Challenge: A Year of Self-Care
I have created a list of 52 different self-care challenges for you to work on this year. You can do them on your own or with your family. These challenges are meant to introduce different forms of self-care for your exploration. If you feel a challenge makes your life happier, try to keep up with the activity even after the week has ended. If you don’t feel you have gotten value from the activity, you can let it go and focus on the next challenge. You may want to revisit it again in the future to see if your feelings about it change.
They can be done in any order, but since many of the challenges include journaling, and journaling would be helpful for all of them, I recommend starting with the first challenge. Whatever form of journaling you prefer, it would be helpful to take notes of how you feel before, during, and after each challenge in order to get the most out of the experience.
It might help to keep you motivated to complete each challenge if you share what you are doing with friends, family, or social media (if you are old enough and have permission from an adult). If you want to keep your progress private, that is okay too. These challenges are only meant to help you figure out what self-care activities are most helpful to you.
Challenges
□ Learn about Journaling. Learn about the different ways of journaling and try practicing various ones throughout the week to see which is your favorite.
□ Figure out who you want to be. Journal each night this week about person you would want to be if no one else’s opinion mattered but your own. How would you look and act if you never worried about what others thought. What would it take to be happy with who you are and proud of yourself?
□ Respect your things and your environment. Take good care of your stuff and your personal space.
□ Keep your body clean. Think about your habits and set personal goals to improve your hygiene.
□ Get moving. Make a personal activity goal you would like to do every day for the week.
□ Eat mindfully. Make mindful choices and pay attention while you eat each meal and snack this week.
□ Hydrate. Research to find out how many ounces of water someone of your weight and activity level should drink each day and commit to drinking that much each day this week.
□ Be grateful. Think of one thing that makes you feel really happy and take time to feel grateful for it every day this week. While you are feeling grateful for that special thing, make a list of three things you were grateful that day.
□ Be happy for everyone. When you see anyone with something you would like or having a good day, try to be thankful for their good fortune and happy for them instead of jealous.
□ Do self-Reiki. Do one full self-Reiki session and say the Reiki Principles as part of your morning and bedtime routines every day this week. If you are not a Reiki practitioner, you can still look up and say the Reiki Principles each day.
□ Practice Loving Kindness. Each day this week practice the loving kindness meditation.
□ Stick to a bedtime routine. What do you feel you need to get done before you can go to bed? Make a schedule for getting ready for bed and commit to laying down and turning off your light for the night at least 8 hours before you have to get up in the morning.
□ Work on Puzzles. Work on one large puzzle each day this week or choose a different type of small puzzle to do each day.
□ Gratitude in Action. Instead of just saying thank you to those that help you, perform one act of kindness each day this week to show others your gratitude for the kindnesses they show you.
□ Share Kindness Cards. Write or print several small cards with affirmative statements or kind thoughts and hand them all out to strangers and people you know this week.
□ Use Affirmations. Choose a few affirmations to practice each day this week. Pick a time of the day to look in the mirror and say your affirmations each day and then try to think of and say them often throughout the day.
□ Learn something new. Pick a subject that interests you and commit to leaning more about it this week. Read books or articles, research the subject online, or watch videos about the subject each day.
□ List Your Positive Qualities. Start a list of the things you like about yourself. Read your list each day and add new qualities.
□ Think About Life Lessons. Each day this week journal about something that was hard or challenging for you and what you learned from the experience.
□ Remember Happy Times. Each day this week journal about happy memories. Reflect on why they make you feel happy.
□ Give to Charity. Choose a charitable cause to give to, develop a plan to acquire money or goods to donate, and deliver a donation this week.
□ Connect with Family. Call 5 family members you don’t often see this week to ask how they are doing and catch up.
□ Contribute to the Household. Think about how much your parents do to contribute to your family. What do you think you could do to help? Commit to doing one thing each day that is helpful to your family.
