12 tiny and practical self care ideas for creative writers
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
In Fall 2019, I went through a tough life chapter.
I struggled mentally and emotionally with a break-up that devastated me.
During this painful time, I asked for help. A friend gave me this gentle advice. She said:
“Ask yourself every day: what is one small thing I can do to take care of myself?”
Like many women, I’ve spent years feeling like I was responsible for the needs and wants and feelings of others.
But taking care of myself and my wants and needs? What a baffling concept. 🧐
At the time though, I felt stuck in a cycle of pain. I knew I needed to make changes in my life.
I began to commit to tiny, daily self care habits. And it changed my life.
In this article, I’m going to talk about why self care is important and how you can make self care a sustainable, long-term practice in your life.
I also go through 12 tiny and practical self care ideas that I’ve put into practice myself. I hope some of these ideas will inspire you on your own creative self care journey.
Why is self care important?
When I was struggling the most, I saw a therapist for about six months. Whenever I tried to focus on someone else, she’d ask:
“What do you need right now, Monika?”
Most of the time, what I thought I needed wasn’t something I could control. But the one thing that was always in my control?
My choices.
Self care is important because it’s always something that is in our power.
We can always make choices that help us take care of ourselves. This is empowering.
In therapy, I learned my most important relationship is always the one I have with myself. If I don’t care or love myself, I cannot show up fully for others in my life. Period.
Here are a few more reasons why I believe self care is critical for any human.
We start learning about our needs and wants.
So often, we struggle to know what we need and want. This holds us back. When we don’t know our needs, then our needs never get met.
Taking care of yourself is one way to start learning what you need and want in life.
On my self care journey, I discovered I needed:
Reciprocal relationships to feel loved and secure.
Daily movement to feel healthy and energized.
Restful and peaceful experiences to feel at ease.
I see my self care journey as a lifetime of experimentation.
Some self care ideas I tried didn’t work for me. Others were spectacular failures.
However, trying new self care ideas helped me learn a lot about myself.
I know what works and doesn’t work for me. And understanding myself better has helped me understand others a bit better, too.
This self-awareness has helped me become a more creative person—and a more loving member of my community.
Taking care of ourselves is how we grow self-love and self-trust.
Habit-building has a compound effect. When I take care of myself, I’m showing up for myself. And I’m learning I can trust myself.
When I commit to jogging every morning, I learn I can trust myself to prioritize my physical health.
When I commit to meditation every day, I learn I can trust myself to take care of my mental health.
When I commit to feeling all of my feelings, I learn I can trust myself to hold space for my emotional health.
At the heart of any loving relationship is trust and respect and commitment.
We deserve the same in our relationships with ourselves.
Taking care of ourselves—and treating ourselves with love and intention helps us build that caring relationship.
We can show up for our loved ones more fully.
One of my favourite quotes is from Jim Rohn:
“The greatest gift you can give somebody is your own personal development. I used to say, ‘If you will take care of me, I will take care of you.’ Now I say, ‘I will take care of me for you, if you will take care of you for me.’”
I think most of us know the saying, “You can’t give from an empty cup.”
But how many of us go, Well, yeah, but that doesn’t apply to me, really. 🙋🏻♀️
Been there, thought that.
One of my major stumbling blocks to self care was thinking I didn’t really need to take care of myself.
Once upon a time, I never prioritized my needs and wants.
But then, I grew resentful when others didn’t appreciate all I’d “given up for them.”
(Strangely, resentment does not lead to healthy, reciprocal relationships. 🤔)
There are many ways we can support our loved ones. But we are always responsible for taking care of ourselves first.
Self care is not selfish. As my therapist said, it’s about being “self-full.”
It’s about filling our cup first, so that we have enough to give others.
How to make self care a lifelong practice
Putting habits into place is not easy. (Understatement? 💯)
Maybe you’ve spent years trying to make an exercise routine stick. Or you’ve tried to maintain a writing routine with no success.
Here are a few of my strategies for making self care a long-term commitment.
Start with tiny self care habits.
When we’re trying to make changes in our life, it’s tempting to change everything.
This usually goes poorly. I speak from experience.
To find the endurance to continue with self care, start small.
Build tiny habits that take you two minutes or less to do.
And start with one at a time.
When we can consistently keep up with small changes every day, we slowly start to see growth.
This requires patience. But the compounding effects are worth the investment.
