15 Self-Care Ideas For Bad Days That’ll Help You Get Back On Track

Self-care is an urgent call for us to take care of and prioritize ourselves, especially on tough days. We all have crappy days from time to time. When they hit, it’s important to have a list of self-care ideas for bad days to make ourselves feel better… faster!

Every day we are reminded of how tough life can be. There are problems with work, family, relationships or careers.

Things don’t go the way we want them to be. Unexpected turns of events happen. So, it is essential to take care of ourselves.

Self-care is not being selfish. It’s a necessary thing to do to keep up good physical and mental health to get through tough days.

Sometimes all we need is a reminder with some motivational quotes on self-love. But other days we need to do things to get past the hurdles.

What are some things that you can add to your list of self-care ideas for bad days?

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1/ Read A Self-Help Book

We often see successful people emphasizing reading self-help books. There’s something to it!

There are tons of benefits to reading. From gaining knowledge and new perspectives, tuning in to your goals, getting out of your comfort zone, the list goes on.

However, one important benefit includes reducing stress and alleviating depression. When you’re having a bad day, take your favorite books and re-read them. You can listen to audiobooks too. 

2/ Call A Friend

Okay, you’re having a tough day, but what can you do?

Call a friend you can trust and rely on. Call a close friend and be vulnerable to what happened this day. Chances are, you will get responses like “Everything is going to be all right.” “All is well”.

Words from a true friend are comforting and they provide us with a kinder and useful alternative to combat difficult days.

3/ Treat Yourself To A Coffee Shop Or Café Visit

One way to take care of yourself in tough times is to visit a café.

This gives you a change of environment and brings in a calm feeling. Consider the soothing, enjoyable sweet aroma of coffee brewing. Often there’s jazzy, light music playing that’s pleasing to one’s ears.

Enjoying your coffee and having a read or talking to a friend is perfect. What I love to do when I am in a café is to look outside and observe people passing by.

Such an experience stimulates our endorphins. They are responsible for enhancing our mood and increasing our pleasure; hence, causing us to feel happy and feeling good about ourselves.

I highly recommend treating yourself to a coffee shop or café visit. If you’re not a coffee drinker, just treat yourself with anything you love doing. 

4/ Listen To Your Favourite Uplifting Music

Music can do so much magic to us.

A powerful quote worth mentioning is that “music heals anything”.

Believe in the magic of music. My favorite playlist is instrumental and I really enjoy the music of Rachel Platten. Her work is truly uplifting, motivating, and healing. Music heals bad days. Try it!

5/ Listen Or Connect With Inspiring People On Clubhouse

If you haven’t heard about Clubhouse yet, it is a new platform for social networking.

It was launched in 2020. The premise is that you can connect with other people by talking with them. The catch is you have to get an invitation to join the Clubhouse app and it’s only available on iPhone users. I recently joined Clubhouse and I’m already obsessed with the app. I’m more of a listener so I’m content with listening to inspiring talks.

Follow and listen to talks that resonate with you and use them to get through bad days. The emergence of this pandemic has somewhat closed doors to physical interaction, however in Clubhouse, you get to connect with real people.

6/ Take A Warm Bath

Did you know that the Japanese take a bath almost every day? They do it after dinner or just before going to bed.

Bath culture in Japan has long been valued as purifying thing. There’s a reason why Japanese people love warm baths. It’s relaxing, cleanses your body, and gives you a refreshment.

So try taking a bath to get through your bad day!

7/ Watch Friends On Netflix

Who doesn’t want to watch Friends? Everyone wants a place where we can be ourselves and the show values friendship so much. But it doesn’t stop there, it can be help taking care of yourself on a tough day.

When I watched Friends for the first time, it was all laughter, fun, love, friendship, and life realizations. The show does the magic of bringing joy and laughter to us. I highly recommend it.

8/ Write A Letter To Yourself

End a bad day by writing a letter to yourself.

