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Are you highly sensitive and in desperate need of some self care? With these 111 self care tips, you’ll definitely find a good way to recharge your energy!

Estimated reading time: 16 minutes

When you are highly sensitive, you feel the need to recharge your energy more often compared to less sensitive people. As a result, self care should be on the top of your priority list. Moreover, by taking good care of yourself, you will be able to thrive in life and feel more energetic. However, it is of high importance to find the best way to take care of yourself. Everyone is different and gets energized by different things. Therefore, we created a list of the top 111 self care ideas.

111 self care ideas - On the picture there is a woman sitting in nature. She looks like she is relaxing.

So, ready to get inspired to take care of yourself? Let’s dive in:

Physical Health Self Care Ideas

Physical health self care is important in order to live a long and healthy life. According to the World Health Organization, insufficient physical activity and nutrition is one of the leading risk factors for death worldwide. Therefore, by taking good care of your body, you improve your health and will feel more energized. Therefore, we can recommend you to try one of these physical health self care ideas:

  1. Do Yoga. Perhaps, you could try this 20-minute Yoga-workout for beginners?
  2. Go for a run. There is nothing more energizing than going for a run in nature.
  3. Go on a dog walk. If you don’t have a dog, why not borrow a dog from your local animal shelter?
  4. Take a powernap. Sometimes, a powernap is all you need to get recharged.
  5. Do a detox. You’ll be shocked by the results when you do a detox. Why not try one of these 25 detox-ideas?
  6. Drink enough water. Most people don’t drink enough water. Therefore, ensure to drink at least litres of water a day.
  7. Change your diet. Examine what you eat throughout a week and try to drop at least 3 unhealthy items from that list.
  8. Drink less or no alcohol. Alcohol is a common beverage but so bad for you! Why not drink less of it or stop drinking it at all?
  9. Develop a sleep routine. Creating a sleep pattern will help you to feel more energized throughout the day.
  10. Go out and bathe in sunlight. Sunlight is a wonderful supply for vitamine D, which helps you to feel more energetic.
  11. Get a massage. Spoil yourself and get a massage to loosen up those tight muscles.
  12. Acupuncture. Acupuncture can do wonders for your health when done by a professional. 
  13. Breathe. Focus on your breathing for a while and try to be aware of its pace. Therefore, try to slow it down if you are breathing too fast.
Mental health self care ideas

Mental Health Self Care Ideas

Taking care of your mental health is just as important as taking care of your physical health. For instance, this includes your emotional, psychological, and social well-being. Moreover, by taking care of your mental health, you will be able to realize your full potential, cope easier with stress in life, work more productively and make meaningful contributions to your community. However, good mental health has to be maintained at any time, even when you’re feeling great. Therefore, you could try these mental health self care ideas:

  1. Track your mood. Getting insight into your mood can help you to see the patterns in relation to when you feel bad about yourself.
  2. Netflix and chocolate. Let go of your worries, responsibilities and stress for a day and bingewatch your favorite show.
  3. Turn off your phone. Turning off your phone for a night can help you to live in the now and don’t be overwhelmed.
  4. Buy yourself flowers. It is a sign of self-love and they brighten up each room.
  5. Bullet Journaling. Not only do you get to be creative, but you can also write down whatever comes to your mind.
  6. Cuddle or play with your pet. Pets have amazing energy and cuddling or playing with them will make you (and them) feel better.
  7. Take a day off. When you feel that you are about to be overwhelmed, the best thing is to take a day off. Therefore, take a ‘Mental Health’-day.
  8. Gratitude. Be grateful for everything you can think of before going to bed. Practice this every night.
  9. Positive affirmations. Write down positive affirmations that help you to feel good about yourself and memorize them. Then, repeat them to yourself whenever you feel like it.
  10. Declutter your home. A clean and clear home is a clear mind. Clear the chaos at home and feel more uplifted and calm.

