10 Self-Care Rituals To Make Yourself a Priority

10 self-care rituals for women

1. A morning routine

Let’s bust a myth right now.

You DON’T have to wake up at 5am. A morning routine can be part of your self-care ritual even if you wake up at 8am.

Any happy, fulfilled and successful woman out there has a morning routine.

This is actually the first thing I included in my life when I started my self-care journey.

A morning routine doesn’t have to be complicated.

Here’s mine (literally, and written down in my phone Reminders)

• • Make my bed
  • Drink 1 glass of water
  • Coffee + Journaling
  • Engage on social media – 15 minutes (with a timer)
  • Eat breakfast
  • Get ready
  • Plan day

When I started off, I had only one item on my list. Then, as the habit got stronger, I added up.

When I was struggling with building and sticking to habits, what changed the game for me was reading this book. (Highly recommend!!!)

2. A daily skin care routine

I used to go to bed without removing my make up.

Who has a skin care routine at 20?

I certainly didn’t.

Now, no matter how many glasses of wine I’ve drank, you’ll never see me go to sleep without cleaning, removing make up and hydrating my face.

After I turned 30, everything started to hit different. Even though everyone says that I look younger than my age… I don’t feel younger.

But apart from trying to ease my aging process…There’s something very empowering about having a skin care routine.

I find it elevated my self confidence. No, literally.

It’s the ultimate self-care ritual for women to feel good, no actually GREAT about yourself.

So go ahead and find products that fit your skin.

If you’re new to this, or like myself get overwhelmed by the amount of choices there is, I really recommend FabFitFun. It’s a subscription box with amazing quality products that did miracles to my skin.

Take care of your face, and you’ll glow up within just a few weeks!

3. Practising mindfulness

I’m not into yoga, and I never was.

So let’s get something clear.

Mindfulness is not only about meditation, eyes closed, elevator music or yoga poses.

Mindfulness is the action of being present.

To get out of your head. 

I have been journaling daily to get my thoughts out my head for over 3 years now.

This is one of my favourite and most important self-care ritual as an overthinking woman.

If you’re new to journaling, I recommend you start by shopping for a beautiful journal you’re going to love. You can find beautiful ones right here.

One of my other all-time favourite mindfulness activity is… going for a walk.

That’s right.

I know it sounds simple.

But if you’re able to just walk outside and be mindful of your surroundings, this is a VERY refreshing and powerful self-care ritual.

By being mindful of your surroundings, I mean: observing the people you cross path with, noticing the temperature outside, feeling the wind on your face, listening to the birds signing and feelings the ground you walk on.

You can practise mindfulness by doing the dishes. Simply by not thinking of anything else than… doing the dishes.

Try it, it’s harder than it looks!

4. Setting a time limit on the phone

It starts with just wanting to answer a message.

Next thing you know, you end up scrolling for hours.

The struggle is real.

With so many distractions on social media, it’s extremely easy to lose focus.

And with the world going online, it’s become a habit to open the social app as soon as you unlock your phone.

Successful women use their phones intentionally.

That’s why it’s part of self-care rituals for successful women to schedule time off their phone.

I’m not saying it’s easy.

Here are my personal hacks to make sure I don’t get tempted to scroll:

• • I set a timer when I check my phone in the morning
  • I automate “Down time” on my phone from 8pm to 9am, where apps are not available
  • I put a time limit on certain apps
  • I set my phone on “Do not disturb” and put it away when I work

5. Planning getaways and me-time

I’m not talking about the few weeks holidays a year you get from work.

Successful women include frequent getaways and me-time as part of their self-care rituals.

Too many time we postpone self-care for the sake of “productivity”.

“I have no time” or “I have too many things to do”.

I would tell that to myself way too frequently.

But the reality is… we need to MAKE the time.

Getaways don’t have to be fancy or expensive.