Declare what it is that made it difficult to process your emotions. Look for the lesson in the situation and find something for which you can be grateful. Let go of what happened today, don’t hold onto the negative. Reset your day to have a fresh start the next morning

It’s impossible to seize the day while you hold to yesterday.

9/ Switch Off To Your Happy Place

A happy place is somewhere you can unwind, have a break and feel at ease. It is somewhere you can be yourself.

There’s a reason it’s called a happy place – the things you do in this place are the those you enjoy, making you happy.

When days get tough and overwhelming, head over to your happy place and switch off. Put away your phone so you can disconnect from social media. Read a bit, enjoy a piece of cake, sing songs, write or do anything that makes you feel good.

What is your happy place?

10/ Bake Or Cook Something

Whenever you feel like you’ve reached the rock bottom of your day, bake or cook something!

Search for recipes you’ve been wanting to try and make them. Discover new recipes that will potentially delight you. Change may be something that can bring positivity to your day.

11/ Be In Nature

Find serenity in nature!

There are a couple of reasons why this is on the list. First, studies are beginning to discover that being in nature has a profound impact on our mood and mental health. Spending time in nature can make a positive contribution to your day.

Visit a river, take a mindful walk along the river. Pay attention to the sound of the water. Play with the sand or stones. Notice the colors of nature. Touch and smell the flowers. They are beautiful reminders that you can turn a tough day into a good one. Pick some flowers and keep them in a vase.

12/ Sleep And Rest

There’s no need to do complex self-care activities for bad days. Sometimes all you need is to get a solid eight-hour sleep and rest. You deserve it!

| Related: Creating A Bedtime Ritual For A Good Night’s Sleep

13/ Enjoy Some Alone Time

One of the best self-care ideas for bad days is to spend time by yourself.

Clear your mind of all the thoughts and connect with yourself. Sit in a quiet place and close your eyes to avoid distractions.

Disconnect from your phone and other people. Take some time alone.

What do you enjoy doing alone? Do it and you’ll find peace of mind.  You can go to the cinema and pick a random movie. Go to the mall if shopping is your thing. Read books and stay home alone.

As someone wise said spending some time alone can help you recharge. Replace the negative energy with a good one and watch the magic happens.

| Related: 30 “Me-Time” Moments For Busy Moms

14/ Meditate

If you’re feeling frustrated, meditate!

If you’re having a bad day, meditate.

And if you’re feeling stuck, meditate!

It seems to be the best course of action to take when such circumstances happen.

Take a deep breath to the bottom of your stomach. Hold it for a few seconds, and slowly breathe out. Notice the vibration of everything and use your senses to feel everything around you.

Focus on your breath and heal your mind from what happened today.

When practicing meditation, you can regain your perspective and instead of shouting “Ugh! It was a stressful day today!” you can put yourself in a better place to deal with it.

15/ Create A Vision Board

The universe is riddled with miracles and making a vision board is one way to invite these miracles into our lives.

It’s a way to visualize your dream, see and feel your success. Come up with images that represent your goals. It is such an effective thing to do when you’re experiencing difficult circumstances. Indeed, we cannot control things to happen, but we can control our response. If life throws stress at you, respond with crafting your vision board and revisit it every day.

Adopt These Self-Care Ideas For Bad Days

I just want to congratulate you on making it to the end of this post. You’re probably now officially obsessed with the idea of self-care.

In practicing self-care, we can prioritize ourselves and combat difficult times. Now that you got some ideas, it’s time to put them into practice.

As I’ve noted, reading self-help books provides a great place, to begin with. Borrow some of these ideas and try to implement them. Remember to treat yourself and do the things that make you happy such as listening to your favorite music, visiting a café, or spend time with nature.

Need some more ideas for self-care activities? Check out this list of 10 uplifting winter self-care tips.

About The Author

This article is a guest post from Ali of share to Inspire blog. She is a self-growth enthusiast, and she created this platform to inspire and empower fellow women in the aspects of personal growth, productivity, relationships, and finance. Visit share to inspire blog and get some fresh inspiration.