Tips for Self-Care – The Funky Thrifter

I’ve been making extra effort lately to take small things under my notice. I’m not naturally observant when it comes to my surroundings; I’m too distracted by my own ideas and other people, so I have to force myself to focus on my environment. I don’t want to miss something worth seeing.

I was thinking today about intentionally taking time to stop and notice things, in the hopes that my kids will grow to do the same as adults.

Here a few things we did that gave me a little bit of joy:

Stopping To Look At The Sky

There was a rainbow facing us when I was driving, so we pulled over to take pictures of it hanging over the rooftops. My daughter was so excited about it; I don’t know if she has ever seen a real rainbow before, than in Peppa Pig. It it was special seeing her reaction to something we could have just unthinkingly driven past.

Cheering Up Your House On A Budget

We went to the pound shop, which is one of my favourite things to do with my kids. We got some daisy fairy lights and a light-up bunny to make a little Easter display. My kids loved helping put them up and they only cost £2 🙂 It looks a bit like a bunny disco, but in my view, that’s not a bad thing. I might keep it there year-long.

A Snack With A View

I got my daughter a snack in the pound shop and I had a £1 cup of tea in a food court. It has a good view over parts of the city and the hills. If I can’t immediately get into nature I like to watch it from a window and remind myself that it’s still there sometimes 🙂 My daughter enjoyed pointing to things through its dome-like window. You just have to look beyond dismal shop fronts to notice it.

Free Soft Play And Warm Tea

Another bonus to the food court is that they have a play area that your kids can run about in while you get to sit and enjoy your drink. It was much less stressful than a café that considers children undesirables and regards you with disdain until you close the door behind you 🙂

Reading A Free Magazine

I picked up a free magazine with lists of kids’ events and ideas of free things to attend. It included craft ideas and some of the articles are really well written. You can find them in a lot of shops and might pass them by, but they give you a lot of interesting information you mightn’t have come across otherwise.

Driving In A Sun Shower

I drove to a friend’s house and it was a lovely drive because the sun was making its way pushily through grey cloud. There is something I love about sun showers: the meeting of two opposing seasons in one sky. And driving past nothing but fields feels really freeing.

Which little parts of your day did you like the most?

I always find when I’m feeling negative that if I physically create something positive it shifts my mindset. Over-thinking can leave you feeling incapacitated, but if you can take some sort of small, positive action it helps you to quiet your worries.

Here are a few ideas of things to do to feel more positive:

Clear things out. Throwing things out makes you feel like you’re getting rid of the crap that’s in your head too. Having less visible clutter makes you feel more at peace (which is why mine is mostly shoved into cupboards. Out of sight, out of mind, at least until it falls on my head.) Bagging up items to give to charity is a good form of distraction too.
Buy a notebook with a cheerful cover or caption on it. Get a new pen and start a journal with a huge to-do list of only pleasant things. (No boring or dreaded reminders allowed.)
Plan a nearby holiday. It could be camping, staying in a cheap B&B in a town you don’t know well or visiting a friend. Give yourself a budget and plan for a few months away. It feels more attainable than a big summer holiday overseas.
Get supplies for a new project. Learn how to make jewellery, learn a new language, start painting. Get supplies in the pound shop or discount book shops.
Make a calendar just to pencil in books you want to read each month/week, or in my case, year.
Make fudge and when you’re finished eat all of it 🙂
Make a gift basket or hamper for someone you know.
Empty your wardrobe and put everything back in new outfit combinations.
Buy writing icing, sparkly sprinkles and confetti and decorate buns or a cake in a really extravagant way.
Make mood playlists. “Hyped up mood/chilled out mood/happy mood/get me out of this grumpy mood bloody quickly” music.
Write someone you usually text a handwritten letter.
Change a room around. Add small decorations or move furniture around to give it a new feel.
Sit in a dark room filled with candles and enjoy silence. If you don’t have a fireplace listen to videos online of the sound of fire crackling.
Have a hot shower with your favourite scent of shower gel. It’s good to have one to wake you up and one to put you to sleep. At the minute, mine are a lemon and chilli one and a marshmallow one.
Put up fairy lights for no reason.
Make cocktails and appetisers just for yourself.
Go back to paper reading. Have a magazine-reading marathon.
Have a picnic somewhere tranquil where all you can hear is water, leaves rustling or birds.
I read in one of my kids’ books that if you’re worried you should draw lots of clouds to help your worries float away. I wonder if thirty is too old for this type of thing? I imagine it to be quite relaxing.
Get new sheets, spray them with lavender and have a restorative sleep (if you have kids, obviously skip step three.)

What do you like to do when you’re having a bad day?

Category: Tips for Self-Care

Having A Good Day In Little Ways