Action Step 🎬
When starting any new self care habit, ask yourself:
How can I make this quick and easy?
Embrace the identity, “I’m someone who takes care of myself.”
Before I actively started taking care of myself, this was how I viewed myself:
I’m someone who doesn’t exercise.
I’m someone who takes care of other people first.
I’m someone who doesn’t need help from others.
I’m someone who doesn’t need therapy.
I’m someone who can eat hummus and crackers and feel okay.
I’m someone who doesn’t have time for meditation or rest.
Can you see how those beliefs held me back from taking care of myself?
Now, I’m someone who takes care of myself.
This identity change has rippled through my whole life.
I’m someone who takes care of myself. That means I’m also:
Someone who takes care of my finances.
Someone who works toward my goals and dreams.
Someone who asks for help from friends, support groups, and mental health professionals.
Someone who makes time to rest and relax.
Someone who always gets in daily movement.
Someone who eats healthy meals.
Action Step 🎬
Two questions for you to consider:
What are the limiting beliefs you hold about yourself?
How can you reframe those limiting beliefs?
When your motivation is down, focus on self care benefits.
I use the Headspace app to meditate. Every day I meditate, the teacher prompts me to remember why I’m meditating.
“Who will benefit from you taking time to create space in your life?”
I think sometimes we view self care through a “self-indulgent” lens. It seems selfish to take care of ourselves.
Taking care of yourself is one of the most loving things you can do for your loved ones.
When you take care of yourself, your loved ones worry about you less.
When you take care of yourself, your loved ones trust you can handle the ups-and-downs of life.
When you take care of yourself, you then show up more wholeheartedly in all of your relationships.
If your motivation is flagging, bring to mind the people you love most.
Remember that every act of self care you do is also an act of love for them.
Action Step 🎬
Think of 1-2 people who would benefit from you taking care of yourself. How can you make sure you remember them when your motivation is lagging?
12 self care ideas for creative writers
For me, I see self care as a way to invest in and care for your present and future self.
Every self care idea I’ve listed here is one I practice myself. Each one has made a noticeable impact on my life.
Remember, self care is exceedingly personal. What works for me may not work for you. Feel free to take what you like and leave the rest.
I hope some of these ideas give you a starting point for your own creative self care journey.
1. Make your bed every day. 🛏
This was the first self care habit that I committed to.
Yes, I started making my bed every day.
When I first started, everything in my life felt overwhelming. It felt like all of my relationships were spinning out of control.
So, I focused on what I could control: making my bed every day.
As William Zinsser says, “Clear thinking becomes clear writing; one can't exist without the other.”
It may sound strange—but making my bed leads to clearer thinking in my life.
It’s how I take control of one corner of chaos in my life.
Now, when I go to bed every night, it’s a joy to snuggle in under neatly lined sheets.
Making your bed is also a way to start your day having accomplished a task. Yes, it’s just your bed. But it’s something.
If making your bed doesn’t appeal to you, think of something you can tidy every day. Your physical environment has a profound effect on your mental and emotional health.
2. Floss your teeth every day. 🦷
I used to go to the dentist with a wad of shame in my stomach. I knew the question that was coming.
“How often are you flossing these days, Monika?” my kind hygienist always asked.
My reply: “It could be better.” 😬
The second self care habit I started was flossing my teeth at least five times a week. (I gave myself a weekly two-day grace period.)
Flossing my teeth every day weirdly empowers me.
I used to feel shame around not flossing my teeth. Beginning to floss became a compassionate act for myself.
Now, maybe you don’t feel shame around your lack of teeth flossing. That’s great.
But consider—are there small activities you feel shame around not doing?
Try unpacking the shame with gentleness. Can you start doing the activity in a quick, sustainable way?
Here’s how I started flossing regularly:
Put your floss somewhere visible. Right next to your toothbrush.
This is a BJ Fogg’s tip—commit to brushing just one tooth a day. Takes the pressure off.
3. Practice quick meditations. 🧘🏻♀️
Meditation is a hard practice to get into. I understand.
But meditating every day has helped me immensely, especially during the most challenging seasons of my life.
When I meditate, I feel:
A sense of calm.
More focused.
Able to gain perspective.
Meditation helps you create stillness, silence, and space in your busy life.
Meditation is also one way to become friends with yourself.
Meditating is the practice of sitting with yourself in silence—and accepting yourself just as you are. This has beautiful ripple effects through your whole life.
