On June 1st my good friend over at http://adoseofdouglas.com/ started a 10 day self-care challenge so naturally I signed up! I am all about self-care and self love and knew that Kym was too so I was 100% sure that this was going to change my life and boy, was I right!

Each day had a different reflection and practice section. I’m a very “hands on” person so the practice sections where great for me to put these tools to use. Surprisingly, the reflection sections where the ones that brought the most change to my life.

Each reflection section caused me to stop and think. Some days were deeper than others but each day taught me something about myself. My favorite reflection day was day 9. On this particular day the reflection section challenged us to think about how our health effects our mood and mental health. It was incredibly eye opening for me. I realized that when I feel healthy and make good choices for my physical fitness I feel happy and am in a much better mental state.

As for the practice sections each day was great for me but, naturally, I had a favorite day. My favorite practice section was day 7. Day 7 had us make a list of 10 things we love about ourselves. This day was a huge challenge for me but it was one that made me grow. I had to realize that there are things about myself that are worthy of loving.

I also want to take a moment to talk about day 10 (today) of the challenge. The reflection section was to think about how social media effects our mental health, both in the good and bad way. This one hit me HARD. If you’ve read my #reallife blog you know how I encourage everyone to be 100% themselves on social media but let’s be honest, this doesn’t always happen. So for me, social media (Facebook and Instagram) usually cause some sort of depression because I see “perfect” everywhere and end up feeling inadequate. The practice section was exactly what I needed! It challenged us to spend a block of time off social media! I am so excited to spend this time catching up on some photo editing that’s been waiting for me!

This challenge not only taught me about the parts of me that I love but it also taught me to slow down and to really listen to my body and my soul in order to take better care of me. I received so many tools to implement into my life to make sure I’m the best version of myself as well. I strongly encourage you all to follow A Dose of Douglas and join the next challenge she does.

If you have any self care tools drop them in the comments for others to try!