My Self-Care Habits For 2021 / Mindfulness & Self-Love

Since the start of 2021, I’ve been practicing daily self-care habits in order to be a little more mindful & caring towards my body. In today’s post, I want to share these new habits and how they’ve already made an impact on both my mind and body…

This post is sponsored by Scentered and all thoughts and opinions are my own [AD].

Morning headspace

Headspace, meditation, whatever you want to call it, I’ve been doing it. This past year one of my biggest battles has been trying to control my anxiety. As someone who is a massive advocate for speaking up about mental health issues, I knew I finally had to take some of my own advice and 2021 was the year to finally start.

Every morning (well, almost every morning), I’ve been starting my days with the infamous Headspace app. At the moment, I only dedicate 10 minutes of my time to zone out and focus on my breath, but it’s enough to notice that a few minutes of deep-breathing really does work wonders for the mind.

By starting my days with a little headspace and deep breathing, I’m able to lighten my thoughts, re-focus my intentions for the day and practice a little control when it comes to my anxious thoughts. It also means I’m not starting my day scrolling on social media too!

Daily walks

If you follow me on Instagram then you’ll know how much I love being outside. I’ve always been a lover of nature, but when I was forced to give up running in September 2020, walks became my new form of movement and boy, did they help!

Everyday I make sure I get outside and move my body for at least 30/40 minutes (longer on the weekends) and it’s become my new form of ‘me time’. Not only does nature positively impact my mood, but it also allows me to get outside and soak up some much-needed daylight (which is so important for sleep quality, by the way!).

Aromatherapy

This is a big one for more. Aromatherapy is something I’ve been using daily since I decided to make some positive changes to help support my growing anxiety.

For those who might be new to aromatherapy, it’s a holistic healing treatment that uses natural plant extracts to help improve both physical and emotional wellbeing. Whether it’s through the use of candles, diffusers, bath soaks, balms, or more, the use of natural plant extracts can help reduce stress, agitation and help improve anxiety, in particular.

Once I started researching into Aromatherapy and its possible promises to help support anxiety & agitation, I started looking more into the brain’s limbic system (which takes control of processing and collecting memories, emotions and simulations from the day). Cool, huh?

Your brain’s limbic system is important when it comes to aromatherapy because essential oils in particular can help improve your mental health naturally. Read more about the effects aromatherapy can have on your limbic system.

Once I did my research and made a firm decision that yes, aromatherapy would indeed become a big habit for 2021, I made a conscious effort to start ending my days with a little ‘me time’.

Every evening from 8pm onwards, I light my SLEEP WELL Home Aromatherapy candle and let the beautiful essential oils fill the room. By far, this is one of my favourite candles and despite it being 100% natural, it still has a strong hot scent throw which fills the room quickly with a spa-like feel.

Opting for a candle that’s sustainably sourced, non-GM and made with natural waxes, oils and fragrances is really important for me and my health.

But that’s not just it! Just before I go to bed I also rub my SLEEP WELL Wellbeing Ritual Aromatherapy Balm into my pulse points, which when combined with the candle, work wonderfully together. The smell isn’t just beautiful, but it’s also very calming too and always reminds me of my pre-Covid spa days. Oh those were the days!

I’ve been repeating this particular habit daily now for a few months and I can certainly notice a difference in my mood when it comes to winding down at the end of the day, and also my sleep quality too. As one would say: I’ve been sleeping like a baby!

Journaling

Besides aromatherapy & meditating daily, journaling has also had a significant effect on my mental health. Every morning I like to begin my working day (as in physically at my desk) by opening up my planner, setting myself a positive daily intention, writing down 3 goals I would like to complete and then ending it with a note of positivity (usually the best thing that has happened to me that day).

On the days when I have more time, I also take 5-10 minutes to write down a collection of my thoughts. This has been especially helpful on the days I’m feeling somewhat more anxious.

I don’t know why, but brain-dumping my thoughts on a piece of paper helps me to collect my thoughts so much easier and also allows me to focus on my anxiety and what I can and cannot control.

This is definitely a habit I hope to continue for many, many years.

Movement

Note how I said movement and not ‘workouts’. It’s no secret that my mentality towards fitness has changed drastically these past few 6 months (thanks to my hormones), but amongst the greyness, one thing I’m particularly grateful for is my new mindset when it comes to fitness and the way I move my body.

Every day, as well as my daily walks, I aim to move my body at least once (usually in the mornings and evenings) in a way that makes me feel good. That could be through yoga, pilates, running or stretching. Whatever it is, I try my hardest not to label it and instead, see it as a positive form of movement that will benefit both my body and mind.

As it stands, I’m still doing more yoga than running, but it’s something I’ve slowly grown to love and secretly, I’m loving the deep stretches and flexibility that has come with it!

And those are pretty much my top 5 daily self-care habits I plan to continue throughout 2021 to encourage self-love & mindfulness towards both my body and mind.

I’d love to know if you have any positive habits you’ve started these past few months? Let me know in the comments below!