Here are two ways you can start meditating:
Try just meditating for a minute every day. Just focus on your breathing for a minute. If your thoughts wander, simply bring them back to your breath.
If a minute seems too short, try five minute mediations. I like the Headspace app and BC Calm also has free audio meditation tracks.
4. Go for a daily walk. 🚶🏻♀️
I used to struggle with exercise. I actively hated it.
But one thing I’ve learned? Exercise energizes us.
In The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal, she says,
“If you tell yourself that you are too tired or don’t have the time to exercise, start thinking of exercise as something that restores, not drains, your energy and willpower.”
I think a daily walk is helpful for any human, but especially for creative folks. There are many writers who used a daily walk to feel more creative.
Creativity is built on creating connections. Our brains make connections when our minds wander.
Walking every day is a great way to get your brain connecting creatively. It’s also a nice way to relieve stress.
I go for a daily walk every day around lunch. I don’t walk with my phone or headphones or anything that will distract me.
This self care habit is one of my favourites. It’s a tiny habit—but one that helps me feel more energized and focused throughout my day.
Here’s how you can make a daily walk part of your schedule:
Set a timer to go off around midday. Commit to going for a walk, even if you’re in middle of work. You’ll come back refreshed.
If a walk feels like a big commitment, just go outside for five minutes. Walk down the block. Even just a few minutes of activity will restore some of your energy.
5. Turn off social notifications on your phone. 📲
Setting boundaries is a standard self care strategy. And setting boundaries—personally and relationally—is probably one of the hardest things to do.
So—start by setting them with technology.
Our phones are beeping and buzzing and calling at our attention at all hours of the day. These notifications often pull us away from the most important parts of our lives: friends, family, and our creative work.
Make it harder for your phone to call you away from meaningful moments.
Try turning off your notifications for at least a week.
I’ll admit, this was tricky to implement at first.
Initially, I felt worried and terrified I was missing out on everything.
But having no social notifications has helped me feel more focused every day.
Now, when I check my messages, I do so with intention.
I check my messages around lunchtime once I’ve finished writing for about three hours in the morning.
Creating a specific time to respond to messages lets me feel more in control of my time and attention. And I now have infinitely more time for my creative work.
Here’s how you can turn off notifications:
Turn on Do Not Disturb on your phone. I always have “Do not disturb” turned on. I can still receive calls from a list of favourites, but otherwise, my phone is silent.
Turn off notifications completely from texts, Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, TikTok… basically, anything distracting. Try a life without notifications for at least a week. You might be surprised with how much calmer you feel.
6. Wake up at the same time every day. ⏰
The statistics are staggering—around 1/3 of adults worldwide don’t get enough sleep. Supposedly we’re one of the few species that actively deprive ourselves of sleep.
Aiya, humans. 😔
Getting enough sleep is a life-changing self care habit.
Sleep helps us feel less stressed, gives our bodies time to renew, and our brains the space to process our days.
The majority of humans need 7-9 hours of sleep. Are you getting enough?
Get enough sleep with a consistent sleep schedule.
Our bodies like a routine when it comes to sleep. It helps our internal alarm clock.
Almost every “sleep expert” agrees a consistent sleep schedule is the #1 strategy for getting enough zzz’s.
I first struggled to go to bed at the same time every night. So instead, I started small—and began waking up at the same time every day.
Every day, even if it’s a weekend, I wake up at 7:05am.
This has made a world of difference in how well I sleep. Yes, it’s hard to maintain—especially at first on weekends. But it’s worth the long-haul commitment.
Here’s how you can wake up at the same time every day:
Set an alarm on a physical alarm clock. I don’t keep my phone in my bedroom. Instead, I use a handy, antiquated alarm clock that beeps.
Don’t hit snooze. I’ve put my alarm clock across my bedroom and have to get out of bed to turn it off. When my alarm goes off, I get up and head straight to the bathroom.
Say to yourself, “When my alarm goes off, I will get out of bed immediately.” Commit to this intention. This takes practice, but in time, getting out of bed at the sound of my alarm became second nature for me.
7. Learn how to label and understand your feelings. 🫀
If you’re a human, you feel feelings. In How Emotions are Made by Lisa Feldman Barrett, she discusses how it’s helpful for us to pinpoint and label our feelings. This helps our bodies regulate what we’re feeling.