Me-time examples include:

• • Driving away for a day-trip
  • Taking a bath
  • Read a good book at the park
  • Sunbathe
  • Sitting in a cafe for one hour (no work)
  • Going for a hike on the weekend

Depending on your interests, frequents getaways and activities are a woman’s must when it comes to self-care rituals.

If you’re out of getaway ideas, you’ll find a ton of museums and attractions tickets on Tiquets and audio excursions created by professional tour guides on WeGoTrip.

6. Setting goals

You can’t achieve goals if you don’t set them, right?

Intentions and manifestations are awesome…

But often not worth anything if there’s no action plan.

Setting goals is a skill.

And when you’ve never developed that skill… it can be damn hard.

I won’t even talk about tracking them.

But if I learned from my personal transformation journey, it’s that setting goals is KEY to fulfillment and success.

If you’re anything like my and has never taken the time to sit down and set goals before, you’re not hopeless.

You can learn from scratch, exactly how I did.

No matter where you are in your self development journey, setting goals is definitely a skill worth learning.

Once goal setting is part of your self-care rituals, you won’t ever consider doing life without it.

You can find a ton of helpful goal planners and trackers right here.

7. Auditing and planning finances

What? A finance audit?

Are we still talking about self-care rituals for women?

Oh yes, we are.

Self-care is not only about skin and nails.

Let me ask you:

Does talking about money make you cringe or does it make you excited?

Do you dread looking at your bank account or are you confident about it?

Well, if you cringe and dread, you’re not alone. (I used to, too!)

Money and finances is a topic that often brings up anxiety and fear.

We grew up with a scarcity mindset around money.

Here’s the good news: you can change it.

It’s like ripping off a bandaid: it’s often scarier than it actually hurts.

It took me a lot of time to heal my relationship with money. But I did it.

So… get your finances together.

I’m telling you, you’ll feel very empowered.

You can find a ton of budget planners and printables here.

8. Exercising on a weekly basis

Raise your hand if you saw this coming?

Yup, exercising.

I don’t care how sick you are of hearing this advice.

You NEED to exercise.

And I’m not telling you this as Marie-the-former-physiotherapist.

I actually started to take exercising seriously AFTER I quit my job.

No, it’s actually the Marie-I-glow-up-since-I’m-exercising talking.

I made the habit of exercising a part of my self-care rituals when I was making effort to get my life together.

The thing is… you might KNOW that exercising is good for you.

But you won’t really know how much it’s good for your mood, health and general wellbeing after you actually FEEL it.

So please, trust me.

Work on developing the habit of exercising weekly.

This is one of the most important self-care ritual women can do to glow up.

And one of the best investment you can make in yourself.

9. Night/bedtime routine

Let me tell you a secret.

I would never trade my night time routine for a man, a party or FOMO anymore.

My night time routine is a sacred self-care ritual.

Like the morning routine, it doesn’t have to be complicated.

Here’s what part of mine:

• • Showering
  • Cleaning my face and skin my skin care routine
  • Checking what’s on for the next day
  • Hydrating my legs
  • Getting my clothes ready for the next day

10. Getting enough sleep

Here’s the main reason why you might be sacrificing your sleep (apart from being a mom):

You didn’t do enough of what you love in one day.

If you stay up late to scroll or binge watch tv, you might be trying to regain some time for yourself that you didn’t take that day.

If that’s the case, you’re not alone.

If you find it difficult to break that cycle, I would recommend you do 2 things.

One: Make a list of the simple things you really love doing. What makes you happy?

Is it reading a good book? Sipping a cup of tea? Having a meaningful conversation?

Then take the time to do one of these things Every. Single. Day.

Two: Decide the time you want to stop the activity that keeps you awake. Decide at what time you want go to bed.

Write down your intention as such: Every night, I will stop (activity) at (time), and go to bed at (time).

Then, set a time limit on your phone, laptop, tv.

There you go. Your self-care rituals for women to experience a massive glow up and get your life together!