There are eight daily habits specific to my physical and mental health that I’ve started tracking. Right now, I am working and studying from home. If I don’t set some intentions or goals, I tend to waste time, lose motivation, and fall into a funk. I am five days in, and I have been loving spending more time on myself instead of doing things for other people. Here are the eight daily habits I’ve started tracking:

Vitamins

Currently, I am using up my remaining Care/of vitamin packets. In addition, I am also taking Vitamin C. I am not a medical professional, but I know I have benefited from taking some additional multivitamins and supplements – especially the Vitamin C. In my bullet journal, I check off whether or not I took vitamins that day.

Hydration

Luckily, drinking water and taking vitamins go hand and hand. As soon as I wake up, I refill my water bottle and try to finish it throughout the day. Later in the afternoon, I’ll fill it back up and drink water throughout the evening. Right now, I’m nowhere near drinking my body weight or even half my body weight in water, but I’m making an effort. For tracking purposes, I write down how many ounces of water I drank.

Skincare

I recently saw a post that said, “going to bed with makeup can age your skin up to seven times faster.” Right now, I am wearing minimal makeup. However, seeing that post was a wake-up call (literally.) I know I need to do a better job taking my makeup off and washing my face more consistently. The same thing with taking vitamins, I give myself a check if I wash my face at night.

Sleep

I am 100% a night owl. I blame getting inspiration late at night and wanting to stay up to work. To function in a working world, you typically have to be awake when other people are awake (LOL.) Rather than setting a “bedtime,” I have instead started setting a wake-up time. Walking up at 8:30 a.m., regardless of whether I’m tired, helps me maintain a good working schedule. For sleep, I try to keep track of what time I went to bed and whether or not I was up at 8:30 a.m.

Unplug

In order to reduce my overall screen time, I make sure I am unplugging from electronics for at least an hour. I’ll actually set a timer on my phone and work on another activity. It might be reading a book, writing out my to do list, doing a load laundry, reviewing my notes – you name it. As long as it does not involve a screen, I give myself a star for not checking my phone during that hour.

Read

My official Goodreads 2021 Reading Challenge is 40 books. You can find me on Goodreads here. Fortunately, unplugging and reading go hand in hand. For me, reading a couple of pages is the easy part. Picking up the book is what I have been struggling with. I don’t read for a certain length or for a certain amount of time, I just read.

Move

I’ll be the first to admit, there have been numerous days where I have moved less than 1,000 steps, maybe even 500. I know, I know. It’s awful. However, I am making more of an effort to move my body. In a perfect world, I’d hit 10,000 steps. I’m trying to settle for 5,000 steps. Also, I’m trying to stretch regularly. Nothing super drastic, just putting my legs to work while I’m working remotely.

Declutter

Decluttering is probably my favorite self-care habit. The goal is to declutter five things a day to tackle all of my “stuff.” For me, “declutter” is defined as throwing away trash, putting clothes into my donation bin, or tossing things into the recycling bin. Finish up a roll of paper towels? I put the cardboard tube in the recycling bin and count that as one of the five. I wear a shirt only to be uncomfortable with its’ fit the entire time I wear it? It goes in the donation bin. This method is a lot more effective than me trying to “Marie Kondo” my space. I like being able to clean without making a larger mess in the process.

A lot of these things I should be doing already, but the extra incentive with tracking has really motivated me. Anything to help get me back on track is a win in my book! Let me know if you track similar habits or if you have a different system. I’d love to hear from you!

Talk soon,
Lydia