Mental Health
99 Self-Care Activities You Can Try Right Now
Self-care involves doing activities that benefit your physical and emotional health.
These activities can involve physical movement, relaxation, taking time for fun, or attending to your hygiene.
Self-care can help you better cope with a range of physical health conditions. It also aids you in coping with stress, anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues.
Self-care is a term that describes doing activities that support your physical and mental health. These activities can help decrease your stress and enhance your energy and overall well-being. Some self-care activities are passive, like taking a bath. Others are more active, like exercising.
We all naturally gravitate toward certain self-care practices. Still, it’s important to know about a variety of activities that can benefit your health. You can think of it like having a toolbox filled with a lot of different types of tools. Depending on your mood or the occasion, you might need or prefer to use one tool over the others.
If you’re looking to add new tools to your self-care toolbox, take a look at this list of 99 activities you can try to help boost your well-being:
Journal about your feelings.
Meditate for 10 minutes.
Move your body in some way, such as by running, walking, or lifting weights.
Spend time in nature.
Take a mental health day.
Buy yourself a gift.
Read a book.
Practice deep breathing.
Take a “digital detox,” or a break from social media.
Practice gratitude by listing five things you’re grateful for.
Take a drive.
Enjoy some comfort food.
Dance to your favorite song.
Get a massage.
Do a self-massage.
Listen to music.
Take a yoga class or stretch on your own.
Call a loved one on the phone.
Go on a day trip.
Give yourself a manicure.
Take a shower or bath.
Change your environment or scenery.
Donate time or money to a cause that you care about.
Repeat an affirmation, like “you are enough,” out loud.
Schedule an affirmation to play each day on your phone.
Reflect on an important moment in your life.
Go to a park and enjoy people watching.
Curl up with a blanket.
Make a bucket list and cross off one of the items.
Plan a family game night.
Get a good night’s rest.
Make a scrapbook.
Attend a class to learn something new.
Practice acceptance of yourself and others.
Listen to an inspirational podcast.
Plan an especially nutritious meal.
Make a collage of positive quotes and photos.
Have an outdoor picnic.
Watch the stars at night.
Sculpt something on your own or in a class.
Be mindful of your caffeine consumption.
Do a face mask.
Paint a picture.
Try something new that you’ve always wanted to do.
Hug someone you care about.
Go bird-watching.
Blow bubbles to mindfully slow down your breathing.
Take photos of nature.
Schedule a healthcare appointment that you’ve been putting off.
Join a support group.
Have an at-home spa day.
Watch a movie.
Light a candle.
Go for an outdoor hike.
Do a puzzle.
Join a club or sports team.
Plant a garden.
Read or watch something funny.
Browse your local library or bookstore.
Play an instrument.
Pray.
Make a smoothie.
Listen to a guided imagery exercise.
Write down five of your personal strengths.
Tell another person five things that you admire about them.
Do a crossword puzzle.
Write a poem.
Organize a drawer or room in your home.
Ride a bicycle.
Create a playlist of your favorite songs.
Face one of your fears.
Visit an animal shelter.
Spend time in the sun.
Color in a coloring book.
Make yourself a cup of coffee or tea.
Set a boundary or say “no” to something that doesn’t serve you.
Take yourself on a date.
Make a dish from scratch.
Write a letter to a friend or family member.
Diffuse essential oils.
Listen to an audiobook.
Fly a kite.
Do a sudoku puzzle.
Take a trip to a local museum.
Smile while looking in the mirror.
Notice five sensations using each of your five senses.
Watch a sunrise or sunset.
Watch cute animal videos.
Make a flower arrangement.
Explore a landmark in your neighborhood that you’ve never visited.
Do something that you loved as a child.
Learn a new joke.
Make a vision board.
Eat a sweet treat mindfully.
Contact a support line.
Schedule a therapy session.
Search and compare options
Self-care can support people experiencing the following conditions:
Anxiety
Arthritis
Asthma
Cancer
Chronic pain
Diabetes
Practicing self-care can also help reduce the likelihood of experiencing burnout, a state of emotional exhaustion. And it promotes resilience, which helps people adapt and cope with stress, trauma, and other challenges.
It’s also important to consider practicing community self-care (sometimes called community care). Community care means you participate in activities that lift up others around you. Being able to give to help others requires you to take good care of yourself too.
Not having enough time is a common reason people neglect self-care. Finding time for self-care activities can be incredibly challenging. This is especially true with all the responsibilities that already demand your time and attention. With some adjustments, however, you’ll be able to find ways to work these practices into your life.
To create a self-care plan, you may want to first evaluate how you spend your time. Ask yourself, “What do I do on an average day?” and then write down the answer. Then, think about ways to either free up time for self-care or combine self-care practices with your regular activities. For example, your daily commute could be an opportunity to listen to a podcast or check in with a friend.
Looking for mindfulness exercises? Meditation may be the first thing to come to mind, but there are lots of ways to practice mindfulness.
Coping skills for depression: These coping skills can help improve your mood and reduce symptoms of depression.
Self-care for caregivers: Check out these tips to reduce caregiver stress and burnout.
The way you think about an activity also has a significant role in how it impacts you. For example, if you think of driving your children to soccer practice as a time-consuming chore, you’ll likely feel stressed when you do it. But you may start enjoying it if you view it as an opportunity to take a drive, listen to music, or bond with your children.
Try shifting your perception of daily activities and looking for opportunities to turn them into moments of self-care.
There are many different ways to practice self-care. Having a toolbox of self-care strategies that you can draw from can help you prevent and cope with emotional distress. And practicing self-care is linked with better outcomes for people dealing with a range of health conditions.
Even if you’re crunched for time, finding small ways to incorporate self-care or reframing how you think about your existing demands can be beneficial for your health and well-being.
Carleton College. (2021). Bubble meditation.
Center for Integrated Healthcare. (2013). Visualization/guided imagery. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Lucock, M., et al. (2011). Self-care in mental health services: A narrative review. Health and Social Care in the Community.
National Institute of Mental Health. (2024). Caring for your mental health. National Institutes of Health.
Rindfleisch, J. A. (2017). Burnout and resilience: Frequently asked questions. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
