Burned out and exhausted. Somehow managing to get through the end of the day.
You are disconnected from yourself and desperately need a self care reset.
Self Care Sunday is the most popular solution. It’s a huge hit on all social media platforms.
Dedicating an entire day to self care might not be possible for many—even if it is a Sunday.
In an ideal world, everyone should be absolutely free on Sundays. But this is not everyone’s reality.
You might have to prepare for exams or complete a work project with a deadline.
Because of these, your Sunday feels like any other working day. If you get any free time, that goes toward maintenance activities—cleaning, cooking, etc. And as usual, self care takes a back seat.
Is this your scenario?
No worries. Because you are going to give yourself the much-needed, long-overdue reset that your soul is yearning for.
And all this is going to happen in 4 weeks, by spending anywhere between 15 minutes to 1 hour a day—depending on your availability. You can do this on Sundays or any other day of the week.
So, ready to do a self care reset one small step a time, week by week.
Week 1: Mental Self Care (Decluttering Your Mind)
Things to buy before going home, the work to be completed for the next day, the Instagram reel that you saw few minutes ago …… you are constantly thinking about something or the other. Lost in thoughts, you are never really here.
Your mind is racing between the past and present. And its overloaded with information.
Overwhelming and unorganized thoughts occupy your mind. This can affect your focus. It can also make you feel stressed.
This is known as mental clutter.
All of us focus on clearing out the physical clutter and always ignore decluttering our mind.
Here are the things you can do to clear mental clutter and finding inner calm.
1. Brain Dump:
- Set a timer for 15 minutes.
- Write down everything that is in your mind. It can be to-do-lists, how you are feeling, anything that is bothering you.
- Bullet list, mind map, free writing…. the format could be anything.
- You could do it on paper or digitally.
- Don’t filter or judge your thoughts. Let it unload onto the paper.
Why this helps: Offloading everything will free up mental space. Once everything is out on paper, you will be able to think clearly and take decisions to deal with your thoughts.
Related Post: How to do a Brain Dump to Declutter Your Mind
2. Morning Digital Detox Day
- It might be impossible to stay away from screens, if you have to use it for work purpose. Instead of doing a full day digital detox, do it in the morning.
- Don’t use any screen from the time you wake up till lunch.
- Instead, do any calming activities. It could be reading, meditation, walking in a park.
- You need to plan this the day before. Otherwise, you will instantly grab your phone at the hint of boredom.
Why this helps: We are constantly bombarded with information. Too much of anything is bad. Taking a break from screen will help your mind to be relaxed as it doesn’t have to process a load of information.
Related Post: 30 Ideas for a Successful Morning Routine
3. Journal for 10 minutes about your thoughts and feelings
- Maybe you had a bad week or a life changing event, and it’s weighing on you.
- Write about this for 10 minutes.
- Thoughts and feeling hidden deep in your mind will surface. You might be even surprised to know to discover all these.
Why this helps: Unresolved feeling and thoughts pop up into your mind randomly. It takes up mental space and disrupt your thinking process without you even knowing. Journaling about it will help to put your thoughts and feeling to rest, or at least tone it down.
Related Post: 28 Effective Journaling Tips that’ll Help You Start Journaling
4. 5 minutes guided meditation
- 5 minutes of meditation can have immediate effect.
- Try guided meditations if you struggle with the regular type.
- Insight is my favorite app for guided mediations. There are hundreds from which you can choose.
Why this helps: Guided meditation will help you focus, let go of your worries and reduce stress and anxiety.
5. Set your weekly priorities
- A long to-do-list will drive you crazy. It might be the very reason you are not going to do anything. A big list is overwhelming.
- Instead of writing down a huge to-do-list, write down your weekly priorities.
- For each of your priorities, create an action plan.
- Be detailed with your action plan. When and how you will do it? What are the things needed to get these done? Schedule this in your calendar or write it down in your planner.
Why this helps: You will stop thinking about what to do when you have created a plan. All you have to do is execute it.
