Every school year, with all the new clubs, friends, and classes, I feel the need to refresh and adapt my back-to-school routines. This is also the time I find myself searching “That girl aesthetic” on Pinterest. While scrolling through photos of crisp white sheets, iced oat milk matcha lattes, and thin blonde girls with perfect skin doing reformer pilates… it dawns on me that the wellness space and “self-care” concept in general has come to take on a very specific (and elitist) sort of aesthetic on social media. However as someone who prides myself on my self-care routines, I know that the clean girl/ that girl aesthetic trend has little to do with forming self-care routines that actually work (and last!). This led me to compile a list of tips on creating the ultimate, tailored self-care routine.
“Self Care” is the practice of individuals looking after their own health using the knowledge and information available to them. Therefore, my interpretation of what works for making a self-care routine may not work for you, so take what resonates!
- Find your why?
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One thing that I find gets my new routine into swing is assessing my why. It’s no secret that school is challenging, and sometimes it feels like there’s never going to be enough time in the day to study, work, eat, live, clean, and exercise in a twenty-four hour window. This is why you have to find your why, or in other words, figure out what you need to prioritize. I like to list my priorities and underline the specific habits I need to implement to make sure I am dedicating enough time to what matters to me.
- Assess what you find grounding and make time and space for that
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For this, I write out all the things that bring me joy. Then I make sure to specifically schedule these into my week. To do this, I use Sunday as my reset day, this is when I plan my week and make sure literally every single aspect of every day is imputed into my Google Calendar. This helps me to stay on task and ensure that my actions align with my goals.
- Combine and optimize
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The next tip I have is to optimize. As an extravert, I realize that I need a minimum amount of socialization to be my happiest self. So, I specifically schedule hangouts with activities that I’m already doing. Some examples are spin classes with friends, walks/hikes, study dates, group dinners, and calling family and friends while commuting or grocery shopping. Multitasking makes sure you’re maintaining relationships while also achieving your priorities.
- Use an organization system
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As touched on before, self-care requires planning! Keeping organized itself is a form of self-care. This ensures you’re not rushing to do that paper you forgot about the night before. I plan with my Google Calendar (which I jokingly refer to as my bible), and I put everything in there from coffee dates to laundry. I enable reminders and color code it so it’s easy to look at. On top of my GCal I use a whiteboard calendar and my journal to write due dates and detailed to-do lists. However, it took 10-plus years of paper agendas and various attempts at bullet journalling and using Notion to find this system. The most important part of any system is that you can stick to it!
- Explore and try new things
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Make sure you’re taking time to break up your routine. Make a bucket list at the start of each semester and do something out of the ordinary when you can. Exploring and adventuring makes sure you don’t feel stuck in the library 24/7… it’s all about balance!
- Assess your own capacity with compassion
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The reason you want to have a self-care routine is because you want to practice self-love. So that being said, be honest with yourself: Can you really do 8 clubs, 5 classes, and a job on top of that?! Being sucked into the productive “hustle culture” mentality is so easy to do in college, when there are so many fun things to do and cool people to meet. That said, you know yourself and you know what you need to thrive, so plan for that! If you know that you’re the type to overload yourself, make sure you’re scheduling in the time you need to take a break. If you tend to isolate yourself when you get stressed, make sure you’re scheduling consistent friend hangouts to ensure that you’re getting out of the house. This also means not-judging yourself and listening to your body, we all need rest-days so take those moments so you don’t get sick or burnt out.
To recap, habit forming is a great way to ensure that you succeed, and self-care works into the habits that you have. Remember to be kind to yourself and try your best to be balanced and healthy as school picks up because let’s be real, it’s hard! But you’ve got this!
You may notice I haven’t touched too much on the actual specifics involved in self-care and that’s because it looks so different for everyone and constantly changes as we move through different stages of our lives. Maybe one week the most compassionate form of self-care would be to go out on the town and dance the worries of school away, and the next would be to pull a long day at the library alone to be able to keep your assignments up to date. Self care can look like an unmade bed, or a 6 am pilates class. However, if one thing is for sure it’s that your health is important and you can only be ‘that girl’ if you’re taking care of yourself!