8 Ways to Upgrade Your Self-Care Routine in 2022

8 Ways to Upgrade Your Self-Care Routine in 2022

Does the new year get you in the mood to make some changes? The idea of a fresh start is enticing, and the end of the year can be the perfect time to evaluate what’s working for you in your life and what you want to change in the year to come. Of course, not everyone likes making big changes at the new year (or sometimes people feel pressured to change by advertising and social media), so the idea of making a change now doesn’t sit right with everyone. If that’s the case, feel free to read over these suggestions and save them for a time when you are making a change. 

One impactful way to make a change is to reconsider and upgrade your self-care routine. The last two years have thrown a lot at us, and in turn it’s helpful to amp up the way we care for ourselves in these difficult times. 

Upgrading your self care routine can be as quick as putting reminders in your calendar to pick up your prescriptions or scheduling an appointment with a therapist. It can also mean reconsidering how you currently take care of yourself and letting go of practices that no longer serve you. 

Everyone is different, so everyone’s self-care practices and preferences will look different. It’s easy to get into the comparison game these days with everyone else’s highlight reel literally a click away, but try to focus on what you’re doing for you, not on what everyone else is doing. Even if someone’s life seems perfect, they undoubtedly have some stuff they’re dealing with behind the scenes. Your self-care routine should give you space to rest, relax, and rejuvenate, as well as feel creatively and emotionally fulfilled. 

As it happens, we have a ton of ideas for how to upgrade your self-care routine in the new year. Each suggestion leads to a more in-depth post on the topic so you can dive deep if you want to. Here they are:

Stop Comparing Yourself to Others

“When you’re constantly putting yourself up against someone else–out of either admiration or jealousy–you’re not seeing the other person as a full person. You’re only seeing the one thing that is provoking an emotional reaction out of you (a picture of their vacation, a post about their promotion, etc.). It can lead to jealousy, even resentment in your relationships.

Another way comparison can cause harm is the way it leads you to over evaluate yourself. While self awareness is good, like all things it needs moderation. Excessive self awareness and self evaluation will get you stuck in your head, overthinking, and preventing you from actually meaningfully engaging in the present.”

Work on Being Nicer to Yourself

“Self-compassion is being nice to yourself. The idea of self-compassion is drawn from Buddhism. Being kind to yourself might sound really simplistic, but it can be a lot harder than it sounds. Many of us have a voice in our heads that chimes in when we mess up. That voice is called the Inner Critic, and it can be hard to notice it sometimes. 

There are times when we’re so immersed in beating ourselves up that we don’t even consider that there’s another option. However, there is always another option. Being kind, gentle, and understanding to yourself is always a choice you can make, it just takes practice to remember that that’s an option.”

Get to Know Yourself Better

“Do you have to get to know yourself? It’s not required, but understanding yourself on a deeper level can increase your overall happiness, reduce the sense of inner conflict you feel, and help you feel more empowered. The better you know yourself, the better decisions you can make. 

You know what your boundaries are and what your needs are. You’ll be able to resist peer pressure or comparing yourself to others, because you’re confident that the path you’re on is right for you (and if you’re not on the right path, you’ll have a map to it when you understand yourself on a deeper level). Not only will it be easier to make decisions and exercise self-control when you get to know yourself better, but you’ll also feel more understanding toward others.”

Dedicate Time to Being Creative Regularly

“Creativity in any form helps us to express our feelings. Whether that’s through writing, singing, dancing, painting, sculpting, etc., creativity gives us an outlet to be freely vulnerable and authentic. 

Through art, music, movement, or other forms of expression we can start to unpack and understand our feelings, and what those feelings are telling us about ourselves, our needs, and our desires.”

Start Using Affirmations

“Research shows that using affirmations can essentially reprogram your mind. Instead of sticking with your old patterns of negative thinking and self-talk, affirmations teach your brain to make new connections. Getting into the habit of using affirmations can also help you get more familiar with the patterns in your day to day thoughts. When you notice what’s going on, you can do something to change it. 

Another great thing about affirmations is that you get to choose them. There are so many things about life that we can’t control and can’t change. One thing we can control is how we think. If you find negative thoughts and assumptions creeping in, you can choose to engage with them or not. You can decide to think about positive things to try to shift that negativity.”

Reparent Your Inner Child

“If growing up you didn’t feel safe and loved and listened to, then because of your inner child, there is still a part of you holding onto that fear. And that fear has likely affected your life as an adult–even though the experience was so long ago. As the adult you are now, you are able to identify what in your inner child needs healing, and then provide them with it. This is how you work as both parent and child within yourself. You are the child, hurting. And you are the parent, helping them heal. 

When you start building a life that makes your inner child feel safe and loved and listened to, you are able to let go of those coping mechanisms you used when you didn’t feel safe and loved and listened to. In this way, inner child work helps you reach the future you want by healing your past wounds.”

Tap Into Your Intuition

“Past experiences are all stored in our brains, and while we may not be actively thinking about them, our brain can access them when it needs to. It uses those past experiences and cues from our environment and our sense of self and all comes together to give us those gut feelings we call intuition. 

