Self-care is one of the most important things in our lives, yet somehow we don’t always dedicate some proper time to actually taking care of ourselves and having a rest.

I’ve always found having an unwinding ritual during the colder months the most satisfying, as you can get extra comfy, which definitely helps to relax more. At least for me. So, for this post I decided to create something like a guideline of having the coziest evening, relaxing and spending some quality time with ourselves. Let’s start.

1. Create the atmosphere.

When you visit a massage or spa salon what is the first thing you pay attention to? Right, the cool atmosphere. These places definitely know how to make their visitors wanna come back again and again. The lights are always dimmed, with lots of candles and small lamps around, aroma sticks burning, ambient music with nature sounds playing in the background… So, if you want to have a proper self-spa day, you’ve got to imitate this atmosphere. Clean your house, or at least the one room you’re going to spend time in, change the bedsheets (it’s always so nice to get into fresh sheets in new pajamas!), add some comfy pillows and warm blankets, lit up lots of candles, turn on the twinkle lights, and voila! Your own spa salon is ready!

2. Go offline.

This step is the most significant. You’re not going to enjoy some good “me-time“, if you’re constantly interrupted by notifications. And let’s admit that we’ve all become addicted to phone and internet in some level. The temptation to check our phones every minute is really big, so you’ve got to treat this task seriously: turn off your wifi and notifications, put your phone on mute and hide it somewhere in a drawer, or in another room. Warn your friends beforehand about being offline for the evening, so they won’t be worried. And remember, no matter how much you’ll want to take your phone in your hands, just to scroll the feed for 5 minutes, don’t take that bait. We all know how long those “innocent” 5 minutes will last.

3. Have a hot bubble bath.

With lots of sea-salt, different colored bath bombs dried flowers and your favorite songs on. Isn’t this an ideal evening already? Or at least substitute it with a hot shower. Why is this step essential? Because, first, hot water always helps to release the whole tension out of your body and muscles. And second, it’s a psychological or esoteric tip, if you want to get cleared from all the external negative energies, leaving all troubles and bad emotions behind.

4. Start the Self-care procedures.

Here everything is up to you. You can put a hair mask, some patches under your eyes, do a face or body scrub, paint your nails etc. These activities can seem really lame or dull, but believe me, you always feel much better and fresher after them. Even if you don’t believe that the eye-patches are going to help, still, there’s something soothing about taking care of your body. It’s like when you clean your house, and you feel so peaceful and at ease, like you just got rid of not the dust and dirt of the room, but of your soul. Same’s with these rituals.

5. Exercise.

No, you don’t have to hit the gym and sweat for hour and a half. But doing some simple exercises will warm you body, once again releasing all your tension and negative mood, and increasing the level of serotonin. For a chill evening I’d recommend do some easy stretching exercises or yoga. Personally, I love stretching, cause it makes you feel in harmony with your body and its every single muscle. Like you become a whole again. Another fun idea is to turn some upbeat music on and dance.

6. Be creative.

There are so many options in here: you can draw, paint or even do the paint-by-numbers. You can make a scrapbook page, do a small and simple DIY project, bake some delicious cookies. You can play a musical instrument, sing, or even do puzzles. Anything that will make your disconnect, be present and enjoy the moment. We are creative creatures, but sadly don’t always get the time to actually enhance all our creative energy. While art is always great for getting inspired and relaxing.

7. Read and Journal

I’ve mentioned this many times before, that bedtime reading is one of the best things ever. If you didn’t manage to unwind already, then reading will definitely help you. Pick a story for light-reading, or whatever you want, as long as it’s interesting and you’ll get involved in the fictional world and your imagination and relax. Journaling is a cool activity as well. Writing down your thoughts or things that’ve been haunting you truly helps to forget about them or find a solution while you’re writing. It’s like emptying your brain into a piece of paper, which will make you feel so fresh and brand-new afterwards.

8. Meditate.

Some people think that you have to be your enlightenment journey or do yoga in order to meditate, or assume that’s it’s quite a “dangerous” spiritual activity. Pure nonsense. Meditation is just another type of exercise, where you sit or lie down, focus on your breathing, trying scare all your thoughts away, concentrating on one single thing: it can be about feeling good, getting rid of an ache or consequences of a bad day, anything. You can either look at a candlelight to concentrate, or meditate with your eyes closed. With music, without music – that’s up to you. This would be the perfect way to end your pamper night.

These are some relative examples of how you can spend the quality time with yourself. You can add or remove any idea from this list. For instance, you can also go for a walk, have a tea ceremony, watch a comfort movie or tv-show, cook a nice dinner etc. Just find what will make your soul feel the best and do it at least a few times a months. Weekends are the perfect time for recharging and unwinding, so take this post as your sign and enjoy your self-care evening!