A couple months ago I realized I had a lot of items that I used for self-care routines. So I went out and bought a basket and now they all sit nicely stored away in my bathroom.

I define self-care as doing the hard work but also taking in time to relax. When people talk about self-care, I think a lot of people take it as doing activities that are typically seen as a luxurious way to chill. But to me, self care also involves doing items that need to be done such as taking a shower, doing your dishes, cleaning, paying bills on time, running errands, etc.

So my “self-care” basket is really more for relaxing or skin care.

My first picture has items for skin use and a roller handle. Two of them are for skin exfoliation and the other are specifically for my feet. I do a lot of walking since I’m also a part time pet sitter and dog walker so I try to take good care of my feet. I use the roller handle a lot on my feet since I have feet problems.

My second photo is a lot of soap and moisturizer. I actually hate using moisturizer on my body, but I’ll use it on my feet, hands, and face every day. Anyways, so I have a couple of soap bars I’m going to switch to as soon as my current body wash is used up.

And then I have some sheets of travel soap and some pretty rose shaped soap leaves. Those I don’t use that often, they might be more of a decor fancy soap eventually. My mom has decorative soap by the way.

Then I have special socks that are super moisturizing. I usually wear them around the house in the evening so my feet aren’t so dry and flaky.

My last photo is a bunch of face masks I use. I love face masks because they’re the perfect excuse to just lay around for 20 minutes and not do anything. Since I usually use sheet masks, I feel those are best for if you lay down with them on.

I also usually keep bath bombs and Epsom salts in my basket since I love using those in my bathtub. The bath bombs I’m a little more cautious with since I know some of them can have irritating ingredients in them.

Overall, I believe its important to take time to relax and focus on doing things that fill our soul. For some people this involves doing other activities and they might see this as pointless. But whatever ways we can find to take even fifteen minutes to unwind, calm down, and be present in the moment I believe is important.

I struggle with this when I have lots of anxiety, it’s really hard for me to focus on anything except the really important stuff like eating, going to work, and basic hygiene. So when I’m feeling a little better, I try anything I can do to calm down and relax on something other than my anxiety.