[AD – GIFTED] 2018 was the year I really knuckled down with this whole self care business. Before I started blogging, I honestly had never heard of the phrase ‘self care’ before in my life and I didn’t realise that taking care of yourself was such a big business. I mean yes, I brushed my teeth when I woke up and had a shower whenever I whiffed a bit but I never really understood the importance of listening to your mind and body and well and truly taking care of number 1.

I feel like 2018 was the year I laid the foundations. I figured out where I was going wrong, where I was going right and also figured things out that I never really knew about myself and what I needed. I mean, who knew spending 7 hours on a Sunday playing Red Dead Redemption 2 was truly the self care I needed at one given time?

So now I’ve got the basics down, I feel like I could really optimize my self care this year and take it even further. In January and the first part of February alone, I already feel like I’ve improved it even more. Here’s how!

More Yoga

I’ve enjoyed Yoga for a number of years now. It’s helped me with my mental health and got me back into some form of exercise. But who’d have thought I actually needed more Yoga in my life? I now try and practice twice a day – once in the morning and once before bed – obviously it’s not possible every single day but on a whole, it’s exactly what I need.

A new nighttime routine

I actually have an entire blog post on this planned for later in the month because honestly, it’s changed my whole nighttime vibe. So I won’t go into too much detail but figuring out a nighttime routine that really works for me has worked wonders for my mental health, physical health and self care.

Increased pampering

Already this year I’ve been for 3 massages and seen the chiropodist to do my feet (literally I admire chiropodists – how they can look at feet every day, I have no idea). I’ve also tried to get back into a skincare routine (which for some reason, I find so hard?!) so I’m definitely putting a much larger focus on my pampering and doing things that feel, well, nice.

Some products which have helped with that are these products from Westlab, which were kindly gifted to me to help me have a spa-like experience, from the comfort of my own home. Westlab products are created with natural, high-grade, mineral salts to help balance the skin, body and mind.

These 3 products are all perfect to use in a relaxing bath. The cleansing bath fizzer was probably my favourite. Fizzy? Check. And it made the whole bathroom literally smell like a spa. At first, I thought the smell was a bit tangy (?) but after it’s been soaking in the bath, honestly it has the most gorgeous aroma. And I could smell it on myself for hours afterwards!

The salts are great because you get so much product in the bag. It’s recommended that you spend 20 minutes soaking in them, so they’re great for if you don’t have much time but need that little bit of a self care boost! They also smell absolutely gorgeous and I think I could really see some benefits of these after regular usage. You can also add the bath soak with the salts (also recommended), which is really soothing.

Getting stuck into lots of TV series

I love a good series. I much prefer watching a series than a film and as someone that really struggles to justify having downtime, a series is a perfect option. So I’ve been really knuckling down with watching all the series I want to watch, which has included Luther, Sex Education, Grace and Frankie and You which gives me a great opportunity to switch off.

Limiting my screen time

Last year, I dabbled with the new screen time app which was introduced with one of the iPhone updates. It lasted a few weeks then I gave up. But I turned them back on around mid way through January and it’s done a world of good. I have 3 hours of social media time a day (and surprisingly, I rarely use this up) and all apps (apart from communication and YouTube) get turned off at 9pm.

Journal almost every day

I’ve never been into journaling and writing down my feelings. Well now I am. Again, around mid way through January, I basically started to force myself to write in a notebook every day and just write how I was feeling or anything that came up. And the longer I did it, the more I wanted to do it. And now I write down my thoughts and feelings almost every day and I love it.

I’d love to hear about how you’re trying to improve your self care this year. Do you do any of the above?

* Products mentioned in this post were sent to me in exchange for a feature. All thoughts and opinions are my own.