16 Positive Self-Care Ideas To Help Boost Your Mental Health

There’s no denying that motherhood is a beautiful and rewarding journey. However, it’s also very demanding, and you spend most of your time caring for others but leaving little time for your self-care.

Most of your time gets taken up with juggling all kinds of responsibilities, including going to work, and you don’t have much time to yourself — especially if you’re raising very young children.

The thing is, self-care is essential, both for your mental health and physical well-being. Without the right amount of self-care, you will likely burn yourself out.

Positive Self-Care Ideas

If you’re trying to figure out the best ways to love yourself a bit more and keep your mental health in check, it’s worth taking a look at the following 16 ideas and suggestions as a starting point:

1. Allocate Yourself Regular Self-Care Time

Remembering how much time you devote to self-care is the most crucial idea or tip to consider. Sadly, many moms agree they need more time to themselves, but they seldom allocate regular self-care time in their daily or weekly schedules.

Sit down with a notepad and pen, and work out when you can realistically devote some free time each day or week. Next, schedule some self-care time, and avoid letting anything else in your life take over that time unless it’s an emergency.

2. Improve Your Diet

Some moms don’t feel confident about their bodies, and if you wish you had a slimmer figure, look at some diet changes you can make.

You don’t need to make radical changes; even changing to lower-fat versions of your favorite meals and snacks will help.

Diet changes also help in other ways. For example, if you experience eczema or dry skin, you may find that an unknown food allergy or intolerance is responsible for regular flare-ups or feeling uncomfortable during specific seasons of the year.

3. Join A Gym

You might assume that the suggestion of joining a gym infers you only exercise a little each week. However, spending regular time at the gym makes sense for mental health reasons:

• Gym workouts help reduce stress and release endorphins – natural mood-boosting chemicals in the brain;
• You’ll feel happier and generally be in a better mood, plus it’ll positively impact your interactions with your family, friends, and others;
• Regular gym sessions will also boost your self-esteem and sense of self-worth through feelings of achievement.

4. Spend Time Away From Home

Do you spend most of your time at home — even when your children are at school and your spouse or partner is at work? If so, now’s the time to change that and spend more time away from home.

Social interaction, experiencing different surroundings, and adding variety to your day are three things that will positively impact your mental health and physical well-being. Even just walking in your neighborhood or visiting a local point of interest can help.

5. Upgrade Your Wardrobe

No one is suggesting you must have a weekly wardrobe refresh. But if you’re rocking the same clothes from several years ago with few additions, it’s time to upgrade your wardrobe with stylish new outfits and accessories.

You don’t need to aim for expensive brands or opt solely for this year’s fashion. The purpose of the exercise is to add variety to what you wear each day.

Why will that boost your mental health? The answer is simple: you’ll feel more confident about yourself.

6. Take Up Meditation

Do you find it challenging to “let go” of thoughts or events that make you feel sad, stressed, or angry? If so, meditation can be an excellent way to help release your mind of such negative energy and ensure that you only focus on the positives in your life.

Meditation can be something you do in private at home or as part of group therapy with other people under the supervision of a trained professional. You can choose how and where to meditate and schedule regular meditation to boost your mental health.

7. Consider Joining A Yoga Class

If you prefer to avoid going to the gym each week to exercise, there’s another option: you could join a yoga class.

Yoga involves a lot of physical activity and has the added bonus of boosting one’s mindfulness and emotional balance. As with meditation, you can do yoga alone at home or as a group activity with other people.

If you don’t want to take yoga lessons outside of your home, consider watching instructional YouTube videos from professional yoga instructors.

8. Get A Medical Check-Up

It would be best if you schedule an annual or bi-annual medical check-up, and there are several reasons why that makes sense:

• Early detection of mental health issues — your doctor can help you spot the early signs of depression or postpartum mood disorders;
• Stress management — being a mom is a stressful job that you have to do 24/7, so your doctor can work with you to develop stress management techniques;
• Early detection of medical conditions — facing a severe medical condition will add more stress to your life, so it’s a good idea to treat it at an early stage.

9. Upgrade Your Hair & Beauty Regime

Has your daily hair and beauty regime taken a backseat since you’ve had kids? Do you feel like there’s no point in making yourself look glamorous?

If the answer to those questions is yes, you must start scheduling time each day to devote to your hair and beauty.

The aim of this idea isn’t to make yourself more attractive to other people. Rather, it’s about making you feel good about yourself and increasing your self-worth, thus boosting your mental health.

10. Spend More Time With Friends

Your friends have likely been there for you throughout the positives and negatives in your life. They are your emotional support network, and it’s crucial that you stay connected with them and remind them that you’re appreciative of their friendship.

Consider scheduling some regular time to socialize with your friends away from home. If you’d rather not travel to their homes all the time, you could meet them in neutral territories, such as coffee shops or shopping malls.

11. Immerse Yourself With Reading New Books

It’s no secret that reading literature can help transport your mind to many unique and fantastic places and settings. Reading an immersive book, such as a good historical fiction book, helps take your mind off your many thoughts about your daily life and temporarily escape from reality.

There are many ways you could find new books to read, such as borrowing them from your local library, reading them on a device like the Kindle, or joining a local book club where you get to discuss the characters and the plot with other like-minded people.

12. Learn A New Language

You might feel that you haven’t much spare time to add another requirement to your daily life, but learning a new language is beneficial in many ways.

For example, it gives your mind something new and interesting to focus on each week, especially if you learn at a local educational facility or online via video calls with tutors.

Learning a new language can also unlock new career options, and that’s a great idea if you find your current job uninspiring or stressful.

13. Take Up Gardening

Did you know gardening is a brilliant way to relieve stress and improve your mental health? Spending a few hours outdoors each week tending to your plants and shrubs will give you enormous satisfaction and self-worth.

Moreover, you can boost your social circle by making friends with like-minded people who enjoy gardening and are happy to exchange ideas and tips.

If you don’t have a garden at home, you could always rent a plot at a nearby community garden.

14. Get A Less Stressful Job

It doesn’t matter if you’ve got a full-time or part-time job. If your work always leaves you feeling stressed, and you notice that you spend more time-solving problems for your boss than you do spending time with your family and loved ones, now’s the time to quit.

Your employment options will be plentiful — irrespective of your educational background. Plus, you may even decide to start a business from home instead of getting another job.

15. Rekindle Your Love For Your Hobbies

Have your hobbies fallen by the wayside ever since you started a family? If that’s the case, you should rekindle your love for them because they would have helped you mentally in many ways.

For instance, they would have provided therapeutic value and likely made you feel more self-confident than you do today. Moreover, your hobbies would have increased your social interaction with others — something that’s necessary for your mental well-being.

16. Don’t Be Afraid To Ask For Help

One final idea or tip to keep in mind is remembering to ask for help if you ever feel like you need it. Don’t try to get through life’s challenges alone or feel embarrassed or scared to get assistance with anything.

You likely have a good support network in place, so feel free to lean on them when you feel like you’re struggling.