□ Contribute to your Community. What is something you could do to make your town a nicer place? Take some time to think about this and then spend an hour or two this week doing something for your town.
□ Express Yourself. Try a different form of creative expression each day this week, for example, write a story or poem, draw, paint, mold with clay, build with blocks, do a dance, etc.
□ Meditate Each Night. Pick a short meditation to practice each night before you go to bed this week.
□ Limit Your Screen Time. Make a goal to limit yourself to a reasonable amount of total screen time each day this week. How much time do you feel would be in your best interest?
□ Read a novel. Pick a printed chapter book to read this week. Commit to reading for at least 20 minutes each day.
□ Connect with Nature. Spend at least 10 minutes outside each day this week.
□ Practice Earthing. Walk barefoot outside for at least a few minutes each day this week.
□ Meditate Each Morning. Pick a short meditation to practice each morning this week.
□ Look for the Best in People. Choose someone you do not get along with well and make a list of their good qualities. Spend the week paying attention and looking for the best in them and add as many things to the list as you can think of.
□ Start Your Day with Music. Listen to a song that makes you feel happy each morning this week. You can listen to the same song or choose a new on each day.
□ End Your Day with Gratitude. Each night before you go to bed this week think about everything you are grateful for as you are trying to fall asleep. Try to make sure your last thoughts of the day are grateful ones.
□ Pray for Someone Else. Think of a person or community that is going through a hard time right now and say a prayer for them each day this week.
□ Set Daily Intentions. Spend a few minutes each morning this week picturing how you would like to feel and experience the day.
□ Practice Forgiveness. Is there anyone in your life that you feel angry or upset with? Journal letters to that person this week that you will not give them. Tell them how you feel and get all of your feelings out, tell them what your learned from them, and then write about letting go of the anger and moving on to peaceful feelings.
□ Work on Giving Up a Bad Habit. Pick a habit that you feel is not good for you and work on changing it this week. Try your best in each moment not to engage in the bad habit this week. If you do, that is okay, just start again in the next moment.
□ Donate Your Old Clothes. Go through all of your clothes this week and give away anything that is too small for you or that you do not wear.
□ Donate Your Old Books. Go through all of your books this week and give away any that you are not going to read again.
□ Donate Your Old Things. Give away any toys, games, or décor that you no longer want this week.
□ Create a Sacred Space. Design and create a space this week, such as an altar, that helps you to feel calm, creative, and close to nature or God. Pray or meditate in that space.
□ Practice Breathing Meditations. Do a short breathing meditation each day this week.
□ Learn about Religions. Pick a different religion for each day this week and learn a few things about what they believe and how they practice.
□ Know How to Find Help. Each day this week journal about a different situation that might come up that you may need help with, who you can ask for help, and how you would ask them.
□ Practice Yoga. Practice a short yoga routine each day this week.
□ Identify Your Feelings. Each day this week journal about the feelings you had and why without judging them as good or bad.
□ Practice Body Scans. Each day this week take some time to become mindful of how each part of your body is feeling and of the life running through it. Try using a guided body scan meditation.
□ Enjoy Daily Pleasure. Think of something simple that gives you pleasure and plan to do it at about the same time each day this week (like taking a shower, listening to a particular song, having your favorite drink or snack, etc.).
□ Start Working on a New Habit. Think of a good habit you would like to establish and commit to doing it at the same time each day this week.
□ Practice Future Journaling. Each day this week journal about something that has not happened yet, but that you would like to have happen. Write about it as if it has already occurred, with details about how it makes you feel and how grateful you are for it.
□ Create a Support Roster. Write about one person each day this week that you can include in your support team. Include their name, how you can contact them, their special skills, anything you think they would be good at helping you with, and ways you can help them or show them your appreciation.
I hope you found some inspiration from the challenges listed above. If you decide to work on them, I would love to hear how it goes. I would also love for you to share any ideas you may have for additional self-care challenges. I have a good feeling about the year to come and believe that all good things start by giving ourselves the care we deserve.