10 Winter Self Care Tips To Support Your Wellness This Season
It’s that time of year again! The hustle and bustle of the holidays can leave you feeling a bit frazzled and off kilter as we rush around, living in a whirlwind of family gatherings and potential holiday vacations. With the new year closing in, you may feel drained and seeking some solitude from the activity that surrounds you.
If so, you’ve come to the right place! Not only are the holidays upon us, but as the winter season approaches, our bodies and minds go through a transition of their own. Here is a wonderful list of Winter Self-Care Tips to prioritize and try out to aid you in maintaining the best wellness you can harness this season.
It is amazing how big of an impact these winter self care tips can bring!
10 Winter Self Care Tips
1. Self Reflection
As another year comes to an end, it’s the perfect time to reflect on experiences that have occurred over the last 12 months.This time of year may bring up more emotions than you’re used to; which can feel overwhelming, I get it!
This practice may bring about not only joyful reflection, but also more difficult ones. This can prevent us from doing self-reflection, but here’s why self reflection is so beneficial.
- It can allow us to see and acknowledge all of our progress and victories from the past year
- It can help cultivate a sense of peace or closure; almost like “wrapping up” a chapter/season of your life. This is often very helpful for many people and provides a sense of ease to transition into a new year.
2. Establish healthy boundaries
Out of this list, establishing healthy boundaries is probably one of my top 3 recommendations! If not all of these winter self care tips speak to you, I encourage you to dive deep into this one.
The winter season often brings about more gatherings, social activities, and, while it can be great to spend this special time of year with family and friends, it can sometimes leave us feeling physically and emotionally drained. It’s important to be mindful of how we balance our energy during this time.
For example, if we spend hours baking cookies, making casseroles, setting up decorations, planning holiday parties, and still have to maintain family or work obligations, how much time is left for healing, stillness, or simply recuperating? Not much, right?
Bottom line is, we can’t always be “yes” people. Setting healthy boundaries is so crucial to maintaining your health (not to mention your sanity!).
Learning to say “no” can establish healthy boundaries that keep you protected from burnout and other health issues. It’s not easy, I know. But you will soon recognize how much healthier you feel when having healthy boundaries in your life!
3. Hydration
I used to be skeptical about how impactful hydration would be and didn’t understand what types of symptoms could arise if I didn’t maintain good hydration.
Dehydration would make me feel severely fatigued, groggy, lack of concentration, have GI issues, hormone imbalances and more; it truly impacted my daily functioning.
This can be intensified even more by the winter season! A good goal is to aim to drink your body weight in ounces of water. For example, a 150lbs woman would aim to drink 150 ounces of water each day. If this is a challenge at first, do a minimum of 50% of your body weight.
It may seem daunting at first, especially if you are starting from a place of not drinking much water. So, take baby steps! Go slow. Increasing your water intake by 20oz each day could be more manageable for you and less overwhelming.
Top tip: Get creative! Add fresh fruit, herbs, water flavorings to help liven up your water game. One top brand I recommend is Zevia. If you are trying to reduce your soda intake or sugar consumption, these are perfect. They are still carbonated so they replicate soda drinks, but they are a very healthy option.
4. Seek Balance
We are all profoundly unique beings and how one person may find balance can be completely different from another; and that is what makes us all beautiful creatures! Seeking balance can mean taking a pause in your day to remind yourself of what you are grateful for. For someone else, it could mean to be bold and daring and pursue that investment venture you’ve always wanted but have held yourself back from.
If you’re someone who is typically laid back and more of a “go with the flow” type of person, you may wish to create more balance through a goal journal, a task list or setting S.M.A.R.T. goals.
On the contrary, if you’re someone who is goal driven, likes to be in control and is detail oriented, you may wish to create balance by going on a day hike and not plan out where you end up. Or perhaps, a road trip where you allow yourself to “free drive” and stop in an unplanned little town to spend the day.
We all need different things to bring us balance. Self-reflection (winter self care tip number 1) may help you to better understand your general traits and lifestyle tendencies. From there, take some time to ask yourself: “What do I need in my life to help me achieve balance?”
P.S. One great place to start creating more balance is to begin meditating. It only takes a couple minutes of your time, and if you’d like to get started, check out this free meditation on Insight Timer here!
