Nowadays the topic of self care comes up more and more. It seams as if people crave to take care for themselves, because the world clearly doesn’t. Even though everyone seams to only care about themselves and that is what we always here, the most essential self care habits are still missing. Consequently people are searching for self care everywhere. But what does it even mean to practice self care and self nourishment?

Self care goes far beyond spending time alone, even though this is usually a good start. Nonetheless scrolling through social media or watching your favorite movie at night alone is not necessarily the kind of self care your soul actually is craving for. Hence you might feel a sense of relief, but probably still also some kind of lack. 

Over the course of my own personal development journey I’ve implemented a couple of essentials in my daily life, that I refer to as “deep self care”. It goes beyond the surface of numbing out emotions and shutting the world off for a minute. And even if this might sound like a lot of work, it truly isn’t so much once you feel and experience the tremendous difference these habits can make. If you want to up level your self care game and raise your energy, keep reading 🙂

#1 Waking up earlier

Oh lord, let me tell you, I’m everything but a early bird. It has been really foreign to me to wake up before 7 AM or even earlier. For some reason I’m such a night owl and feel like I get the most drive to read, dive deep into research mode and learn things in the evening. Sometimes I end up staying awake until past midnight without even realizing it.

The problem is, that my next day was always screwed up when I did that. I would wake up past 9 or even 10 AM and would feel so stressed and exhausted because of all the things I still had to do. Being creative with anxious emotions just doesn’t work though. On top of that I always felt emotionally and energetically depleted, no matter how much I would sleep. Because I was missing the most important thing in my life: enough time for myself!

So I started to wake up earlier. The goal always was 5 AM, but in all honesty, I never make it out of my bed before 6 AM. And I’m okay with that, because it still gives me the freedom of around 3 hours just for myself and my morning routine. 3 !! hours !!!

I can’t even put into words how amazing that is. Of course it was not easy at the beginning. I had to get used to going to bed earlier and that’s probably the thoughts struggle – still to this day. But it’s just a whole new world when I start to work and create around 9 AM after experiencing full 3 hours of all the things that fill me with pleasure and energy, while the rest of the world was still asleep. It’s a game changer!

#2 Journaling

Of course journaling! How could I not mention my favorite thing in the whole world. And for sure, this is part of my morning practice. Journaling actually is the very first thing I do every single day, just after getting my coffee reading and washing my face. I love to write down my thoughts straight after waking up. That way I’ve not been influenced by external things and can only concentrate on my own inner world. Sometimes I even remember dreams, that I would usually forget about (I barely remember dreams). And for the most part I do all of the deep work in my journal. 

Just because I am a little freak about journaling, I actually have five journals I write in.

• Morning Journal
• Gratitude Journal
• Downloads from the universe Journal
• Business Journal (goals + ideas on how to help my clients + create new offers)
• Personal Growth Journal (for courses I take)

Two of them I use every day without fail (gratitude + morning journal) and the others are dedicated to a special topic. So there is no need to write in them every day. This might seam a bit too much, but it makes a lot of sense to me and kind of gives structure to all of the thoughts that I have and the things that I learn.

I’ve always had this vision of being a grandma someday with a huge storage of all the journals I’ve finished over the years. I think it can be so powerful to be able to look back and read about your life.

But obviously for the most part right now, I journal to work on my personal development journey and to manifest my dream life. It’s an outlet for all of the thoughts and downloads I receive. Most of my creative ideas stem from my journal. That’s exactly why I would never want to miss this habit again.

#3 Protecting my energy

“Protect your energy.” – This sentence first hit me during a tarot session. It was meant to be the card, that represents my past and when I read about the meaning, I felt so much clarity. I suddenly knew why I had anorexia for so many years, why I felt neglected and ignored in relationships and had meltdowns very frequently. Of course all of my self care habits help to prevent that in my life right now, but protecting my energy is still one of the most profound things I ever decided to make as a habit.

It means saying yes to me and no to others more often. As a people pleaser this was completely new to me and I was extremely scared to commit to it. But I’ve actually found that a lot more people have respect for me now, that I have these boundaries. Protecting my energy not only means to say no to friends or family members sometimes, it also means having boundaries on social media, being mindful with the amount of content I consume and the kind of content I allow in my life.

With everything I do, I ask myself if it’s supporting the energetic state I want to be in. And if not, I do my best to avoid it. It takes practice, but you’ll feel the benefit. A big part here is definitely also to walk up earlier, so you can allow yourself to have this time frame that nourishes your energy.

#4 Multiple walks daily

I remember hating it when I was little, when we went for family walks on Sunday afternoons. I was full on board with my dad, who also wasn’t a fan of these outdoor activities. Looking back I would be really interested to see the reaction of mini-me when she would know about my daily life now. Because daily walks are such a big part of my routine. I’ve made it a habit for years now to walk outside as much as I can. In the past I would go outside for one big walk, listening to podcasts or music. Nowadays I find it a lot more nourishing and pleasing to go outside multiple times a day for a shorter time period.

Sometimes I answer voice messages or listen to them. Or I listen to podcasts or audiobooks. Walking not only releases negative energy, it also releases excess energy and gets me in a good mood every time. Everything I do or consume while walking is so much more ingrained in my head as well. That’s why I never would want to miss it. (and I truly do on days where I can’t have a couple of walks) Plus it’s always good to get moving, when you work from home, right?

#5 Surrendering to my Human Design

Last but not least I have to talk about the topic of Human Design. You’ve heard me talk about it over and over again. And if you don’t, I invite you to listen to my podcast episode about “What is Human Design?” and basically binge-consume every episode that comes afterwards.

I love to study everything about HD and use it to help my clients find clarity about their energetics blueprint, their purpose and their relationships to others. But embodying what I teach is one of my core values. So naturally I love to experiment with my own design as well. Surrendering to it has been the most interesting journey. It’s a habit I still have to get used to. We all are conditioned from our past. So learning the lessons of that and coming back to my true essence and my natural energy is scary, yet exciting and filled with pleasure and self love. That’s why I love Human Design so much. It’s one of the things that gave me the compassion for myself back and taught me, that I am exactly how I’m meant to be – and there is a reason for that!

What are your self care habits?
I would really love to know! And if you feel like a one of your friends could benefit from one of these habits, please share this blogpost with him or her. It would not only mean the world to your friend, but also to me!

Feel free to reach out to me if you want to learn more about Human Design and your own magic. I always love to chat with you.

Step in Your Magic.

xoxo
Kathi

If you want to learn more about journaling for your spiritual growth + personal development, I invite you to join us in The Life Changing Magic of Journaling. It’s a monthly membership, where you receive a journaling guide every single month. But that’s only the cherry on the cake 🙂 Find out more about TLCMOJ here.