Spiritual Self Care Ideas

Spiritual self care is very important for highly sensitive people, as they seek purpose and meaning in everything they do. For instance, spirituality can provide you with a sense of calm you never would have dreamt of during tough times. You could try one of these spiritual self care ideas:

  1. Meditate. Meditating is about being in there here and now. For instance, there are millions of (guided) meditations on the internet for free. Therefore, why not try this one to release stress?
  2. Buy crystals to carry with you. Crystals appear to have a healing and empowering characteristics.
  3. Pray. If you are religious, praying might give you a sense of calm and confidence.
  4. Clear the energy in your home. By burning sage, you can clear negative energies in your home and feel more at peace.
  5. Clear your chakras. Every now and then, it is important to clear your chakras. Therefore, why not try this meditation?
  6. Walk mindfully. When walking, be aware of your surroundings and everything that you appreciate about it. Moreover, be aware of how you feel at that moment, too.
  7. Cut the cord. Sometimes, you unconsciously carry around the pain of others with you. Therefore, it is time to give it back with the cut the cord-ceremony
  8. Protect your aura. In order to avoid overwhelm from the emotions and feelings of others, you should protect your aura.
  9. Do tarot. Buy a tarot deck and learn how the cards can be a guide for your important life questions.
  10. Practice forgiveness. Don’t hold onto old emotions and release anger and resentment. Hence, choose forgiveness instead.
  11. Non-judgement. Try to apply a non-judgement attitude. Actually, judging others costs so much energy and by eliminating this behavior, you will feel more positive and energized.
  12. Chanting. Chanting can be an incredibly relaxing practice when done right. For instance, read more about chanting here.
  13. Create a dream journal. Write down your dreams to see what your subconscious mind might be telling you.
  14. Perform a moon ritual. The moon might influence your emotions and health to a certain extent. Therefore, why not do a moon ritual to take care of yourself?
12 self care ideas for creative souls

Creative Self Care Ideas

Highly sensitive people are known for their creativity. Moreover, creativity comes in many forms and what holds most of us back from expressing creativity is the need for perfection. Therefore, let go of perfectionism for a while and simply enjoy being creative. Not only can you create awesome things when you let go of perfection, but being creative is also a very soothing activity. Consequently, these creative self care ideas might be interesting to try out:

  1. Photography. Grab your camera, even if it is your smartphone, and go for a photo walk.
  2. Draw. Draw a picture of whatever comes to your mind or simply doodle around.
  3. Paint your feelings. Try to paint the feeling that you are expressing.
  4. Make music. Play along to songs that you like, either with your instruments or with improvised kitchen instruments.
  5. Cook something special. Act like you’re a chef for a day and cook something you haven’t cooked before.
  6. Bake a cake. Most of us just buy a cake when we crave for sweets. Therefore, why not try to bake one yourself?
  7. Crochet. This is a very soothing hobby that you can combine with many other self care practices. Hence, open your Pinterest app and scroll through all the awesome crochet patterns out there.
  8. Make a photobook. Most of us have a bunch of photos on our harddrive that seem to never be looked at anymore. Print them out and make a photobook.
  9. Restyle your furniture. Do you have a piece of furniture that you don’t like that much anymore? For instance, why not pimp it by giving it a different colour?
  10. Create jewelry. Create a piece of jewelry with your favorite beads. 
  11. Gardening. Care for your plants and give your garden a makeover.
  12. Write. Write a poem, story or maybe even a book? Afterwards, you may even choose to publish it and earn some money with it.

Cozy Self Care Ideas

Do you want to spoil yourself and do something that gives you a warm and cozy feeling? Then you should try some of these cozy self care ideas:

  1. Try a new tea. There are millions of great tea flavours out there, why not try something new?
  2. Read fiction. In fact, fiction helps you to forget everything for a little while. Isn’t it amazing?
  3. Buy yourself a snuggle blanket. A home without a cozy snuggle blanket isn’t a real home, right?
  4. Go to the store and get all your favorite snacks. Snack parties on your own or with a few close friends at home are the best!
  5. Light candles. Nothing goes above the comforting light of candles. Go to the store and buy a bunch of them. Instant coziness guaranteed!
  6. Get yourself cozy clothes for home. At home, you can look however you want. Therefore, get yourself some clothes that feel so comfy that you never want to take them off. Don’t forget cozy socks!
  7. Movie night. Watch your favorite ‘feel good’-movies. Moreover, this can (and should definitely) be combined with snack night!
  8. Home spa. Buy some home spa products and treat yourself to a beauty night.
  9. Order food. Instead of cooking, why not order food tonight?
  10. Start your day with calm music. Put on some calm background music and start your day in a relaxed way.

