10 Selfcare Activities You Can Do in Five Minutes or Less

by DuenieMarch 26, 202213 Comments

This blog post is not about bubble baths or spa dates which have become synonymous with self-care. While we love both practices, we know time can be a struggle, so we have curated ten simple self-care activities that take 5 minutes or less to pull off but leave you feeling great – mentally and physically.

Drink water. Drinking water keeps you hydrated. Don’t wait till you feel thirsty to drink water (by then you are dehydrated). If you get bloated easily like me, try increasing you water intake. I am not going to tell you that it would clear your skin and all but drinking water is good for regulating your body temperature and getting things moving along nicely (wink). Quick tip: Use a water bottle to keep track of your water intake. 2- 3 liters a day is great.
Go over your goals. If you don’t have any goals, set some. It is so easy to make goals, a vision board and forget about it. Don’t overthink it, set your timer to five minutes if you like and go over your goals or vision board. A quick review is useful to get you back on track to mindfully doing things that help you make progress towards your goal. Go goal digger!
Write down five things you are grateful for. This one should take less than five minutes. Life gets hard and in the midst of some of the challenges we encounter daily, it’s easy to lose sight of what is working and things we feel good about. Pausing to write down what you’re grateful for can help shift your focus from the negative and give you a mental reset. It’s a pretty healthy practice. Some people do this every day.

Sing! There I said it. It might seem awkward at first especially if you are not listening to music that you can sing along to. But do go ahead and entertain yourself. Nothing like a good song to boost your mood. One of the lines of a childhood song my mom taught my siblings and I called “sing a song” says “It doesn’t matter if its good enough for anyone else to hear, just sing, sing a song”.

5. Light a candle. It could be a scented candle (scents can elevate your mood) but it doesn’t have to be. Turn down your lights, light your favorite candle (if you have one). It just gives the room a warm cozy vibe. No wonder hygge is so popular. Enjoy this calming moment. If you can have soft music playing in the background that would be puuuuurrrfect!

6. Go over your expenses. Hmmm this might not be as calming or mood elevating like the other tips, but self-care is taking care of your “whole” self. What have you been spending money on, were there some avoidable, impulsive purchases? I avoided doing this for a very long time. I would cringe each time I had to review my expenses and put it off till I couldn’t anymore. This might take a little over 5 minutes but just do it and you’ll either pat yourself on the back or observe areas for improvement. Just don’t beat yourself up.

7. Treat yourself to a facial mask. You don’t have to wait till the weekend. As a matter of fact, a deep pore cleaning mask twice a week is good practice, and they are so easy to make. Depending on your skin type you can use Bentonite clay if you have acne skin, Rose pink clay, French green clay and Rhassoul clay work for most skin types including sensitive skin. Two spoons of the clay of your choice, a herb powder (optional), two drops of essential oil (my favorites are Tea tree, Lavender or Lemon essential oil) and a few drops of water ( aloe juice works too). Mix into a paste and apply on clean skin, avoid your eyebrows, leave on for 3-5 minutes, and rinse off thoroughly. Follow with your regular toner, moisturizer and face serum.

8. Breathe. It sounds silly I know because breathing is something we take for granted. Take mindful breaths. Center yourself, close your eyes and notice your breath. Breathe in and notice how you take in the breath count to 10 in your mind and breath out count again. Repeat. You can do a quick meditation. I use the calm app to do a quick meditation. Youtube also has some really good ones.

9. Do a brain dump. I learnt this practice a few years ago and it’s been great for stress relief. I read somewhere that one of the contributors to stress are those niggling thoughts that fill our mind about things we must do. A brain dump helps to take those niggling thoughts out of your head and onto paper. It’s not automatic that you would feel relieved immediately, but it helps reduce the burden. Write down all the things that come into your head that you must do and quickly go through them, mark the ones that take less than five minutes to do and prioritize them.

10. Affirmations. They are powerful. I felt odd when I first started doing them. Our thoughts are powerful and can shape how we see ourselves and the world we are in. Our self-talk if it’s negative can sabotage our success. Positive affirmations work the same way, they can boost our self-esteem, energize us and reprogram our minds for success. Write down your affirmations, look at yourself in the mirror and repeat them using “I am…”. Practice this as often as possible and it will increase your self-awareness, decrease stress and improve your self-confidence.

This post has 13 comments

Soma
26 Mar 2022

Thank you for these tips. Timely and needed.

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Ally
26 Mar 2022

These are great tips!

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Ozioma
26 Mar 2022

Great tips! I like that they go beyond the typical things we see about self-care. One of the tips I am looking forward to trying most is mindful breathing 🙂

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Jay
26 Mar 2022

Oh these are cool! I’ll certainly be trying them, thanks for sharing !

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Ada
26 Mar 2022

These are helpful reminders. I also started affirmations as a daily practice and it definitely makes me feel good. Thank you

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Nneamaka
26 Mar 2022

I needed this article to help me de stress.
My life has been so busy that I forget to take-care of myself. Very useful tips, thanks for sharing.

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Laju
26 Mar 2022

Great tips! Simple and easy, I’m definitely going to start doing a brain dump and you can never go wrong with singing. Thank you for the tips! 😊

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Victoria
26 Mar 2022

This is wholesome self-care. I was going to say the brain dump is my favourite but I think they are all equally important. Honestly. Great reminder. Thanks for sharing.

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Majiro
26 Mar 2022

Using masks make me feel really special. So that is spot on.
Soaking my feet too gives me that I am looking after myself feeling.
Yup I cringe about my finances but will dive into it with your encouragement. It will only help me do better

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Muna
27 Mar 2022

Love love the sing part. Will definitely have to try that. I also highly recommend the brain decluttering, it’s very beneficial. Thanks for the tips, can’t wait to put them into practice.

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Sarah
27 Mar 2022

Great tips… not looking forward to reviewing my finances….but I will while taking deep breaths….

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Nakeno
30 Mar 2022

I love this 😍.
I just drank some water, then realized I was really thirsty 😂

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Joyce
30 Mar 2022

Thanks for sharing this self care tips, i practice quite a few but just learnt some news ones . Will do well to put them into practice 😊

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