5. Foster Relationships
This is an amazing time of year to reconnect with that colleague from college or a distant relative that you haven’t heard from in years. Spending some of your energy giving and fostering relationships can truly bring so much joy and peace.
If you are reading this and you had someone immediately come to mind, that could be the universe speaking to you, encouraging you to make that first step. Whether it is reconciliation or just having lost touch, a kind gesture of connection may just mean the world to that other person. It is a win-win for both people!
6. Begin a Skincare Regiment
Whether you live in a dry, high altitude climate or not, investing in good skin care is a must! When I became mindful about skin care in my mid-20’s I was amazed at how therapeutic it could be. Taking my time and being intentional during the 5-10 minutes I spent applying my skincare products made me feel relaxed and present in the moment.
Gradually, I started adding in dry brushing to prep skin and then using tools to do a facial massage and lymphatic drainage. It truly can become a part of your self-care. If you already have a skin care routine that you enjoy, that’s great! Enhance your routine by moving more slowly and mindfully through the process.
Top tip: Skincare practices you should prioritize this winter: dry brushing for exfoliation and lymphatic drainage.
7. Healthy Winter Foods
The winter is an amazing time to explore new foods and recipes! It is a cozy, warm, type of season to consume all the amazing soups, stews, casseroles, whatever speaks to you!
Instead of going out and grabbing carry-out every week, why not start a tradition and gather your friends or family to make some homemade soup or stew? Even better: spend some time supporting local natural grocery stores or farmers markets and share those yummy recipes!
If you’re looking for some inspiration, I have a fast and easy 5-ingredient crockpot recipe you can start with here!
8. At Home Workouts
Even though I encourage people to get out into their local gym because it helps foster relationships and break down fears and insecurities, we all know that winters can force us inside due to inclement weather.
Though we are stuck inside, that does not mean it gives us an “out” to let our physical health move to the back burner. It’s important to stay focused and conscious about keeping that movement going! Luckily for us, there are lots of options for engaging in at-home workouts. Youtube has thousands of free guided workouts you can get lost in!
Whether you have equipment or not, you can still get a wonderful workout in. Alternatively, if you still want to get outside, adventuring out on the trails or local parks are FREE as well! One app that I personally recommend (and it’s free YAY!) is FitOn.
Check out your app store to download FitOn today. They have so many wonderful class-led workouts that are perfect for the winter time if you need to remain inside!
9. Give and Receive
We are now nearing our final two winter self care tips to harnessing wellbeing and this next one is another gesture that is near and dear to my heart. For those of us who identify as the “givers” in our lives, we don’t often consider how we can foster receiving this season. This tends to be way harder than we think!
Ask yourself: when someone gives you a compliment do you tend to brush it off? If someone gives you a gift, do you immediately say “Oh gosh, you didn’t have to do that, thank you!!” Do you find yourself internally feeling more joy when you see the reactions to people opening your gifts, than you do opening gifts given to you?
If you answered yes to these, don’t worry! You aren’t crazy. You tend to have a giver’s heart and perspective. But, please know, the ability of allowing yourself to receive far surpasses gifts during the holidays. People struggling to accept compliments and gifts can also often struggle with receiving love and care, or even healing, when they need it the most!
Perhaps, take this winter season and begin finding little ways you can open up to receiving what the universe has to offer.
10. Visualize your future
It’s time to start thinking about how you want your upcoming winter to be. Using visualization practices can tie a bow on all of the tips I’ve mentioned in this post and bring your winter self care full circle!
Spend a few minutes a day to visualize your winter season going the way you want. Envision yourself practicing each of these self care tips, imagining each of them bringing you healing, confidence, joy, power, whatever it is that you desire. Then, breathe slowly, and on the exhale put that intention out into the world!
If you are new to visualization practices, this can seem a little strange at first but give it some time and stay consistent. You will soon manifest the self-care you desire and enhance your physical, spiritual, and mental wellness.
Top Tip: You can do this visualization practice all throughout the year! I’d highly recommend doing this practice on NYE or New Year’s Day to step into the new year with a clear vision. Grab your NYE Intention Setting Ritual here.
Written by Christine Bowden