Do you ever find that you’ve got 15 minutes to yourself but can’t think what to do with it? I’m here to tell you that the answer is self-care!

Self-Care and Mental Load

Self-care plays an essential role in managing mental load and here’s why:

Self-care reduces stress

High mental load is stressful! Your brain is overloaded, flitting from one thought to another and from one task to another with no let up. Practicing self-care helps you to slow down and turn your mind off, giving your brain a much-needed break from all of that noise.

Self-care promotes emotional wellbeing

Many self-care activities provide an outlet for emotional release – allowing you to offload the feelings of burnout and overwhelm which may be building.

Self-care increases your resilience

Regular self-care enhances your ability to cope with the challenges of life. It allows you to develop skills such as emotional regulation, stress management, self-reflection and rest and recovery, all of which feed into your ability to bounce back from adversity

Self-care improves your cognitive function

When your mental load becomes overwhelming, it can negatively impact your cognitive abilities such as memory, focus and decision-making. Engaging in self-care activities help to repair those functions, allowing you to think more clearly.

Self-care improves self-awareness and self-reflection

By taking time for yourselves, you’ll learn to better understand your needs, desires and limitations, allowing you to make wise choices when it comes to managing your mental load.

Convinced? Great! But what does self-care actually look like and how can you fit it into your busy day? Here are 65 self-care ideas that will take you less than 15 minutes – so there are no excuses!

65 Self-Care Ideas 

Here are 65 ideas for self-care ideas that will take you less than 15 minutes each:

Pamper

1. Give yourself a full body moisturise
2. Do a face mask
3. Enjoy a foot soak
4. Give yourself a mini massage

Indulge

5. Watch 15 minutes of that trashy program you never manage to watch
6. Make up a plate of your favourite treats and enjoy them guilt-free
7. Listen to a podcast or chapter of an audiobook
8. Make yourself a fancy drink
9. Put a feel-good outfit on and pose for yourself in the mirror

Get Creative

10. Doodle
11. Sketch something
12. Draw something without looking at the page
13. Draw something without lifting your pen off the page
14. Finger paint
15. Lego print
16. Do some rubbings with crayons
17. Do some colouring in
18. Start a sewing project
19. Look at home décor inspiration
20. Write a limerick

Soak Up Nature

21. Listen to nature
22. Sit under a tree
23. People watch
24. Cloud watch
25. Star gaze
26. Stand barefoot on some grass
27. Take photos of nature
28. Do some gardening
29. Pick some flowers
30. Take a nature walk, taking note of the beauty in nature around you

Get Physical

31. Make a mini dance routine
32. Create a mini indoor obstacle course
33. Have a glow stick rave
34. Do a quick outdoor workout
35. Do a 15-minute yoga session 
36. Do a quick circuit session
37. Stretch

Get Playful

38. Give laughter yoga a go
39. Have a bubble wrap popping session
40. Grab your kids’ slime or silly putty and play with it
41. Corn flour gloop sensory session
42. Make a pillow fort
43. Play with clay or play dough
44. Have a silly selfie photo shoot
45. Have a bubble wand session
46. Build something with Lego

Get Mindful

47. Mindfully eat something
48. Mindfully prepare some food
49. Mindfully clean something
50. Meditate
51. Journal

Get Musical

52. Have a mini karaoke session
53. Create a playlist of guilty pleasure songs and listen to it
54. Play some soothing music
55. “Drum” along to a few songs of your choice

Use your Brain

56. Do some puzzles 
57. Do 15 mins of a jigsaw
58. Play solitaire

Take Care of Your Emotions

59. Write a rant letter – get your frustrations out
60. Recite some affirmations
61. Practice gratitude
62. Free writing – pick up a pen and write non-stop for a few minutes with no aim in mind

Animal Therapy

63. Cuddle your pet
64. Play with your pet
65. Teach your pet a new trick

Conclusion

Building self-care into your daily routine you can help to offset the challenges of mental load. It doesn’t need to take long or be very involved – just take the time to give your brain a break from the stress of everyday life. With these 65 ideas, all you need is 15 minutes…which one will you try first?