Ever thought how well you can treat yourself in just 5 minutes? This list of 5 minute self care ideas gives you enough activities that will make you feel amazing.
Handling a heavy workload, schoolwork, university assignments and family times makes it difficult for us to spare out time for ourselves. Here is a 5 minute self care ideas guide that will not let you deviate from your commitments while also ensuring that you have sufficient time for yourself. It just requires five minutes of your busy schedule to remind yourself that you deserve your love and care more than anybody else does.
If you are anxious, overwhelmed, exhausted or concerned, exercising self care can help you feel better. It can also relieve you from your physical, emotional or mental issues. This is why we have brought you some self care therapies that you can do within 5 minutes and feel good about yourself.
5 Minute Self Care Ideas For Busy People
5 minutes time period isn’t a lot to invest in performing some interesting activities that make you love yourself. Isn’t it? Taking several moments to care for oneself might assist to alleviate bad emotions and feelings.
#1. Try a Deep Breathing Exercise
Deep breathing is a relaxation technique that frees up your mind with negative thoughts and feelings. It is a simple habit that aids to bring your mental state to a current state. The exercise helps you to calm down the jumping of thoughts from one point to another. It also enhances your mood and release the stress you are facing. Probably the best technique to let go of the worries of the entire day.
You need exactly 5 minutes to complete this.
You can choose from;
- Box breathing includes inhaling for a few seconds, holding up for a few seconds and then exhaling it for a few seconds.
- Diaphragmatic breathing involves inhaling deeply into your stomach and thoroughly engaging your abdominal muscles.
To get some inspiration, here’s a 5 minute exercise for anxiety relief.
#2. Listen to a Soft Music
This stage of self-care is one of my favourites. Music has a strong psychological impact on us. Take advantage of this by selecting an upbeat tune or a particular favourite. When we listen to music, we frequently let it fade into the background. Bring it to the forefront of your consciousness for the next five minutes.
Close your eyes and pay attention. Concentrate on the tune or make a list of all the instruments you hear.
#3. Take a Short 5 Minute’s Walk
Get up and take a walk, whether at work or home. Remove your eyes from the computer and free your head. We don’t realise it but we often drag ourselves deep into those big screens throughout the day that we end up getting a headache. So take a rest for a moment. I assure you will return revitalised and ready to take on new challenges.
#4. Make a “RANT” Journal
Create a personalized journal that is exclusive to mention all the negative things that have happened to you throughout the day. It is going to be a safe space where you can literally rant about any moment of your day. Make sure that you feel relaxed after writing down your thoughts. This is a self-reflecting activity that will make you feel relaxed by the time you will close the journal.
#5. Doodling
Doodling with colour pencils is one of my favourite ways to unwind. The pencils can also work but using colour pencils is much better. The repeated pattern of colour pencils is what makes me feel most serene. You can also colour while listening to calm or motivating music.
#6. Give Yourself Verbal Appreciative Compliments
This is incredibly useful for those of us who are prone to self-criticism. Give yourself five compliments instead of just one. You have more power than you realise. You can begin by complementing your appearance, but I believe that the most impactful comments are those that focus on your personality.
Compliments like,” I am proud of how I always lift others up” and “I feel happy whenever I do the task despite having a lot of pressure”. These verbal prompts are necessary to add to your life to remind yourself that you are amazing than what you think about yourself.
#7. Readout your Favourite Book for Five Minutes
Reading out your favourite book is a great way to relax your mind. If you are curious to know about the world and current affairs, reading out the newspapers, magazines or articles can also work. The aim is basically to read whatever you like the most. I prefer reading self-healing books.
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#8. Indulge your Tired Soul in Some Aromatherapy
Treat yourself with aromatherapy that provides a break to your senses. Lavender is good for sleep, eucalyptus is best for relaxation, and orange is suitable for energy. To inhale these fresh scents, take a few deep breaths. If you don’t have access to electricity, keep a tiny bottle of essential oil on hand to smell.
#9. Stretch out Yourself
Try a few yoga positions or some simple stretches. This can include anything from a downward-facing dog to a forward fold and mountain position. Practice these positions even if you don’t know them fully or can’t accomplish them.
Start off with slow neck circles, shoulder exercise and relaxation activities such as tangling your fingers behind your back. When you return to work after this 5 minutes break, make sure you maintain a straight posture.
#10. Watch a Sunset
Leave everything that you are doing and go out on the balcony to watch the gorgeous sunset. This kind of self love is much needed in life.
#11. Stargazing
When your day ends, just go out in the open sky, sit there calmly for 5 minutes and stare at those magnificent stars. It will surely leave you in awe. I talk to each star and that makes me peaceful.
If you are a mom, don’t forget to check out 40+ self care ideas for moms. Every mom deserve me time and self love. Please take care and feel awesome!
#12. Get that Street Hawker Candy
Quickly go down and grab that pink colour candy your mother never got you. That always fascinated you and you always wanted to have it. So just get up and get that for yourself. Just consider it as one of the days where you can do whatever your heart always wanted to do.
#13. Get into Unicorn Colour Bath Bomb Tub
Bath bombs always make me feel fresh. Just prepare a tub full of water and add any bath bomb in that tub. Allow it to melt down and silently observe it spreading its beautiful colours and aromatic smells. And then get into that tub and relax for five minutes. It will definitely make you feel wholesome and therapeutic.
#14. Get 5 minute Tennis Ball Break
Don’t look at the youngsters playing the tennis ball down at the office building, stand up from your seat, take a 5 minutes break, go down and play with them. Let that inner child have the 5 minutes of your life who always desired of playing tennis ball with youngsters. Give a pause to the work and indulge in this play. It will help you to regain the lost energy back.
#15. Make a Gratitude List
Put aside your work for a while and make a list of every person you are grateful to have in your life. You can either call them to remind them of the value they hold in your life. Or just thinking of the present you are going to get them this New Year would be sufficient as well.
#16. Online shopping
Grab your phone and put items in the wish list that you will buy from this month’s salary. This could include any item from clothes to cosmetics to food items. But just surprise yourself with some gifts.
#17. Prepare a quick 5 Minutes Meal at Home
This one is my second favourite. You can think of making yourself a quick meal in the time span of 5 minutes. How about getting a short noodle break? Or just frying some frozen food item for you in an air fryer? A comfort meal can also work. Take a look at this 7 days plan for 5 minute meals.
#18. Scribbling
If your mind feels numb working, allow yourself to rest and just scribble on a piece of paper. It will help you to freshen up your mind by allowing you to throw away all the negative energy that your mind has.
#19. Go to the rooftop of your office or home
A little fresh air often can help you restore your mood and thinking. For several minutes, head outside and enjoy the sun and fresh air.
#20. Treat yourself with a Mocktail
Go to your pantry, grab all the ingredients available and prepare a quick 5 minutes comfort drink for yourself. You surely deserve this kind of love. You will feel wonderful about yourself.
Do you have a Sunday routine? Head over to this self care Sunday guide and have enough ideas to enjoy your day.
Wrap Up: 5 Minutes Self Care Ideas Activities
This 5 minute self care ideas guide is all you need to go over if you are exhausted with your routine and need some self love. No one is going to care about you as much as you are going to do for yourself. And if you want to be available for the people you love, you need to make sure that you have enough energy to be there for them.
If your own energy is down, you can’t really be there for anyone. So for anything you do in life, you need to be there for yourself before you are there for others and these 5 minutes self care remedies will teach you that. Pin down your favourite activities and implement them in your life whenever you feel unloved or unwanted.