Your body and your brain can interpret your environment faster than you can, so when you get a “bad feeling” it doesn’t mean you’re overreacting or being “crazy”–it means that there is something there, some element of your environment that triggered that knowledge in the back recesses of your brain before you could piece it together yourself.”

Explore Spirituality

“At its core, spirituality is about connecting with your world. It’s about finding your values, and finding ways to live your life with them in mind. It’s about finding your purpose, your connection to others, your connection to the world around you. Spirituality, whatever form it shows up in, is how we make sense of the time we’re given in this world.

Spiritual wellness just means that you are asking yourself the question “What does it mean for me to be spiritually fulfilled?” and then doing your best to incorporate practices that help you achieve that fulfilment.”

What are you looking forward to in 2022? If you’re looking for more support as you shift your routines in the new year, talking with a therapist can help.

How Affirmations Can Help You Be Kinder To Yourself

How Affirmations Can Help You Be Kinder To Yourself

Are you nice to yourself? 

If you’ve never actively noticed the way you talk to yourself in your head, you might be surprised. You might think that you don’t send any kind of strong messages to yourself, but you may just not be tuned in. When you start noticing the things you say to yourself, you might find that you’re pretty hard on yourself. 

If it makes you feel better, it’s not all your fault! We live in a society that is constantly trying to sell us something, so it’s a marketing tactic to make you feel negatively about yourself, and unfortunately it works. It can also be hard to talk nicely to yourself if you’ve experienced trauma or abuse. Some people find that it can be really hard to think nice things about themselves - they feel that they don’t deserve it on an intrinsic level. 

The truth is, what you think matters. Your thoughts influence your reality by creating an energy and perspective that shape your actions. Positive affirmations can help you develop a more positive perspective that leads to more positive actions. Endless negative self-talk creates a negative energy that can lead to negative actions. Whether you notice or not, the thoughts that you think influence the way you see the world. 

One way to fight against negative self-talk and be kinder to yourself is to use affirmations. 

What are affirmations?

An affirmation is an assertion or declaring that something is true. Affirmations have gained popularity recently for being a helpful piece of the self-care toolkit, but people have been using affirmations for a long time. Basically, affirmations are facts or ideas, that you then declare to be true about yourself. They can be positive or negative. For example, an affirmation can be “I am deserving of kindness.” or “I’m so annoying.” When you use an affirmation, you repeat the phrase or statement over and over to yourself. When the thought is negative, that can lead to feeling pretty badly about yourself. When an affirmation is positive, though, it can be a game changer. 

To use affirmations, you just pick a few phrases you like, and repeat them to yourself often. You can set reminders on your phone or calendar so you get in the habit of saying your affirmation at certain times of the day. You can try saying it to yourself in the mirror when you brush your teeth, or stick it next to another daily habit so it’s easy to remember. You can keep a list of affirmations on your notes app, on a sticky note, in your journal - wherever it’s easy for you to access. It might seem weird at first, but they work! 

Affirmations are like a cool little mind hack - you can talk your brain into believing something.

Research shows that using affirmations can essentially reprogram your mind. Instead of sticking with your old patterns of negative thinking and self-talk, affirmations teach your brain to make new connections. Getting into the habit of using affirmations can also help you get more familiar with the patterns in your day to day thoughts. When you notice what’s going on, you can do something to change it. 

Another great thing about affirmations is that you get to choose them. There are so many things about life that we can’t control and can’t change. One thing we can control is how we think. If you find negative thoughts and assumptions creeping in, you can choose to engage with them or not. You can decide to think about positive things to try to shift that negativity. 

We live in a world that is full of scary, uncertain things. What if you could count on one thing, always - that you would treat yourself with kindness? The certainty that you will always be kind to yourself can go a long way to making you feel more confident. You deserve to be treated with kindness, especially by yourself. 

If you’re looking to start using affirmations, here are 25 affirmations to help you be kinder to yourself:

1. I unconditionally love and accept myself. 

2. I forgive myself. 

3. I am enough. 

4. I am a person deserving of respect. 

5. I deserve to be treated with kindness. 

6. I am worthy of respect and acceptance, especially from myself. 

7. I know my worth. 

8. I am allowed to take up space. 

9. I choose not to criticize myself. 

10. I unconditionally respect myself. 

11. I am loveable and I am loved. 

12. I am capable and courageous. 

13. I deserve love, compassion, and empathy.

14. I have the courage to create boundaries. 

15. My thoughts and feelings are important. 

16. My mistakes don’t define me. 

17. I deserve to have fulfilling relationships. 

18. My life has meaning beyond what others think of me. 

19. It is a joy to get to know myself.

20. I deserve to be listened to. 

21. I do not have to be perfect all of the time. 

22. I am allowed to be flawed and worthy of respect. 

23. I am more than my negative thoughts.

24. I am proud of myself for what I’ve accomplished. 

25. I respect and love myself, and that will never change. 

If you’re looking for more support to change your mindset, our clinicians can help you on the journey to being kinder to yourself.