Social self care ideas

Social Self Care Ideas

For the extroverts amongst you, social activities might also feel like self care. Therefore, we collected the best social self care ideas in the list below:

  1. Go to the movies. For a calm and fun social night out, you could go to the motives by yourself or with someone you care about.
  2. Have drinks at a cozy pub. Nothing goes above a calm night at a cozy pub, right?
  3. High tea. Organise a high tea at home for your friends or go to a public place which offers high tea’s!
  4. Participate in a workshop. Do you want to learn something new? For instance, participate in a workshop. There are thousands of workshops out there waiting for you!
  5. Go to the theatre. Do you love arts, like many highly sensitive people do? For instance, why not go to the local theatre to see their newest act?
  6. Visit a concert. Music is amazing, especially when you can enjoy it with other fans. Why not book a ticket for a concert of your favourite artist?
  7. Go to the library. Do you love to read? Therefore, why not go to the library to search for the newest reads?
  8. Thrift shopping. Everybody loves treasure hunting! Here, you can find the most amazing stuff for your home.
  9. Go to a karaoke bar. Do you want to sing out loud and have fun with your friends? For instance, visit a karaoke bar for instant happiness.
  10. Go sightseeing in your own town/city. Sometimes, we take things around us for granted. For example, why not try to see your home place through the eyes of a tourist? 
  11. Go to a spa. There’s nothing more relaxing than a day at the spa. Therefore, go with one of your best friends and treat yourself!

Personal Development Self Care Ideas

Personal development helps you to reach new heights in your life. Moreover, it gives you the confidence to chase your dreams. Actually, by realizing your dreams, you’ll feel more satisfied, motivated and at peace with yourself. Therefore, we put together a list of personal development self care ideas to help you reach your utmost potential:

  1. Identify your core values. By being aware of your core values as a person, you’ll be able to make better decisions.
  2. Write down your dreams. We all have dreams, right? Therefore, write them down, however big they are.
  3. Manifest your dreams with the law of attraction. By now, most of us have heard about the law of attraction. However, did you know that you can manifest anything you want into reality? Here, you can read how manifestation works.
  4. Improve your self-esteem. Try to write down what makes you insecure, and tackle each aspect of it. For example, you could use these methods to increase your self-esteem.
  5. Read self-help books. There are self-help books for everything out there. Therefore, if you want to work on self-improvement, why not read one about it?
  6. Confront your fears. Oftentimes, we don’t do certain things in life because we are afraid. Hence, why not write down what you are afraid of and confront it?
  7. Listen to podcasts. Podcasts are a great self care tool to improve yourself on so many levels. For example, why not listen to Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations?
  8. Create habits. By developing habits, you will feel more calm in general. For instance, you brush your teeth everyday, so why not implement some of these self care tips as a routine as well?
  9. Write down your accomplishments. Often, we focus on what we lack, while it sometimes is good to look at what we’ve achieved.
  10. Reflect. Reflect on your day everyday to evaluate what went well and what could have gone better.
  11. Create a vision board. Write down where you see yourself in 5 years, 10 years and 20 years from now. Consequently, create a vision board that shows this future.
  12. Follow an online course. There are so many good online courses out there to help you with your personal development. Hence, why not try this one to feel more aligned?
  13. Do a personal development challenge. For instance, why not try our ’21 days of gratitude’-challenge?
  14. Create a 1-year action plan. You can achieve dreams and goals more effectively by creating a plan and sticking to it. Therefore, try to create a 1-year action plan to reach your goals?

Fun self care ideas

Fun Self Care Ideas

We all deserve a little fun sometimes, don’t we. Instead of taking everything so serious all the time, it is good to do fun activities too to recharge your energy. Therefore, why not try one of these fun self care ideas?

