5 Mental Health Self-Care Habits I do Every Week

There are weeks when I feel like I am absolutely nailing this whole life thing. And then there are weeks when I realize I’ve been running around taking care of everyone and everything and haven’t really checked in with myself at all. I’m a mom, a wife, a business owner, a yoga teacher. I’m also, a friend, the person who remembers the appointment, the birthday, the thing that needs to be returned and approximately 900 other details that somehow live in my brain.
Somewhere in the middle of all of that, it’s pretty easy to become the person who takes care of everyone else while putting yourself at the very bottom of the list. I’ve learned that my mental health self-care doesn’t need to be elaborate. I don’t need a weekend at a spa or a completely empty calendar to feel better. For me, it’s the small things I do consistently.

These are five things I try to make time for every week, not because I’m trying to create a perfect wellness routine, but because I’ve noticed that I feel more grounded, more present and, honestly, more like me when I do them.

I protect the beginning and end of my day.

I’m a big believer in bookending my day with a little bit of quiet. When I can, I wake up before everyone else and make my coffee. And then I sit there. That’s it. I’m not answering questions, checking my phone, trying to accomplish anything. I’m just drinking my coffee while the house is quiet. There is something about having a few minutes that belong entirely to me before the day starts asking things of me that makes a difference.

I try to create a similar transition at night. Instead of going from I’m exhausted straight into bed, I like having a slower bedtime routine. I shower, do my skincare, pajamas, maybe reading or my Duolingo, and generally doing things that signal to my brain that the day is over. The morning helps me start the day as myself. The evening helps me come back to myself. And honestly, I think I need both.

I move my body.

This one probably isn’t surprising coming from a yoga teacher, but movement is one of the biggest things I notice when it’s missing from my life. And I’m not talking about exercising because I ate too much or because I need to burn calories. I’m talking about moving because I feel better when I move. Sometimes that’s yoga, a run, strength training, a walk, or something completely different.
I don’t need every workout to be productive or impressive. Sometimes the biggest benefit is simply getting out of my head and back into my body. I’ve taught yoga for a long time, and one thing I know for sure is that our bodies and our minds aren’t separate little departments. When I spend too much time sitting, rushing, working or worrying, I feel it.
Movement gives me somewhere to put all of that energy.

I go to therapy.

I don’t think therapy should only happen when everything has completely fallen apart.
For me, therapy is a regular check-in. It’s a place where I can say the things out loud that I’ve been carrying around in my head. Sometimes I walk away with some huge realization,
and sometimes I spend the entire session talking about something that seemed incredibly important until I said it out loud. Both are useful.
I think there’s something really valuable about having one hour where I don’t have to be the the person who has it all together. I can just be a person figuring things out, and sometimes that’s exactly what I need. If you’re struggling with your mental health, self-care can be supportive, but it isn’t a replacement for professional mental health care. Therapy is one of the ways I personally choose to take care of mine.

I get outside.

This sounds almost too simple to count as a mental health habit. But it works for me.
I need sunlight and fresh air. I need to walk outside and remember that there is a whole world happening beyond whatever problem I’m currently overthinking.
It doesn’t have to become another thing I accomplish. I just need to get out of the house and out of my own head. And I’ve learned that there is a difference between knowing something makes you feel better and actually making time to do it. So I try to do the latter.

I make time for taking care of myselF.

This one might look different for everyone, but for me, it’s my weekly beauty and skincare routine. I actually think this one gets dismissed as superficial pretty easily. But for me, it isn’t really about looking better. It’s about taking care of myself because I am worth taking care of. I’ll spend a little extra time on my skincare, do my hair, take a shower without rushing through it. None of these things are life-changing. But they remind me that I’m a person, not just a collection of responsibilities. And I think that’s an important distinction.

There is a version of self-care that feels like another chore on the list: Exercise.
Drink water.
Meditate.
Journal.
Go to bed early.
Check, check, check. That’s not really what I’m after. I want the things I do for myself to actually make me feel more like myself. Mental health self-care doesn’t have to be complicated. I’m not perfect at any of this. There are weeks when I don’t get enough sleep. Weeks when my workouts get pushed aside. Weeks when I stay up too late scrolling and know perfectly well that I should have gone to bed an hour earlier. Life happens.

The point isn’t to create another list of things you can feel guilty about not doing.
For me, mental health self-care is about noticing what makes me feel better and then making room for those things before I desperately need them. A quiet cup of coffee. Moving my body. Talking to my therapist. Standing in the sunshine. Taking an extra 20 minutes to take care of my skin. Going to bed without rushing. None of these things sound particularly revolutionary. But together, they help me remember something that is really easy to forget:
I am allowed to take care of myself, too. And maybe that’s the whole point.
Not becoming a completely different, more organized, perfectly balanced version of yourself. Just making enough room in your actual life to still recognize the woman who’s living it.