Take on our FREE 30 Day Self Care Challenge and do one thing every day to support your mental, emotional, and physical health. Make a conscious effort to get into healthy habits and – I promise you – 30 days from now you’ll feel a noticeable difference to the way you think and feel. So, are you ready? Then let’s get stuck in!
The 30 Day Self Care Challenge
Our 30 day self care challenge is simple…
For the next 30 days, you will do one thing every day, that will positively impact your wellbeing.
This list can be a base – that you can tweak to make it your own. Or you can follow our self care challenge day-by-day, as a set itinerary. (The choice is yours my friends!)
The most important thing is that you’re taking consistent, daily action to look after your mind and body.
So, without further ado, let’s run through our proposed 30 Day Self Care Challenge.
30 Day Self Care Challenge
Here’s our 30 Day Self Care Challenge, broken down, day by day…
DAY 1:
Create a gratitude journal and for the next 30 days, wake up and write down 1-3 things you are grateful for every single morning, reading it again every night before bed.
Gratitude enhances dopamine and serotonin release which enhances our mood. It has therefore been proven to be a simple and highly effective resource for your self-care.
DAY 2:
Go for a gentle walk, and become aware of the beauty around you. Allow your mind to switch off for a little while, and simply appreciate where you are right now.
DAY 3:
Up your water intake! Aim to drink 8 glasses / 2 litres of water today.
You may actually like to extend this as a 7 Day Water Challenge to keep you consistently hitting your daily water intake. Why?! Well because, drinking water is one of the key components of practicing good self care.
Water is an essential element needed for your body and brain to achieve a happy and healthy you. Self-care is about taking steps to improve your overall well-being, so it’s a bigger deal than you may think!
DAY 4:
Watch a TedTalk on something that will help, inspire or develop you. This is an easy yet positive and productive thing that you can do, and well worth your time.
DAY 5:
Call a friend and have a catch up! This helps to keep you connected, form stronger friendships and supports your mental health. (It’s good to speak, and let things out!)
DAY 6:
Work on removing a limiting belief that may be holding you back and affecting your mental wellbeing.
(This is a tricky thing to do and isn’t something you can do overnight, but we’ve all got to start somewhere, right?)
DAY 7:
Have a digital detox. Spend the day off the internet and social media, instead filling your time with doing things that make you feel good!
If you find this too challenging, then allocate a section of the day where you will do this… Baby steps! Baby steps!
But you’re likely to find – the less time you spend online, the better you in turn, feel!
DAY 8:
Get into the habit of writing daily, weekly and monthly goals, to keep you moving forward.
See in most cases, the more you achieve – the better you feel… Especially if there’s things you want to do, which are genuinely important to you, yet you simply don’t prioritise them enough.
So put yourself first. Get focused. You’ll soon be thanking yourself for it!
DAY 9:
Try a morning yoga session. (This can be online, there’s plenty available for beginners.)
Yoga is one of the best methods of self-care since the benefits can be both physical and mental.
Physically – yoga can help improve your strength, balance, and flexibility. Mentally – yoga has been proven effective for those dealing with depression, anxiety, and stress.
These both, in turn, prove to be a helpful self care practice.
DAY 10:
Put your feet up and spend some time listening to your favourite music. Or, blast it out, having a good sing and dance.
See, music and dance together stimulate areas of the brain that releases the happy hormones making it feel good and relaxed. Thus, putting the brain at ease.
Dancing if done regularly, can act as a cardio exercise that can, in turn, help lower heart rates and blood pressure, thus improving the overall health of the body.
Hence why it’s another positive self care activity, that we can use during this 30 Day Self Care Challenge, to get you into it!
DAY 11:
Start to develop some positive affirmations, or even your own personal mantra.
There’s plenty to choose from – that are relevant to you, the stage of your life and the things that you may be struggling with.
For example, Breakup Affirmations are a powerful part of self-care, helping you to heal after a breakup. Likewise, I Am Loved Affirmations provide important reminders, at any time.
So learn more about them, understand their value and then create ones during this day of our Self Care Challenge, as you’ll soon notice the difference they make!
DAY 12:
It’s time to declutter! Clean or clear out something in your home to, in turn, release the tension they were inevitably building in your mind!
Uh huh, simple things can be powerful too, when it comes to small acts of self care.
DAY 13:
Allow yourself to binge watch your favourite tv programme, or switch off with a good movie…
The key here? To not feel bad about it! You’re not wasting time if you’re getting the rest you need and enjoying it.
This is one day, for you to simply sit back and relax… Without the pressure to do anything else but that!
DAY 14:
Do 10 minutes of journaling, writing down your thoughts, feelings and maybe even reflections of this 30 day self care challenge so far.
If you find it helpful, make journaling a habit for the rest of the 30 Day Self Care Challenge. It’ll then get you into the habit of continuing to journal from there.
DAY 15:
Make a healthy meal plan for the week and stick to it. After all, healthy body, healthy mind.
DAY 16:
Write a bucket list of experiences, all the things you want to do in your life, and set a date for when you’re going to tick the next one off!
It’s good to have things to look forward to, and it’s showing you that YOU are important too!
Unsure what you want to do? Then try these questions to get to know yourself better… And have fun exploring who you are and what you want to do!
