Self-Care Bingo

Bingo Charts are a simple way to cross off goals, milestones, or anything else you're doing. Celebrate yourself after crossing off a row and keep pushing forward to black-out the entire board. Do them at your own pace, adjust where needed, and thank yourself for carving out some extra quality moments for you. No moment is too small!

These are 15 things that have touched corners of healing I realized I really needed and benefitted from. These have helped to ground, and bring me back to myself in a number of ways and in various times. Some are pretty straightforward, some may require a notebook. Keep yourself motivated <3.

Below are references, explanations, and backstories sharing why I feel they matter when checking-in with yourself. Hope you may enjoy and learn some new things about yourself!

1. MAKE YOURSELF A MEAL

Nourish yourself with nutrition, make something that fuels you. Be mindful with the details, and make it special. Bring in good ingredients and good energy. Make this just for you. Put effort into yourself, the set up, and the ambiance.

You'll be your own chef, waiter, and customer. Treat yourself with care and special treatment, romanticize above what you usually do.

This is a perfect time to try recipes you've been curious about, or incorporate ingredients you've been wanting to add to your diet. Ingredients you've never cooked with before.

This year, my friends and I created a virtual Cook Club. We pick a recipe, day, and time per month to cook together on FaceTime. We all have different relationships and backgrounds to being in the kitchen. It's been motivating to have people to learn and cook with together, while in the comfort of our own homes. We're usually surprised at how easy and fun it ends up being.

Every time I cook something for myself, or try something new, I feel that I'm showing myself love and expanding in the way I care for my body.

2. YOGA

This is very much related to the last, keep your machinery GOING.

The more you move your body and tend to any tense, sore, or delicate areas- the more you can strengthen them and avoid future injuries. If keeping active gets away from you, just motivate trust yourself to jump back into it at a good time for you. It's important to keep a healthy relationship to how you keep your body moving and find something you enjoy.

Yoga is an easy intro for any season of your life. Stretching for even a quick 10 minutes will make a noticeable difference and keep you motivated to try more. Whether you're a full on Yogi, or a beginner, try a session and see how it makes you feel!

There are a ton of options, you don't even need to step foot into a class, or buy a mat at first. Grab a towel, follow along to videos on YouTube and let that be a start.

If you're confident in this area, try a new location, or group for a class setting. Feel free to replace this with any activity that you look forward to and increases your heart rate.

I enjoy Yoga With Adriene on YouTube because she has a variety of options, lengths in classes, and a very approachable tone for any skill level.

I've been working on a playlist of things you can do at home to get your blood flowing. These include some of Adriene's videos, Pilates challenges, and at home Barre exercises.

Be easy on yourself, listen to your body, and stay open minded!

Yoga teaches you to find your breath, connect with yourself, and be in your own flow. Look up poses to practice, follow along to guided sessions online, or look into classes near you if you prefer an in-person experience.

3. REST DAY

Resting is crucial, and good for you. Resting does not make you weak, we all need it. Trust your body when it's asking for rest and don't shame yourself for it. It's more beneficial for you to set aside some recovery time than recovering from burn out or injuries.

Everyone's relationship to rest varies. When you put time into having a healthy relationship to it, you help yourself avoid any guilt that might come up. We weren't all brought up believing that rest is a productive thing to do.

Be open minded, see what your body naturally feels like when you start incorporating rest days for yourself. Ask yourself if it's boredom, anxiety, or something else. Keep a healthy balance for yourself.

It can look different for everyone, the point is to not overly exert yourself and tire yourself out so constantly. Ask people in your inner circle how they rest and what their relationship to it looks like. You'll either learn new versions for each other or spark up a conversation for somebody who needs more of it.

Being someone who was constantly on the go a lot, my nervous system as a whole has benefitted from refining and redefining the ways I rest and how I incorporate self-care. Simplify your days where you can, schedule your phone and app notifications to best suit you. Rest your nerves and headspace here.

Disconnect a bit and don't let any distractions take precedence. Do something you can engage with that doesn't tire you out.

Listening to an album front to back, a new Movie, TV series, Books, Audiobooks. Do anything that brings you peace. Crafting, Baking, Art, Music, Cleaning, decluttering.