Week 2: Physical Self Care (Nourishing Your Body)
Bubble baths, mediation, journaling, reading, cooking…. these are the common things that pops into everyone’s mind when thinking of self care.
Can you see what is missing here?
Its physical self care.
Hardly can you see going for a walk, stretching or doing exercise in the list of self care day activities.
Physical self care takes effort, often feels like a chore. It is usually not a part of glorified self care routine that is seen on Instagram.
Since it is not easy and has delayed gratification, physical self care takes a back seat.
The mind and body are connected. A healthy body is important for good mental health.
Here are the things that you can do to honor your body:
1. Prepare a nourishing meal
- Cook a healthy meal. It could be breakfast, lunch or dinner.
- Or replace munching on unhealthy packed food by preparing a healthy snack.
Why this helps: Do you survive on takeaways or loves to snack unhealthy food? Preparing a healthy meal by yourself could pull you back into a healthy lifestyle. This will remind you the joy of eating healthy food and its importance.
2. Drink more water today
- Intentionally, drink 8 glasses of water today.
- Juices, tea, coffee and other beverages doesn’t count.
Why this helps: A lot of health problems can be solved by addressing dehydration. Being hydrated improves your mood, helps in maintaining good skin health, and get rid of headaches
3. Go for a walk
- Go to a nearby park and take a walk in the nature.
- If possible, challenge yourself to walk 10,000 steps.
Why this helps: Walking is the most underrated yet powerful form of self care. Its great for improving mood, self wake cycle and overall physical health.
4. Yoga or Stretching
- Yoga is a holistic mind-body practice. Ideal if you want to physical and emotional reset.
- Stretching is helpful to unknot your body. Especially useful if you sit all day long.
Why this helps: Stretching and yoga brings immediate results. Its helps your stiff and tense muscles to loosen up. This can also help to reduce muscle tightness related issues.
5. Exercise
- Go for a run
- Do HIIT session.
- Pilates, cycling… the options are endless.
Why this helps: Physical exercise releases endorphin which helps to improve mood. You can notice positive changes within 10 minutes. Exercise helps to reduce stress and improve your sleep wake cycle. Also, great for your physical health.
Week 3: Emotional Self Care (Processing Feelings & Self-Compassion)
Emotional baggage can pull you backwards in life. Unprocessed emotions are like leaving the chapter of your life open ended. That does no good.
It is important to manage your emotions, to process them and tie up all the loose end s and give proper ending to any open ended chapters of life.
You should stop living in the past, forgive yourself for the mistakes done and stop holding onto lingering emotions and thoughts.
Here’s how to heal yourself emotionally:
1. Write yourself a kind letter.
- Imagine its your best friend who made all the mistakes that you did and she is feeling low. What would you tell her? You would probably be kind to her.
- Shower the same kindness to yourself. Write a letter forgiving yourself for everything you have done wrong.
- Read this letter whenever you are going rough and tough on yourself. It will remind that you deserve your kindness.
Why this helps: Writing this letter is not going to be easy. But it will help you to emotionally heal. You will feel more connected to yourself.
2. Let yourself cry if needed (and not feel guilty about it)
- Cry your heart out and release all the pent up emotions and stress.
- If you are comfortable, have a friend or family member next to you so that you don’t become uncontrollable.
Why this helps: Have you ever felt relief after crying? Feels good after crying right? That’s because crying is a way by which body releases stress. . It will help you to breathe freely and think clearly. Don’t let the negative connotations that the crying carries with itself blind you from its benefits.
3. Practice a self love affirmation
- Read your favorite self love affirmations 5 times.
- If you are alone, read it aloud. Believe every word.
Why this works: Practicing positive self love affirmations helps to reduce anxiety and self doubt. It helps to build self worth and emotional resilience.
Related Post: How To Practice Self Love Today – 15 Powerful Ways
4. Talk with a friend or family member
- If possible meet in person or schedule a phone call with your friends or family member and vent everything
- If you need help, ask for it.
- Or if just need someone to listen to, talk to them as much as you want.