When we label what we’re feeling, we are more aware of how to handle our feelings.
But we’re kind of tragically bad at knowing what we feel, eh?
Here’s one way to label and understand your feelings.
Image from The Colors of our Emotions by Marc Brackett.
Try the Mood Meter app.
This paid app from Harvard helps you pinpoint your feelings so you can discuss them with more nuance. It also gives strategies to help you shift what you’re feeling, if that’s what you want.
The app uses two factors—energy and pleasantness—to help you define feelings.
Here’s the breakdown:
🔴 Red feelings: High energy, low pleasantness feelings. You’re feeling “in the red” when you feel frustrated, angry, or worried.
🔵 Blue feelings: Low energy, low pleasantness feelings. You’re feeling “in the blue” when you feel ashamed, sad, or lonely.
🟡 Yellow feelings: High energy, high pleasantness feelings. You’re feeling “in the yellow” when you feel joyful, proud, or optimistic.
🟢 Green feelings: Low energy, high pleasantness feelings. You’re feeling “in the green” when you feel grateful, serene, or relieved.
(This system was originally built for kids. But hey, I like colour-coding my feelings.)
You do need to pay a bit of money for this app.
But for the price of a cup of coffee, it’s an easy way to check in with yourself and gain more awareness around what you’re feeling.
Another way to label and understand what you’re feeling is with the feelings wheel.
Printing this wheel is a great way to find more nuance beyond, “I feel bad” or “I feel angry.”
Image from The Feelings Wheel on the Calm blog.
Labelling and understanding your feelings help us in all areas of our lives.
And—it helps us write with more emotional clarity.
If you’re a fiction writer, understanding how you feel will help you write characters with more complex emotional backgrounds.
If you’re a nonfiction writer, understanding how you feel will help you speak more effectively to the emotional side of statistics and research.
8. Ask yourself: Is this helping me or harming me? 👍👎
We all have unhelpful habits. We doom scroll social media. We hold onto relationships too long. We turn away from hard conversations.
One self care idea that changed my life was this simple question: “Is this helping me or harming me?”
I first heard this idea in Lucy Hone’s TED Talk, The three secrets of resilient people. For Hone, this question helped guide her through the grief process of losing her young daughter.
I come back to this question often. It’s a quick self care, check-in question for myself.
Self care can be doing more of what makes us feel better. But it can also be doing less of what is making us feel worse.
Do feel worse after watching the news on television? Is this helping you or harming you?
If it’s harming you, think of a different, creative strategy for getting the news. Maybe a subscription to The Economist can go on your gift list.
Do you feel cynical after scrolling through your Twitter feed? Is this helping you or harming you?
If it’s unhelpful to your wellbeing, what’s a different way for you to network or connect with new ideas?
Most of our day-to-day activities either help us or harm us. Work on tipping the scales toward the helpful.
9. Write during your creative hours. ✍️
This has been a recent self care habit change for me. I used to write at any time of the day.
7pm? Yeah, I can write then.
2pm? Sure, my pen is right here.
1am? Well, I’m awake, so why not.
But these haphazard time slots never were my most productive writing periods.
A self care strategy is knowing how you work best. As a writer, when do you write with the most creativity and energy?
If you’re not sure, start with your morning hours. I find in the morning, I have about a 3-hour window when I feel the most focused and creatively energized.
Every morning, between 9:30-12:30am, I write. These are my creative hours.
This is also protected time.
I don’t check emails during this time.
I don’t respond to messages.
I ignore everything except my Ulysses writing screen.
As a creative writer, one of your most effective self care strategies will be making the time and space to do your creative work.
Creativity fuels us. And it helps us show up more wholeheartedly in all areas of our lives.
Prioritize your creative hours.
Here’s how you find your creative hours:
Start experimenting. First try writing in the morning and see how that goes. Make sure you’re carving out this time to be just writing space. Nothing else.
Notice when you feel the most energized and focused on your writing work. Maybe keep a journal on what times are best. Then, commit to carving out this time for your creative work.
Block all distractions during your creative hours. Use a website blocker, like Cold Turkey. Shut your door. Set boundaries with your partner for uninterrupted writing time.
10. Practice saying “no” at least once a week. ❌
This is simultaneously my favourite and least favourite self care idea. “No” is such a challenging—and yet freeing—word to say.
It’s a pivotal self care strategy though, because, every time you say “no,” you’re saying “yes” to something else.