A larger step would look like scheduling yourself a massage, or doing a home spa day. Perfect time to trim /do your nails, do a face or hair mask. Pamper yourself a bit and build upon that.

4. DRINK LOTS OF WATER

Make hydrating yourself a bigger deal than it already is. Anything more than your current situation is a great start, research hydration calculators online if you really want to get more technical.

Make it enjoyable! Get yourself a nice water bottle, add fruit, chia seeds, or herbs to your water. There are tons of ways to get creative with your water intake. Try different coconut, cucumber, or watermelon waters and juices if you feel like switching things up. The difference your body feels between being hydrated and dehydrated is so noticeable! Your energy levels will thank you and it's a great way to avoid headaches or migraines.

5. FACED A FEAR

This one can be as big or as small as you decide. You'll get the ball rolling after you see how simple and freeing it is.

Start by taking inventory of what you put on this list. Big or small fears. Reason with yourself on where they stem from and acknowledge the reasons that may be. What truths do you find in these now that they're out for you to look at? Taking the time to do this on it's own is already facing these fears and takes a lot of honesty.

How do you define fear? Try not to judge yourself, notice if you do, and respect your limits.

Be your biggest supporter and don't hold yourself back. Stay safe, of course, but challenge yourself out of your comfort zone and see what that feels like.

It usually brings on nerves before and while we're in our head about whatever it is. Once you're taking space and doing it, it'll build a lot more confidence in yourself.

6. HEAL A NARRATIVE

Narratives are the stories we, our communities, society, and the world tell ourselves and to each other. They provide the framework to understanding perspectives, how we operate, and experiences in life. It's not a bad thing to sit and reevaluate these though. This has helped me separate my own voice and opinions from anything outside of myself. It's a time to refine the perspectives and stories you continually choose to carry forward.

Some are passed down, we can make our own, or we're taught a variety of narratives throughout life from our outer worlds. They shape us from the inside out. Healing a Narrative will take real mental inventory through observations and some journaling.

How do you define a narrative, and what comes to mind when you first hear this?

Revisit times you felt in your gut that you were connected or disconnected from any perspective or rule. Ask yourself why you do the things you do, and for whom or what purpose.

What narratives, paradigms, or models are you operating under or surrounded by? Note the ones you're aware of and any others that require more digging. Study yourself like your favorite subject, master yourself <3.

Do any of them hold you back? How much do you believe them and why? What are some inner and outer examples? Ask yourself what your true perspective is and what "rules" that would operate under.

Lots of questions! I think it's normal to be in your head about these things for a little until you get more comfortable with the conversations that come up. Trust your intuition to guide you, it usually does when you're paying attention. The key ingredient here is choosing which narratives you agree to live by and keep with you. Different seasons in our lives allow for a variety of depth on this topic, and whatever we're currently willing to process. Be patient with yourself.

Give yourself the chance to detach from any narratives you want to shed off or rewrite. Respect the space between your truth and where you'd like to grow. With this, we can explore our mindsets and visit different perspectives. That's helped me acknowledge where I am in the process of the experience, seeing the narrative, and understanding it's effects.

7. HELD MYSELF ACCOUNTABLE

This will depend on your relationships with responsibility, perspective, and self-discipline. Take a moment to understand what all these mean to you, and how you've been brought up to see them.

Where in life do you hold responsibility and what does that look like? Do you take note of your work with trust, pride, value? Aside from yourself; who oversees, comments on, or validates you and your work? Don't downplay your roles and accomplishments.

Integrity ties in and how you define it. This touches on a lot of areas in life, like how we show up and why. What we do when nobody's looking and how much we care about it all. Acknowledging that the things we do take effect in more places than one.

As simple as taking accountability when a mess is made, getting through a miscommunication, or how we individually cope. Being honest with ourselves and taking accountability where it's needed is lighter on us all around.

8. LEARN SOMETHING NEW

Get into a new hobby you've been wanting to try, take a quick class, or research a new skill. Learn something you never would've expected to, or something you've always been curious about. You can choose how long you want the journey to be, and how often. Learn this on your own time.

Learning new things keeps us fresh minded. It's rewarding to have an exciting and healthy relationship for yourself in a learning environment. We also meet more versions of ourselves in the process.

Accepting that we don't know everything, letting ourselves be teachable, and supporting our inner students. It's okay to change some things or discover new ones. Curate an environment that's healthy for learning and being teachable.