DAY 17:
Have a mid-week pamper night. Treat yourself to a nice, hot bubble bath; sit back with a magazine and go through your favourite beauty regime.
Find out what you like and what makes you feel good, then opt to develop this into your very own, daily / weekly evening self care routine…
That way you don’t just feel good one day – but every week or day!
DAY 18:
Spend (at least) 30 minutes doing something creative that you enjoy.
DAY 19:
Work on saying “yes” to you and “no” to the things you don’t really want to do … starting with one thing, today. This helps to build your self-worth.
DAY 20:
Learn about the art of mindfulness meditation and see how you can incorporate this into your life. (If you’re not already familiar with it!)
Did you know – getting into meditation doesn’t actually have to be as tricky or daunting as you may think. AND – it’s not boring! You can do meditation sessions for as little as 2 minutes and still reap the benefits.
Here – try this 30 Day Meditation Challenge For Beginners to help you with this!
DAY 21:
Have an early night. Get to bed earlier than usual and give yourself a chance to catch up on sleep!
Healthy sleep habits are a vitally important part of self-care. After all – without a rested mind and body, it really starts to take its toll.
Getting enough sleep can also help promote a healthy outlook on life, elevate mood and energy levels, and improve concentration and productivity.
(So sleep is certainly something to master – or at the very least, improve – during your 30 Day Self Care Challenge!)
DAY 22:
Ever asked yourself, “why do I moan for no reason?!” Find that you’re a bit of a serial complainer? Then go the entire day without complaining… Then see if you can extend it and extend it…
You could even take on a No Complaining Challenge to, well and truly, suck this bad habit out of your life! After all, complaining really is pointless and certainly doesn’t support your mental wellbeing
DAY 23:
Wear an outfit that makes you feel great (even if you’re not really doing anything!) and look at how you can further develop your personal style.
Feeling confident about the way that you look is super important when it comes to self esteem, and self care is something that can support this…
So make the effort, and notice the difference with how you feel in both your mind and your body.
DAY 24:
Start a new book and take time out to read it – even if it’s just starting 10-20 minutes of it today.
DAY 25:
Take better care of your skin. Wash, exfoliate, cleanse, tone, have a face mask, moisturise. We’re talking the whole works! Your face will then be glowing by tomorrow.
This is also something you can start to incorporate into a new morning routine.
DAY 26:
Release all the tension with a full body stretch. Get into the habit of doing this regularly. Every morning. Every night. Release, release, release!
DAY 27:
Learn something new! It could be a hobby, an online exercise class, a skill or even just expanding your knowledge in a certain area.
Short of ideas? Then check out our master list of 125+ different hobbies for women in their 20’s or 30’s… I GUARANTEE there will be things you won’t have thought of in here!
Pick one out at random… If you’re feeling brave!
DAY 28:
Clean out your social media, unfollowing fake friends or negative people and finding new pages that support and encourage you. Like this one! This is all part of the mighty, “toxic detox”“.
So be brave and do what you need to do, to better support your mental wellbeing!
DAY 29:
Write a letter to your future self, so that you can look back and see how far you’ve come.
DAY 30:
Reflect on everything you’ve learnt through this 30 Day Self Care Challenge and the benefits it’s had on how you feel.
Then see what healthy habits made the biggest and best difference for you, so that you can incorporate them long-term into your life.
See, this is just the starting point my friends. How will you build on this 30 Day Self Care Challenge from here?…
There We Have It…
So there we have it. That rounds up our 30 Day Self Care Challenge.
Save this article, print it, and commit to it for at least 30 days. If you liked this, you may also like to try our 30 Day Self Love Challenge or 30 Day Self Improvement Challenge.
So there’s plenty for you to do and try, to ultimately build you up into the person you want to be (feeling the way you want to feel about yourself!)
I hope this has helped. Wishing you the best of luck!
Love,
Ell_xx
Woah! I have taken a print of Self-care printable so that I can keep it handy for my own reminder. Thanks a million <3
I love, love, loved this article!
I love this! I need that digital detox so bad! Thank you for sharing these. So important!
Fantastic challenge. So important to get variety in and stay positive!
Good list. I’ve tried several of them so far but the no internet will be a tough one. Thanks for sharing.
Love this post! I hope more will read it so I will give it a share😊
This was just the need of the hour for me. Thanks a million, dear! Just love this challenge 🙂
This is such a great way to focus on self care. I will be pinning for later and starting my challenge 🙂 thanks so much for sharing!
What a great List! Self care is so important for us to get through this. Thanks
This is so cool! I think self-care is so important and we should all be partaking in this challenge 🙂
Wow! Great to see how much effort you’ve put in for this super helpful article. Great job!
This challenge is exactly what I need this month! I should definitely start a new book, thanks for reminding me!
Great ideas! Self care is definitely important right now. Being at home for so long is taking a toll mentally so I could use something like this. Will give it a go – thanks x
This is so important for mental health, especially these days. I find I am lacking energy despite not really doing anything. I feel these will give me motivation and peace of mind. Thanks!
This a great way to get into the habit of practicing self-care. Thanks for sharing! I will start it next week 😀
Some very good ideas listed. Self-care is so important!