Why this helps: We are so capable of acting as if everything is alright. Our loved ones may not even know that we are suffering in silence. It doesn’t have to be this way. Opening up to others and asking for help is one of the best ways to show self compassion.
5. Do a small random act of self kindness
- Say no to a party invitation if you don’t want to go.
- Listen to songs that makes you feel happy.
- Go on a solo date.
Why this helps: Doing small random acts of kindness for yourself helps rebuild trust with yourself. It breaks the constant negative thought loops. You will start loving yourself.
Week 4: Creative & Fun Self Care (Reconnecting with Joy)
What hobbies you had when you were young? Drawing, painting, pottery making, gardening…. these things made us happy in our childhood.
Creativity sparks joy. It is an important fuel for the soul.
Enter adulthood, busy schedule have hijacked your life. Colors, sketch pens, clay… everything is rotting in the attic.
Your creativity has become a distant memory. Fun has taken a back seat in life.
How about changing this by bring back fun and creativity.
Here’s how you can do this:
1.Try a new hobby or revisit an old one
- Think about what brought you joy as a child—drawing, dancing, crafting, gardening—and pick one to try again.
- If nothing old excites you, explore something new like watercolor, pottery, embroidery, or creative journaling.
- Set aside time each week just for fun, without any pressure to be “good” at it.
- Let go of outcomes. The goal is to reconnect with your playful, creative self—not to create a masterpiece.
2. Watch or read something inspiring
- Reading fiction helps to be transported to another world. You can gain new perspectives and learn new things from a great story. Whereas non fiction is the fuel for your brain.
- Watch something inspiring or anything that sparks your curiosity.
Why this helps: These activities helps to take your mind off things that are causing stress. A great way to inject joy into your life.
Related Post: 15 Life Changing Books Every Woman Should Read
3. Dance to your favorite playlist
- Blast the speakers or listen to music in bluetooth earphones, wear your comfy pajamas and dance like no on is watching.
- For 5 minutes or 30 minutes, in the kitchen while cooking or while taking a shower, it up to you.
- Just motion. Just release and fun.
Why this helps: Dancing will help to bring the attention back to your body. It is great to break from the cycle of non stop overthinking and just be present. In a sense, its a kind of fun meditation where you are not still.
4. Reorganize your bedroom
- Put your creativity into action and change the layout of your bedroom.
- Reorganizing it isn’t just about tidying up; it’s a creative opportunity to redesign your environment in a way that feels fresh, inspiring, and totally yours.
- Start by imagining how you want the room to feel. Do you want it cozier? More spacious? More energized? Then, think about what you can move or change to support that vibe.
- Don’t worry about perfection. Have fun experimenting — sometimes the quirkiest layouts bring the most unexpected joy.
Why this helps: A change helps to break free from the monotony of life. Reorganizing bedroom might feel like an insignificant thing to do. But all the brainstorming and moving and finally having a new layout is fun and refreshing.
5. Do something spontaneous that makes you happy
- Take a break from everything. Do nothing and enjoy the stillness.
- Call a friend randomly.
- Order your favorite snack.
Why this helps: Most of us don’t add things that makes us happy to the to-do-list. Happiness is a choice. It takes conscious efforts to make yourself happy. Doing things spontaneously, that is not mentioned in your to do list or scheduled into the calendar, is a great way to have fun.
Conclusion
At the end of 4 weeks of self care reset, reflect on your progress.
How did this self care reset made you feel? Relaxed, happy, calm?
Don’t stop here.
Make self care a lifestyle by integrating it in to your routine. If you are interested, you can read this post on How to make self care routine that you’ll enjoy.
Self care is not a choice. Its a necessity.
You might also like:
➡️60 Simple Self Care Ideas for Your Overall Well Being
➡️15 Winter Self Care Ideas to Keep You Warm and Happy
➡️50 Powerful Self Love Journal Prompts to Strengthen Your Worth
➡️75 Life Changing Self Care Journal Prompts for a Happier You
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