging difficult emotions
and allowing them to be released from your body.
And it can also be used to ingrain affirmations into your subconscious.
So if I do wake up with something on my mind, the first thing I will do is acknowledge what's on my mind
and shift the thoughts from downstream to upstream.
And I will do that while I'm tapping.
So let's say I'm really stressed out about something at work.
I will begin with tapping like I'm really stressed out about this situation at work.
I think this situation is very difficult and I feel like it has a really bad outcome.
I am going to challenge that belief right now and choose again.
I'm going to choose a neutral thought.
This situation is difficult at work and I can handle it.
No matter what happens, I am okay.
I am safe.
I am able to handle anything that comes my way.
So even though I feel stress about this situation at work, I feel full faith in myself and my ability to handle the situation.
I'm ready to release this stress about this situation and step into faith and joy and calm for the day.
So if I am feeling stressed, that's how I would start the affirmation EFT session just by validating the stressors that I have so that I can release them and move forward into a more aligned mental state.
And then I go into my affirmations.
So if I am not feeling stressed and I'm feeling very neutral, very calm, then I just do the affirmations which go something like, I am grateful.
I am abundant.
I am powerful.
I am worthy.
I am healthy.
I am happy.
I am wealthy.
I am loved.
Now these affirmations might sound cheesy, but they also get less cringy as we believe it and as we allow ourselves to receive it.
So if that's not your vibe, that's okay.
You know, as with anything, take what resonates and leave the rest.
But this is what I do.
And I can tell you that that has made a really nice change to the way that I start my days.
It helps keep me in a more positive head space and it allows me to release any lingering negative thoughts from the previous days.
The third self-care habit that changed my life is getting dressed every day and doing my hair and makeup.
I don't always do my hair and makeup, especially now that I'm going into the office.
I normally just do my hair and makeup for the days that I go into the office, the days I'm going out on a date and when I film my podcast.
And I do notice that on those days, I do feel better.
I feel my best when I put a little bit of effort into my appearance and also on days that I experiment with my appearance.
Because it's just fun to get creative and see yourself in a different way than you normally do.
This really started during COVID because I was in sweatpants all day long.
And I was getting tired of feeling like I wasn't going anywhere.
And I decided that just because I'm not physically going anywhere doesn't mean that I can't dress up and dress like I'm going somewhere.
Because I also remembered that when I was very young, I loved playing dress-up.
We used to have trunks full of old dance costumes and throughout middle school, I would have friends come over and we would play dress-up with those costumes.
It was always such a fun time.
And so once I started reconnecting with that part of myself and allowed myself to play dress-up again, even if it was just for me being around the house,
that helped improve my mental state as well.
And I like to think that that's self-care.
The fourth self-care habit that changed my life is journaling about gratitude.
So journaling in general is incredibly helpful, especially if you do like a morning pages brain dump where like from the book The Artist's Way,
talks about how when you wake up in the morning, you can release all of your thoughts out from your mind onto a piece of paper.
So it's out of your body.
And this leaves space for other feelings that those thoughts were covering up, you know, and these feelings could be good feelings.
They could also just be calm.
They could be nothing.
They could be calm feelings.
But with other thoughts on top of them, for me at least, that definitely made it harder for me to feel calm.
So journaling thoughts that I'm having, if I am having negative thoughts, I will journal about those first just to acknowledge them, let them out.
And then I choose again and shift the thoughts from upstream to downstream.
And I like to finish with journaling about gratitude.
And I also do this when I don't have anything specific to journal about.
If I just want to check off journaling for the day, I will journal about things that I'm grateful for.
And this can really just be a list of five to ten things that you are grateful for.
You can even start with one.
Like if you're having a really hard time coming up with something, you can start with one.
I can give you some examples.
You don't have to list big things that you're grateful for.
You can.
And if you're not there yet, you will get there.
But you can also start with little things like, I'm grateful for iced coffee.
I'm grateful for pretty sunsets.
I'm grateful for pretty flowers.
I'm grateful for weekends.
I'm grateful for a good night's sleep.
These things can be small and honestly, noting gratitude on things that are small helps you notice more small things that you can be grateful for.
And that's a really beautiful way to be moving throughout life.
The fifth self-care habit that changed my life is meditating.
I am still working on meditating every single day.
Right now I'm meditating semi-consistently, I would say like a few days a week, which even that is so helpful.
And you don't have to meditate for a long time.
You can meditate for literally five minutes.