  1. Game night. Gather your favorite friends and organize a game night. Moreover, everyone brings one game to play! This way you are guaranteed an evening filled with fun.
  2. Go to the toy store and buy something. Now that you are adult, you can buy aaaaaaanything you want from the toy store. Moreover, you are never too old to play, remember that!
  3. Go to the candy shop. Just like with the toy shop, nobody will stop you at the candy shop! Buy aaaall the candy!
  4. Plan a theme park weekend. Theme parks are fun for the extrovert HSP’s amongst you! Why not book tickets at one of your favourite parks?
  5. Build a blanket fort in your living room. Blanket forts are the best and they feel so safe. Therefore, why not build one and crawl into it for a while?
  6. Theme night. Organize a theme night with your partner or friends. For example, organize a mexican night, where you serve Mexican food, play Mexican music and try out Mexican traditions.
  7. Watch funny videos. Do you want to feel good instantly? For example, watch some funny Youtube-videos and feel your mood improve!
  8. Organize an outdoor movie night in your garden. Why not get a beamer, some cozy pillows and chairs and watch movies outside in your garden?
  9. Play a computer game. Is there a specific computer game like The Sims that you used to enjoy? Play it all day long!
  10. Go shopping. Sure, money can’t buy happiness, but why not treat yourself to something you’ve wanted for a long time?

Inspiring Self Care Ideas

Do you want to feel more inspired? For that, you need to do inspiring self care activities. For example, you can find some suggestions in the list below:

  1. Watch Ted talks. Ted talks is the best way to get inspired within a heartbeat. Therefore, why not watch this one about highly sensitive people?
  2. Find quotes that inspire you. On Pinterest, you can find tons of inspiring and empower quotes. For example, you could read these 50 quotes for highly sensitive people and empaths.
  3. Do random acts of kindness. Do you get joy out of helping others? Why not do random acts of kindness throughout your day?
  4. Meet up with someone who inspires you. Is there someone in your surroundings who inspires you. Therefore, ask them to have a cup of coffee with you to share their secret.
  5. Go on a spiritual retreat. If you have some money to spend, why not book a spiritual retreat to get inspired and aligned?
  6. Follow thought leaders. There are amazing people with inspiring thoughts out there. For instance, you could follow one of these 100 spiritual thought leaders

Sensory self care

Sensory Self Care Ideas

Sensory self care is a way in which highly sensitive people can embrace their high sensitivity or protect it, depending on what is needed in that moment. Therefore, you can find suggestions for sensory self care ideas below:

  1. Sit in silence. Overwhelmed? Why not sit in silence for a while to relax and calm down?
  2. Listen to calm music. Do you feel the need to have an intense experience? For instance, buy a noise-cancelling headphone and embrace the music.
  3. Aromatherapy. Did you know that many essential oils help you with your mood and health? Therefore, why not give it a try? However, HSP’s sensitive to smell should select the essential oil carefully though, as the smell can stick around for a while!
  4. Facial mask. Buy or make a soothing facial mask. So relaxing!
  5. Weighted blanket. Get a weighted blanket for better sleep. In fact, thousands of HSP’s swear by it!
  6. Taste new food. Try new dishes at a good restaurant in your home town and be surprised by the new tastes.
  7. Go to a museum. Enjoy the beautiful artwork and the differences between the artists.
  8. Do some grounding. Take off your shoes and let your feet touch the earth or grass. Moreover, enjoy its soothing effect on your body.
  9. Enjoy the sky. At night, in the morning or in the evening. The sky has so many nuances. Enjoy them.
  10. Coloring. Did you know that there are many coloring books for adults because it has a calming effect? Therefore, enjoy its calm effect on your soul.
  11. Create an emotional playlist. Make a playlist that reminds you of the good times in your life and see your mood improve.

Put YOU On Your Priority List

After browsing through all of these self care ideas, we truly hope that you make YOU a priority. However, we know how tough it is to see self care as something important in the busy everyday life. Nevertheless, neglecting yourself for too long will result in your feeling more stressed, exhausted and burned out. Therefore, try to schedule self care moments in your week in order to thrive as a highly sensitive person! You deserve it!

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