28 Day Challenge For Self Love
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Written By: Shannon Sweeney
Before you can love someone else, you need to learn to love yourself. Focusing on self love isn’t just for the fun of it — it’s genuinely something that can have a great impact on not only your mental health, but your physical health too. Practicing self love helps reduce stress and emphasizes positive body image, inspires better physical health, and so much more.
To help inspire you, we’ve created a 28-day self love challenge focusing directly on self care. Each day, check each of these items off the list — and when you’re done, we hope you’ll carry over your favorites. Self love shouldn’t stop at the end of the challenge— if anything, you should be inspired to practice some of these self love routines all year long.
28 Days To More Self Love Challenge
Day 1: Take a deep breath once an hour
Deep breathing is one of the best ways to relieve stress in the body to help you relax. Set a timer to remind you to do this through the day for a quick break from your daily grind.
Day 2: Stretch and meditate
Stretching is another physical way to dispose of built-up stress in your body. Try some gentle yoga stretching with some meditation exercises — you can find tons of examples online depending on what you’re comfortable with doing.
Day 3: Journal for 15 minutes
Write about things that bothered you today, things that went well, or whatever you’re thinking about — journaling is a great way to vent and get things off your chest.
Day 4: Clean out your closet
Get rid of things that don’t bring you joy, right? Thanks, Marie Kondo. Cleaning your closet will give you a great sense of accomplishment and a fresh start — does that old sweater bring you joy? If not, donate it!
Day 5: Take care of things you’ve been procrastinating
Whether this is going through piles of mail on your kitchen table, cleaning out your car, or a house project, spend the day completing it. Finally crossing whatever that is off your to do list will make you feel accomplished!
Day 6: Make yourself an amazing dinner
What’s a meal that you’ve been dying to try and make? Stop thinking about it and do it! Google a recipe, find one that you love, and make it for yourself at home. Bonus points if you don’t use your phone while you eat — allow yourself to enjoy the delicious creation you’ve prepared.
Day 7: Go on a long walk
Get some fresh air and go on a walk before work, during your lunch break, or right when you get home. Be with yourself and your thoughts, focus on your breathing, and experience your surroundings — this will help relieve stress and get you moving.
Day 8: Buy yourself some flowers
Fresh flowers brighten any room. Pick out your favorite bouquet and put it on display in your home.
Day 9: Spend a whole day doing something you love
Whether this is reading, shopping, doing outside activities, or something else, spend a whole day dedicated to doing what you love.
Day 10: Make a list of your accomplishments and hang it where you can see
What’re you most proud of? Write it down and put it where you’ll see it every day. When you’re feeling down or need a boost, take a look at this list to remind you of everything you’ve accomplished — we all need a reminder of that sometimes.
Day 11: Keep a journal of what you eat for the day
Are you eating enough vegetables? Are you drinking enough water? By taking note of what you eat during the day, you can easily take a look at your eating habits to see if anything needs adjustment. This is NOT meant to start a diet — it’s meant for you to make sure your meals are balanced.
Day 12: Drink more water
Are you actually drinking enough water? A glass here and there might not be enough. As a general rule, you should drink at least half of your weight in ounces of water. So if you weigh 150, drink at least 75 oz of water a day.
Day 13: Start learning a new skill
What’s something you’ve been dying to try? Make an effort today to start that skill — schedule a lesson, look online for instructional videos or books, and start working toward that new goal.
Day 14: Take yourself out for a spa day
Treat yourself to a manicure and pedicure, get a facial, sit in a sauna — whatever you want to do. Pamper yourself!
Day 15: Write a positive note to yourself on your mirror
Using a sticky note or erasable marker, write something positive to yourself that you’ll look at in the morning. Wish yourself luck on your work presentation, tell yourself you’re beautiful, or anything else to inspire you to go out there and do your best.
Day 16: Spend a day off of social media
Social media can make us compare ourselves against others, which can make us feel like we’re not enough. Spend the day without that unnecessary stress and focus on yourself instead.
Day 17: Treat yourself to your favorite dessert
Buy or make your favorite dessert and treat yourself to it at the end of the day.
Day 18: Sleep in
Put one day on the calendar this month to sleep in — no alarms! Let your body naturally wake up when it feels ready to wake up.
Day 19: Make a list of your short-term and long-term goals
Checking your goals off your list will give you a sense of accomplishment — and you can add them to your ever-growing list of accomplishments as a reminder of how hardworking you really are.
Day 20: Book a day trip
Look at different things to do around where you live and book a day trip. This could be to a museum, a park, a lake, or somewhere else that you’ve never explored.
Day 21: Say no to something that doesn’t make you happy
If going out with friends won’t make you happy, don’t go! Allow yourself to say no — listen to what your body is telling you.
Day 22: Diffuse essential oils
Essential oils help relieve stress, promotes better sleep, boosts our immune systems, and more. Invest in an oil diffuser and some essential oils and experience the benefits of essential oils.
Day 23: Do something that makes you laugh out loud
Watch something on Netflix, go to a comedy show, or something else that will make you laugh — laughing out loud decreases stress hormones and triggers the release of good endorphins.
Day 24: Go phoneless for all three meals
For all meals today, don’t scroll on your phone. Instead, give yourself time to focus on what you’re eating and let your mind relax.
Day 25: Organize your workspace
This will make your workplace feel less stressful and will make you feel like you have a fresh start, even if you’ve been working in the same area for years.
Day 26: Give yourself 5 compliments throughout the day and write them down
Having a great hair day? Did you finish a project at work? Did you make yourself an amazing lunch? Compliment yourself and write it down!
Day 27: Evaluate your morning routine
Maybe you’re getting up to late or not allowing enough time to fully prepare for your day. Look at your morning routine and look for ways to improve.
Day 28: Write yourself a letter to read in the future
Writing a personal letter to yourself is one of the most intimate acts of self love. Write yourself a letter about where you are and where you hope to be in the future, whether that’s in your career, improving your mental health, or accepting yourself for who you are. Give your future self advice from your current self. Put a timestamp on it and don’t open it until then! When you open it, it’ll be a reminder that no matter where you are in life, there’s always a chance for a fresh start.
As you complete these, cross them off and take notes of your favorite ones. Moving forward, continue doing your favorites to keep promoting self love — self-love not only feeds your soul, but your spirit, emotional well-being, and your physical health. And if you can fully love and appreciate yourself, you’ll be better at loving others.
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