Sitting still is just one of the most helpful ways to stay calm.
And I really understand how people can find it difficult to sit still and they think that they're doing meditation wrong.
If they do sit still and they have a million thoughts come up, but that's actually the work.
That's exactly what it is, is sitting still, letting thoughts come up and letting them pass like clouds in the sky.
Because that's essentially all thoughts are.
They are just passing pieces of information in the sky.
That's what emotions are too.
They're just passing pieces of information in the sky.
They come and they go.
And when we take five minutes to sit still and let the thoughts come up and not judge them, just notice them and let them pass.
And then come back to the breathing.
That is meditation.
That is everything.
So if you are open to meditating, if you've been thinking about it, or if you've done it before and you think that you did it wrong,
I'm here to tell you that you cannot do meditation wrong. The simple fact of you sitting down and intending to meditate for at least five minutes.
You can even start with one. You can start with two.
Sitting down to meditate at all is the work.
So that is definitely a big habit that has improved my mental state and keeps me in alignment.
The sixth self-care habit that changed my life is working out.
I feel like I've talked about this in every episode so far and I might continue to do so because working out has such an incredible impact on mental health.
It doesn't even have to be going to the gym and lifting weights. It can be and that's also really fun.
It makes me feel very powerful and very strong and empowered and I love that.
But I also love slowing it down and just going for a walk or doing some yoga or getting a burn through Pilates.
There's so many ways that you can move your body and release emotions and release endorphins that help you feel better.
And I just cannot recommend it enough.
I mean, truly even just going for a walk or walking up and down the stairs, that could also be incredibly impactful to your mental health.
And you also get physical benefits from it too, which are also very, very awesome.
The seventh habit is conscious content consumption.
So I noticed when I was listening to a lot of Murder Mystery podcasts, I was living in a constant state of heightened anxiety.
And it was not necessary.
You know, I'm well aware of the dangers of being a woman in today's society.
I don't need to listen to hours of stories of women my age or women my friends or sisters or mothers ages.
Like, I don't need to listen to stories about them going through incredibly traumatic, scary, stressful situations.
Because then I do end up thinking about it all day.
And even if I'm not consciously thinking about it, my body remembers those feelings that I felt when I was listening to it and those are lingering around all day.
And I don't want that.
I do recognize that I am a highly sensitive person.
So this might not affect other people quite the way it has affected me.
But if you are also a highly sensitive person, then I so strongly recommend to look at the content that you have been consuming and ask yourself if you can be consuming more neutral or even positive content.
And see how you feel when you change the content you consume.
So some examples for content you can consume are music.
I love Taylor Swift. Love Taylor Swift.
And I also love sad songs.
Like, I just, I love sad songs. I love breakup songs.
But I don't want to be in that headspace, you know?
I want to be happy.
I want to be hopeful about the relationships that I have in my life.
And I do still listen to the sad songs and to the breakup songs, but I listen to them in moderation and I prioritize listening to high-vibed music, positive affirmation music.
And I notice that those songs are the ones that get stuck in my head.
And it's so much more fun to have lyrics like, I'm an amazing bitch and I know it.
Stuck in my head rather than like something about not being good enough.
I think it goes without saying. It's just a much nicer feeling to have positive music stuck in my head rather than something that could bring you down.
But again, that might not be the case for everybody, but it is absolutely the case for me.
Some artists that I prioritize listening to are Queen Herbie. Love her.
Tony Jones. Also love her. And Chris and Teep. Excellent.
I can also include a list of my favorite songs in the description, so you're welcome.
I cannot wait to hear your thoughts on these songs. If you do listen to these, please leave a comment and let me know what you think and which ones were your favorite.
And I also prioritize listening to positive podcasts.
I don't listen to Murder Mystery podcasts anymore as interesting and attention-grabbing as they are.
I now listen to positive podcasts that they are more centered around self-help and self-awareness, but that's my vibe.
So I'm not upset about it. Some that I really like are Dear Gabby.
Date Yourself Instead and Self-Obsessed.
These are probably my top three podcasts right now that I'm cycling through every week, and I so strongly recommend.
The eighth self-care habit that changed my life is keeping a clean and tidy space, because I notice that for me, when I do have a lot of clutter in my space, it is because I have a lot of clutter in my mind.
So it kind of ends up being a cycle where I have my space that has a lot of clutter, and then I don't think is clearly, and then that leads to more clutter.
