Show Yourself Some Love: Make A De-Stresser List

          Hello friends! Lately I've been feeling stressed and sad, between upcoming finals and all my extracurriculars, and I've realized that I really need to become more mindful of how to manage and dissolve this stress and sadness. I started thinking about self-love strategies, and one that I thought of was making a list of simple things to do to uplift yourself. So today, I sat down for a little while and banged this list out, with a little help from this article by Gala Darling. I've provided my list to you below, so that you can get ideas for making your own de-stressed list.

1. call a friend or family member
2. dance
3. work out
4. make plans to do something fun
5. turn off your cellphone for as long as you can
6. turn off your laptop for as long as you can
7. read a book
8. read a book outside
9. put together/try on new outfits
10. put on an outfit you look nice in and do your makeup
11. do an assignment ahead of time
12. leave a day in the future unscheduled so you can look forward to it
13. go to a quiet place and do your work for as long as you can
14. try a Pinterest project
15. go for a long walk by yourself
16. go to the beach alone
17. go to the beach with a friend
18. talk to a friend you haven’t talked to in a while
19. watch an episode of  a TV show that relaxes you and makes you feel good (my absolute favorite for this is Gilmore Girls!)
20. ask one of your friends to come over and give you a hug, or go to their house
21. think of all the things and possibilities you are grateful for
22. go over your calendar and make sure it’s up to date, then reward yourself with reading or a video (or whatever you like)
23. go through your email and delete stuff for 30 minutes, then reward yourself with reading or a video
24. go downtown by yourself and hang out in a cafe or a bookshop
25. do something you’ve been procrastinating on
26. do something you’re afraid of doing but also want to do
27. write notes to ten of your friends telling them how much you love them
28. clean your space
29. review your goals and see if your can work on something
30. write in your ideas journal for 20 minutes. if you don't have one, start one!
31. stretch for 20 minutes
32. moisturize your whole body
33. do a yoga or zumba class on youtube
34. try meditating for 5 minutes
35. try a guided meditation
36. write multiple lists of everything you want. Material possessions, relationships, work, lifestyle, everything. Pin them up by your door so you see them all the time. - Gala Darling
37. get something nice for yourself on Etsy 
38. write a letter to your future self
39. journal for 30 minutes
40. make a patch.
41. make a drawing
42. write a blog post
43. cast a spell for self love and good fortune
44. give someone a compliment that is not about physical appearance 
45. make a list of the things you want to do to celebrate the upcoming season. - Gala Darling
46. write down a dream you had, and look up its supposed meaning. 
47. listen to music you don’t normally
48. go to a place people walk their dogs and hang out with fuzzy friends
49. watch funny videos of Bill Hader and Chris Farley
50. do the inversion method to see if it works!!
51. do a journal prompt
52. list all the good things that have happened to you in the past week
53. do something nice for someone else. 
54. work on an individual wellness plan

         Now that you've seen my list, I hope it can help you generate your own ideas for taking care of yourself and making yourself feel better. For a little more help, google self-care tips or something similar. There are plenty of ideas out there. 

         Once you've created your de-stressed list, you must implement it. This can be done in several ways. One idea I like is writing all these suggestions down on pieces of paper and putting them in a box or jar. When you feel really sad or stressed, get the jar and pull out a slip of paper, then perform the action the piece of paper suggests. Another good idea is to implement a 30 Day Challenge, which is what I've decided to do. Doing a 30 day challenge is a good option if you're feeling super stressed and really want to implement some goodness into you everyday life. The way I built my 30 day challenge was by plugging this list into a random number generator until I had 30 choices picked out. So, here is my 30 day challenge:

Day 1: dance

Day 2: go downtown by yourself and hang out in a cafe or a bookshop

Day 3: make a list of the things you want to do to celebrate the upcoming season

Day 4: go to a place people walk their dogs and hang out with fuzzy friends

Day 5: write a letter to your future self

Day 6: go over your calendar and make sure it’s up to date, then reward yourself with reading or a video (or whatever you like)

Day 7: go through your email and delete stuff for 30 minutes, then reward yourself with reading or a video

Day 8: write multiple lists of everything you want. Material possessions, relationships, work, lifestyle, everything. Pin them up by your door so you see them all the time.

Day 9: watch an episode of  a TV show that relaxes you and makes you feel good (my absolute favorite for this is Gilmore Girls!)

Day 10: cast a spell for self love and good fortune

Day 11: do something you’re afraid of doing but also want to do

Day 12: write down a dream you had, and look up its supposed meaning

Day 13: put on an outfit you look nice in and do your makeup

Day 14: do an assignment ahead of time

Day 15: make a patch

Day 16: work on a piece for Rookie

Day 17: leave a day in the future unscheduled so you can look forward to it

Day 18: Do the inversion method to see if it works!!

Day 19: ask one of your friends to come over and give you a hug, or go to their house

Day 20: go to the beach alone

Day 21: write a blog post

Day 22: turn off your cellphone for as long as you can

Day 23: put together/try on new outfits

Day 24: try meditating for 5 minutes

Day 25: read a book outside

Day 26: make a drawing

Day 27: list all the good things that have happened to you in the past week

Day 28: work on an individual wellness plan

Day 29: clean your space

Day 30: try a Pinterest project

     I'll let you guys know how it goes in an upcoming post! Hopefully you all find this helpful :)

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