I got the idea for this post from Lucy Mary after she wrote about her weird self care habits a couple of months ago. I loved that post and it quickly got me thinking about my own weird and wonderful self care habits, away from the usual lighting a candle and having a bath. Today I’m talking about unusual self care ideas and sharing some of my own habits too!

unusual self care ideas

Self care is such a broad topic. Made broader by the online space where bloggers are talking about it left, right and center. I love talking about self care. Almost as much as I love practicing it. And I’ve covered quite a few areas of self care on my blog, including:

And much more, which I’m sure you’ll be able to find if you search “self care” in the search bar. But today, I want to talk about unusual self care ideas. Like I said, prompted by Lucy’s amazing post about her weird self care habits.

Now personally, I don’t think anything that aids your well-being in any way can be considered weird.

Different to normal? Yes. 

But certainly not weird. I’m not a fan of the word weird at the best of times because humans are so diverse and so different, what’s normal to one person might not be to someone else but it certainly doesn’t make them weird.

However, there definitely are some things that I do and that you probably do too which you might consider, unusual forms of self care. Which is what I want to chat about today!

So what are my strange self care practices?

Sorting out the fridge

Lucy had this one on her list too and I was gob-smacked that I had found someone who finds organizing the fridge as therapeutic as I do! I’m a very organized person normally so this isn’t too much of a surprise but I love putting everything order, lining things up and making a bit of show of sorting out the fridge.

Tending to my feet

I guess this comes under the pampering umbrella of self care but we don’t like talking about hard skin and ingrowing toe nails do we? But I really quite like my feet and I take good care of them so they’re an important part of my self care routine! I have a chiropodist who I see around once every 6 weeks and I love giving myself a little foot massage with some nice oils.

Shaking it out

This is a trick I learned from my life coach and it’s something that’s served me well since. Kinda like dancing but shaking it out to music feels really good, especially when you’ve got a lot of pent up negative energy. Try just shaking your body, perhaps start with your hips or arms and see where it takes you!

Eating sushi 

For some reason I’ve created this mental link between sushi and self care. I think it comes from when my boyfriend would go out after work with his mates on occasion, I’d always order myself sushi that night and eat it in bed whilst watching a TV series and that relationship between the two has just stuck so yeah, eating sushi. Good for my soul.

Vacuuming

Oh boy. I love vacuuming. Absolutely love it. I find cleaning very therapeutic and great for self care but vacuuming in particular gets my juices flowing. I just love seeing the physical dirt leave the floor. It’s so damn satisfying.

unusual self care ideas

Now I’ve shared my unusual self care loves with you, I’d love to share a list of some more unusual self care ideas which you might find interesting and would like to try.

I’ve tried to cover all basis here from the slightly odd to the downright woo but remember, weird is NOT a thing. You are perfect exactly how you are, however you decide to practice self care!

These are just some ideas which you probably won’t find in your usual lists!

20 unusual self care ideas to try if you’re bored of candles and baths:

  1. Watching birds or wildlife
  2. Laying on the floor and feeling the support of the Earth
  3. Screaming (out loud or into a pillow)
  4. Chanting
  5. Working through your limiting beliefs
  6. Spending time with plants (but not necessarily gardening)
  7. Using a sensory deprivation tank
  8. Puzzles, crosswords and quizzes
  9. Writing a forgiveness list
  10. Collecting something – like stones, stamps, coins etc
  11. Crying
  12. Masturbating
  13. Scripting your perfect day
  14. Stay overnight in a hotel by yourself
  15. Ride rollercoasters and get the adrenaline pumping
  16. Do Yoga in bed
  17. Get dressed up for absolutely no reason
  18. Create your dream home on The Sims
  19. Re-organize the kitchen cupboards
  20. Do something you loved doing when you were a kid

So tell me, which of these practices are you going to try? Do you have any strange self care habits that you’d like to share with me? No judgment here, I promise! Let’s chat in the comments!

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68 Comments

  1. Gonna be honest, a lot of these made me laugh! But, I can totally understand some of your ideas. Instead of cleaning the fridge, I like to clean out my closet if I’m in that particularly anxious or high-energy mood.

    I think self-care is a bit of a mind game. Like you said with sushi, although it’s nothing special, if you associate and think of it as a treat then suddenly it feel more like your pampering yourself. I find that thinking: “I’m doing this to treat myself” can make almost anything feel like self care!

    Alexis| https://cafe-beauty.com/

  2. Jenny, I don’t know how you find cleaning so soothing lol I personally find reading, crocheting and writing are excellent forms of self care. Walks out in nature are nice, and I also like tending to my pets as well–I don’t mind cleaning them as much as I mind picking up after myself for some reason. Great post, as always.

  3. I love all of these ideas. I find that organising and decluttering really helps me feel better. My kitchen is one of the primary places I reorganise all the time just to keep things interesting. I recently rearranged everything and put the movable island in such a way as to separate the kitchen and the dining area. Even a small change like that has been amazing.