But it also started because I got a lot of clutter in my mind that I didn't sit with, that I didn't journal about, that I didn't clear and tap through, and then it led to me cleaning less, creating more clutter, and then that also ends up creating more clutter in my mind.
So when I do take a moment to clean my space, I notice that even just having a chores routine has been very helpful for my mental health, and it also gives me something to look forward to every day to have a clean space at the end of the day.
The ninth self-care habit that changed my life is creating art. Humans create. That is what we do. We think, we ideate, and we create.
So I do notice that when I spend time creating art, I am so much more in alignment. My vibration is so much higher, and I just, I'm much happier when I do that.
Even if it doesn't turn out well, you don't have to be good at art to create art. Let's just say that right now. You do not have to be good at art to be creating art, and you don't have to be good at art to enjoy creating art.
It's just the process, and it's fun. And who is even telling you you're not good, because the only person that should be judging that is yourself. And I hope you're being nice to yourself.
And if you are being judgmental about your art, you can at least compliment your effort and the time you took to sit down and create.
Some ways that I like creating art are filming and making videos, pottery, crochet, painting, drawing, doodling. I just really love art. I've always loved art.
I remember I took all of the art classes offered when I was in high school. I took ceramics, photography, drawing, painting, and it's just, you don't have to be good.
It's just for fun. You know, like, I don't post most of the art I make. I do film a lot of it, but I end up not even posting it for one reason or another.
But you don't need to make art for anyone but yourself. The point of art is just to make art. That's it.
It has been such an impactful habit for my life, because I actually disconnected from painting for a few years.
Like, I only painted when I was on vacation, so I ended up painting once a year. I would lock myself in a room.
I would paint until the painting was done, only leaving to use the bathroom and get more water.
And sometimes I would paint for, like, eight hours before I went back out and rejoined my family.
And that was always one of my favorite days of the trip, because I got to just get lost in the painting.
And then I didn't take trips for a little bit, and then I ended up not painting at all for a few years.
And I remember it was just a couple years ago, like, literally just two or three years ago, that I started painting again intentionally
and reconnecting with all these different forms of art that I like to do, and my mental health just improved so much.
And so I really strongly recommend, even if you're not an artsy person, if you can experiment with some kind of creation,
that could be very fun for you. And the whole point of life is to be having fun, right?
So I really recommend to prioritize creating some kind of art.
The tenth self-care habit that changed my life is constant learning.
So we can be learning about new hobbies. We can suck at these new hobbies and then improve these skills over time.
Some hobbies that I have that I may or may not be sucking at, but I'm definitely enjoying learning and improving are the podcast.
I'm working on my fitness with dance, with yoga, with Pilates, and I also really enjoy self-help books.
These are all hobbies that I feel like I'm always learning in these.
I'm always improving. There's always a next level to get to, and it's so much fun to have a goal to work towards that you enjoy and you're seeing progress on.
So constant learning. It also keeps things very interesting, and there's so much to learn in this world.
So we have plenty of options. And the eleventh self-care habit that changed my life is my two-done board.
This is a board that I keep. It's a white board, and I have all of these little magnetic pieces that have tasks written on them.
And every day I put up little tasks that I've completed, so this can be something like making the bed, doing my affirmations, doing duolingo, vacuuming, cleaning the litter box.
It ranges from things that I always do every day, like cleaning the litter box, to things that I don't do every day, like crochet.
This board shows me the work that I've done today. So even on days that I feel very lazy, that I feel like I didn't do much today, I still did things.
Even if it's just three to five things, I did something, and on days that I do feel productive, I can look back and be like, whoa, I did so much today.
No wonder I'm so tired. It also just keeps me on track to get all of my chores done, because I remember when I first moved into a place by myself,
there was just so many chores to do around the house to keep it clean.
And so this is actually how it started, was just to keep me on top of my chores.
And at this point, it has also kept me on top of my self-care habits and my art.
And I just really recommend doing this. It's also a fun little craft if you want to make it yourself.
So I really, really recommend having a two-done board to validate all of the little things that you do throughout the day, because whether you notice it or not, you do a lot.
These are the 11 self-care habits that changed my life. Please leave a comment below and let me know which ones you already practiced and which ones may be interested you that you would like to add to your routine.
I would love to know. And with that, thank you for listening to this episode of Back to Yourself.
Reach out to me on Instagram or TikTok at BackToYourselfPod and let me know what you thought of this episode and what you'd like to see in the next one.
Now go do something fun for yourself today. Bye!