9. YOUR PICK

The most important one! Anything you feel like adding here. It can be another rest day, a day of play, a day to catch up with work, writing a letter to a version of yourself. What's coming to mind now? Follow it through.

Do something you'll feel gratified with and don't force it. Take your time in deciding, but make it your choice for you and trust your instincts.

10. VALIDATED MYSELF

Be your best supporter, seek validation from within yourself versus from an outside source. A time to have faith in your capabilities, and reaffirm them.

It can look like you trusting your intuition and following through, finding out you were onto something all along. Affirming your choices and actions when they feel right, without the need of anyone else's input or opinions. But, it's not being arrogant.

Allowing your feelings and experiences to exist, without judgment to yourself. Check-in and hold this space for you. You're choosing to allow yourself to feel safe and accepted regardless of the circumstances and boosting your confidence on the way.

11. TAKE YOURSELF OUT (SOLO DATE)

Get ready, put in some extra effort, wear something that makes you feel really good, and go somewhere you've always wanted to. A specific place, restaurant, or anything you've had your mind on. Now is the time to check that place off.

Be present with yourself, appreciate your efforts, and cater to your needs today. Treat yourself like the best date you've ever been on. Adhere to the standards of what you'd want to experience and be adventurous.

12. EXTRA LONG BATH TIME / "EVERYTHING" SHOWER

This is the "everything" shower, or bath. Use the extra scalp and body scrubs, masks, bring out all of your self-care items.

If you have a bathtub, even better! Set up candles, music, a book, snacks, tea. Make this the most luxurious cleanse you've given yourself.

13. POSITIVE SELF-TALK

Keep inventory of the tone of your self-talk. Take a step back and observe if you need to refine or implement anything.

This isn't about toxic positivity, you need to actually believe the good things you wish to infuse into your mindset. It'll get there. Build upon what you know, and work out the rest. Check yourself wherever you start to doubt, and ask yourself why a certain mind frame exists. Don't be so quick to judge yourself, give yourself grace.

Be aware, celebrate yourself some more, and reflect on all of the accomplishments you've been knocking out throughout the day, week, etc.

Consistent and consecutive positive self talk opens avenues for a better internal dialogue and mind frame. Stand up for yourself if you ever fall off. Don't let any of your negative self-talk go unchecked and adjust it where you need. You deserve to be your biggest supporter and to cultivate a healthy relationship with yourself.

14. DON'T BOTHER ARGUING

Don't die on that hill.

A lot of the things we argue about don't always deserve all energy they get.

At it's core, it's remembering to not let yourself be too negatively affected by outside things, to not take things personally, and discerning between what does or doesn't require levels of acknowledgment. Save it for the important things. When it doesn't contribute to the best versions of ourselves, our safety, or the relationships we value- it's sometimes not worth the fight.

This challenges you to save some energy and discern where to speak up for yourself, something, or someone. It's not always one or the other, and there will definitely be times where you feel better for speaking out.

If you grew up holding your tongue and kept most of your thoughts and opinions private, this can later turn into feeling a stronger desire to speak out, argue back, or questioning people. This was the case for me, over time I've learned where to polish the edges that needed it, and to keep my peace a priority.

It takes arguing too much, or speaking out too little when you start looking at communication and energy spent. It's refreshing to check-in and reevaluate your current stance, and where you'd like to grow. Communicating with people in an honest and safe environment helps this flourish.

15. CONNECT

Check-in! With yourself, with others, and the important things in your life.

With yourself: Ask yourself questions, affirm or check recent thoughts, events, and feelings. Where you're at, what you need, what you'd like, what you care about, and why.

With others: Check to see if you've missed any important calls or texts, get in touch with family, close friends. If someone's come to mind, let them know and reach out. Have things to look forward to together.

The balance in these reminds us of the things we care about, and why. It helps answer our "Why" in the world.

Why we're doing what we're doing, within work, school, life.

Why we care about it, who we envision in our lives, and what we want it all to look like.

If you're ever feeling disconnected, it's okay to be vulnerable and honest. First with yourself, then with others. Don't let yourself venture too far away from you <3.

Hope these go well for you, I'm wishing you lots of love while you check some or all of these off. Stay curious about yourself and keep tending to yourself.