  4. Mine is going to town on a to-do list. Which can backfire if you don’t get things to where you want to be fair, but actually just seeing a list of things that I have the power to take control over and doing it works wonders. Sometimes “relaxing” is the worst thing for me if I need some me time.

  5. Oh my god sorting out the fridge is by far my favorite thing to do, I’ve done it recently and done some storage boxes for food inside it and I’ve felt this weird sense of calm since haha!

  6. I never tried the idea of using candles for self care. Though I sometimes do bath soak if too much stressed. But your ideas are great.

    Thanks for sharing lovely post.

  7. This is amazing topic Jenny!
    Shaking out is one of my thing too. I love to dance like a ghost and it charged my cells so quick. music and dancing always cheer me up. Apart form this, I usually take myself out for a treat. I go to any random or sometime specifically favorite cafes/restaurants alone to treat me with delicious foods and drinks. I think it as I am same amount of important person or maybe a more as other in my life. While we all give treats to other for reason or no reason, why don’t we give treat to ownself sometimes.

  8. Loved this list…scripting your perfect day was very interesting! I think we should all ‘script’ some happy moments into all our days. We plan birthdays and big celebrations, but special moments that we plan for on a daily basis are so important. It can be little things, but they add up to feeling so much better.( I was happy to hear that someone else finds happiness with the vacuum cleaner…it is the sense of order and knowing that the place is clean!!! When we cross off these to-do things on our list, we do feel a sense of accomplishment with the big picture…again, we feel better! Great list! Very creative! 🙂

  9. Oh my goodness, creating beautiful houses (and dream lifestyles) in the Sims is a huge self-care act for me! I think one of my weird self-care acts would be writing to do lists, even if I don’t actually get to them ever. Just writing down all the things I COULD get done really leaves me feeling wonderful!

  10. I love this! Back when my life was much less happy, I used to have epic trips to the grocery store. I love grocery shopping. I realize now that I love it so much because…it was mine. In a time when I had very little control over anything else in my life, the grocery shopping was all me. I made OCD-level lists and got every single thing that I wanted. One of those things was grocery store sushi – like, the good kind. I’d spend the morning preparing for the trip (sometimes it required multiple stops) and then unpacking and putting everything in it’s place and, to reward myself at the end of it all, I’d sit down with my overpriced sushi, grab my dog and just zen right the hell out. Weird self care for the win!

  11. You presented so many great ideas! I love just sitting out on my patio on a warm day and enjoying the beauty of my garden and watching the birds. Thanks for sharing.

  12. I love playing puzzle or adventure games and I won’t stop until I completed the game lol~ Love your list and I think one of my unusual self-care is organizing my stationery 😀

  13. Why is it that I saw screaming and instantly thought wow this is relatable? I also love sushi for a special treat, I live near a yo-sushi so pre-pandemic would just go and get some whenever I was having an off day! Thanks for sharing x

  14. I love this! “Unusual self care ideas”, and just as meaningful… I particularly enjoy “Working through your limiting beliefs”. What a difference this could make🌺

  15. Such a lovely post! I think mine is brushing my hair, which is not so “elegant” act of self-care. But whenever I spend time brushing my hair, I feel calm and relaxed. 😊

  16. I have finally found somebody who loves cleaning the fridge as much as I do! I love organising the items in the fridge, label facing forward and stacking everything, it’s so therapuetic! I love all of these other unusual self care ideas, going for a walk after lunch is my new favourite part of my self care routine x

    Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk

  17. Love this! Everyone is different when it comes to self-care! Some would say it’s strange that cleaning can be calming, others love it. I love sushi, and there are certain foods that will always be a comfort to me. Thank you for sharing these ideas x

  18. Love these ideas! Not the biggest vacuuming fan but love washing the floors! My self care go to is lie on the floor. I usually prefer the floor to sit on the bed while reading or writing. Sushi and The Sims sounds like the best self care combo! x

  19. It sounds mad but a bit of house work really sorts me out sometimes. I think it’s because, if the house is a mess, I can’t relax, I need to fix it before sitting down. I get a lot of pleasure out of cleaning my house!

    Rosie

  20. I love this! Honestly cleaning is one of the best self care activities I do because it makes me feel so much better and I love it when everything is in it’s place and organised. I love vacuuming to especially since we got a cordless vacuum!

  21. I do enjoy a good vacuuming session myself. Getting out and looking at the wildlife is my favourite thing though, even if it’s just in the garden.

  22. I LOVE creating my dream home on The Sims, it’s so satisfying to see it develop. Playing The Sims is definitely one of my unusual self care habits. After reading this post, I’m definitely going to give myself a little at home pedicure!x

  23. I actually think of eating sushi as self care too! 😀 I don’t go out to eat often and when I do treat myself it’s most always sushi, so sushi = self care in my world. I usually look at self care as a mode instead of an activity because what is caring one day might not be the next, so I love your list of unusual ideas!

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