And usually, you’re saying “yes” to taking care of yourself.
Here are some ways I say no every week. I say:
“No” to freelance writing projects that cannot pay me my set rate.
“No” to events I’m not interested in.
“No” to gossiping about people and their choices.
“No” to Cheetos.
“No” to investing in friendships that aren’t reciprocal.
“No” to social media.
It can feel terrifying to say “no.” I used to worry it would damage my relationships or I’d miss out on exciting stuff.
But by saying “no,” I’ve found more space to say “yes” to the things I care about and want to make more time for.
Here’s what each “no” made room for. I now say:
“Yes” to prioritizing my writing goals.
“Yes” to peaceful nature walks.
“Yes” to conversations about creativity and compassion and courage.
“Yes” to the occasional, joyful bowl of popcorn.
“Yes” to investing in friendships built on respect and consistency and trust.
“Yes” to reading more books.
Here’s how you can start saying “no”:
Start small. Say “no” to a networking event you’re not interested in. Say “no” to one bag of oily chips. Say “no” to more hours of television. Just start working that “no” muscle. It’ll get easier to say.
Say a “half-no” on the way to a “full-no.” If someone tries to get you on a project, say “maybe” instead of “yes” right away. Maybe is a halfway point to “no.”
11. Say hi to a stranger or friend every day. 👯♀️
The term “self care” can make us think of “self-only” activities. But I’d argue some of the greatest self care habits are ones where we connect with others.
We need relationships and belonging and connection. It’s a cliche because it’s true: no human is an island.
The quality of your life is based on the quality of your relationships.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how much money you make or how many things you have or what unique experiences you’ve acquired.
What matters is the love in your life.
As writers, we can find stories everywhere. And connecting with others will only strengthen our hearts and creativity.
Connect. Period.
Here’s how you can connect in small ways every day:
Say hi to a stranger. Even if it’s just the coffee barista. Ask them how they’re doing. Look them in the eye. Even these brief 30-second exchanges make a difference in how connected we feel.
Call a friend. We default to texting—but why not just give your friend a call? If they can’t pick up, they won’t. But maybe they’ll have time for a quick catch up.
Write a gratitude letter. Is there someone who did something meaningful for you? Write them a letter of thanks. Deliver it in person. Research shows this can boost our happiness substantially.
12. Speak to yourself kindly and gently. 💞
We all have an inner critic—and an inner coach.
The self care habit that has made the biggest difference to me is learning how to speak to myself with gentleness and grace.
Granted, this is not a “tiny” habit. It is a habit that is both big and small—and hard to put into practice.
We are so hard on ourselves.
Sometimes, it seems like we delight in beating ourselves up mentally and emotionally. This self care idea starts with noticing what the voice inside your head is saying.
Remember this important truth: Not everything you think is true.
This last self care idea takes time.
It takes time to learn how to speak with more kindness to yourself. But if you notice and catch your negative chatter once a day, over time, you’ll find your inner voice gentles.
It helps to remember that we grow the most as writers when we’re self-compassionate with ourselves.
Everyone is worthy of love and belonging. And everyone is worthy of a compassionate perspective.
Including you.
Here are a couple of ways you can speak to yourself with more kindness:
Use your name in your head. This pulls your thoughts into perspective. For me, I say: “Monika, it’s okay. You made a mistake, and that’s something all humans do.” Just hearing my name in my head helps interrupt my negative inner chatter.
Talk to yourself like you would to a friend. If you’re speaking to yourself harshly, consider how you’d talk to a friend in the same situation. Use the same language and tone. You deserve the same amount of love as your friend does.
Final Takeaways
I firmly believe every person is their own expert in how to take care of themselves.
Taking care of ourselves is personal. No one can tell us how to best go about it.
But I’ve always been inspired by others when it comes to my routines and habits.
I hope this article has helped you come up with creative strategies for taking care of yourself.
Remember—self care is a series of experiments. What helps you feel better? What doesn’t help you feel your best? Experiment to find out.
Keep track of what works and what doesn’t.
Soon, you’ll have your own self care strategies—ones that will pull you through the good and tough times.
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Oh hey there, I’m Monika!
(she/her) I’m a big fan of compassionate creativity, intentional living, and freshly-popped popcorn. I hope this blog post gave you some ideas on how to add self care into your creative life.
If you have any questions, feel free to send me an email. I love to hear from fellow writers!
