One of the biggest struggles that I hear from pharmacists and pharmacy students is the lack of a self care routine in their lives. Between a stressful day job, a busy home environment, and an eventful social life, it can be hard to carve out time in your day to spend quality time with yourself. As pharmacists, it’s easy to recognize the need for self care in our lives (we learnt about it in school), but it’s another thing to actually adopt a self care routine and stick with it.
Why You Need a Self Care Routine
As cliché as it sounds, self care is important for your personal wellbeing. As healthcare providers, it’s easy for us to work, work, and work until we are burned out, frustrated, and depressed. It happens all of the time, and the only way to prevent yourself from burning out is to spend time taking care of yourself. You can’t expect to be able to do your job at the best of your ability when your energy bank is at 20%. Spending time doing something that you do enjoy will not only make you happier, it’ll also make you more productive and improve your physical and mental health.
Tips on How to Get Started
Now that you know why self care is so important in the pharmacy profession, let’s jump right into how to actually start and maintain a self care routine. Remember the goal is to find your peace and happiness on a daily basis. This process may make you feel uncomfortable because it requires you to take a break, let go, and to reset, which is hard for a busy pharmacist and stressed out pharmacy student.
1. Figure out what makes you feel happy, relaxed, and centered
The first thing that you should on your journey to incorporating self care into your life is to write down as many things that you can think of that makes you happy. It can be as simple as a candle burning, reading a book, a rainy day, or even drinking a frozen hot chocolate (highly recommend the one from Dunkin!)
2. Brainstorm how to add in those things into your daily life
The one thing that stops people from incorporating self care into their daily routine is the fact that it has to take up a significant part of their day to be meaningful. That is definitely not the case and a common misconception. It can be something small that’s in the background that you enjoy like burning your favorite candle or it could be a set time in your schedule for a certain activity. Think about ways that you can add your favorite things to your routine regardless of the time commitment.
3. Give yourself a goal to stick with on a daily basis
After your done brainstorming your favorite activities and how much time they require, now it’s time to set a goal for yourself on how you incorporate one thing from your list to into your daily routine and how often. With any goal that you set, start off with something small and that is measurable. Maybe your goal is to read for 10 minutes before bed, start there and as you get into the habit of reading increase the time to 20,30 minutes. Give yourself time and patience as you start to develop this new habit. It won’t be an overnight change, but hopefully the activity will bring you so much joy that you won’t want to stop.
4. After two weeks, re-evaluate and adjust your plan if need be
Habits take time to form and that is still true for habits that involve improving your mind, body, and spirit. Once you’ve completed two weeks of your new goal, assess how you feel, anything that you could improve or change, and go from there. It’s okay to adjust your plan now and choose a different activity if you need to. You should also note any mood changes. Do you feel less irritated and anxious after the two weeks trial?
5. Get creative and try new things
Your journey to loving yourself should be fun and exciting! Don’t put yourself into a box when it comes to finding out what brings you joy and what doesn’t. Use this time to try out new things that you wouldn’t have tried otherwise and see what you end up liking. Have you always wanted to try roller skating or testing your skills with calligraphy? Take a chance and see what sticks.
20 Simple Self Care Ideas
I rounded up a list of simple, practical self care ideas to inspire you to spend time recharging this year. While these ideas are relatively simple, they can make a world of a difference in your mood and mental wellbeing. Remember that the goal is to take care of yourself so you can show up as the best version of yourself.
Actually take a lunch break
It’s common practice for pharmacists in the retail setting to not take a lunch break, but I promise you that you need to start taking it for a necessary mental break and a fuel recharge. Try to clear out your queues as much as possible, let your techs know ahead of time, and take your 30 minutes to sit down, eat some food, and relax for a little bit. You need that break from checking prescriptions, dealing with customers complaints, and the constant ring of the phone in the pharmacy.
Get lost in a good book
When you can’t escape from reality, you can most definitely escape into the pages of a good book in a world that only exists on those crisp white pages. Even if you only have time for 10-20 minutes to read, use it. The good thing about reading is that it helps decompress you because you’re not concerned about your own life. You are highly invested in the one that you are reading about.
Soak in a bubble bath
As cliché as taking a bubble bath sounds, there’s a reason why it’s on every single self care list. It’s because it actually works to help you relax so light a candle, throw on your favorite playlist, and enjoy the soapy water. Take your bubble bath up a notch by adding in a bath bomb (these are my favorite on Etsy!).
Jot down three things that you are grateful for today
Before you rush into work or school, take a second to start of your day by writing down three things that you are grateful for today. It could be as simple as enjoying your bomb coffee that morning, waking up this morning, or whatever it is that made you smile. By writing down a few things that you are grateful for regularly, it brings our everyday life back into perceptive and begins our day with a positive note.
Spend 15-20 minutes decluttering your space
Nothing says a reset than a clean home and a clean car. Something about the mundane task of cleaning your house makes you feel like a whole new person. A new habit that I’ve been doing lately is to set 10-15 minutes every few days to clean my space, whether it be cleaning the dishes or putting away the clutter that is always on the dining table. It’s easier to keep your space clean if you are proactively keeping it clean throughout the week.
Try that new workout class
With more things opening back up, there’s no more excuses as to why you don’t go try that new workout class. Self care is supposed to be fun, but it’s also meant to get yourself out of your comfort zone. If you don’t feel comfortable going alone, turn into a date with a friend or a significant other. You’ll get to spend time with someone you care about and get your blood pumping.
Start your day with something pleasant
Nothing is better than starting your day out with something that you enjoy such as a warm cup of coffee, patio time reading a good book, or a morning soak in the bath tub. Start your day with a positive note and spend a few minutes enjoying a few minutes of bliss.
Plan a date with a friend
Go ahead and plan that date with a friend (even if it’s only a virtual girls’ night in). Having a solid social life keeps you busy, balanced, and more productive later. When I plan my dates with friends, I make sure to find something that we’ll both enjoy. The date could include a movie, shopping, checking out a new event in town, or going on a mini adventure.
Move your body for 30 minutes daily
Exercise isn’t just for losing weight; it’s also a great mental tool to decrease depression and anxiety. As I’m sure that you already know as a pharmacist, you should be getting around 150 minutes of exercise a week, which translates to 30 minutes for 5 days. To keep your exercise journey spicy, switch up your workout routine and add in new elements that you might end up enjoying, such as yoga, weight lifting or boxing.
Just say no
Saying “no” is a lot harder than it looks, but it’s something that has to be done if you want to take care of yourself in this new season of life. You simply can’t do everything in life and you shouldn’t have to. Say yes only if you brings you joy or peace because I promise you more money won’t make your life better.
Unplug from the world
It can be easy to get overwhelmed and feel burden by the curated feed on social media and the disaster stories on the news. Instead of tuning into the chaos, turn off the news, delete the apps, and shut off your emails for a little bit. Don’t feel bad about doing so either! It’s is totally necessary for your mental peace and well-being.
Go to therapy
If you’ve never been to therapy before, now is the time to add it into your self care routine. It’s such an underrated activity, which I don’t know why. Therapy helps you improve as a person and actively deal with the trauma from your past, present, and future. Talking to someone about your inner thoughts will be difficult at first, but once you find a person that you click with, the process gets easier over time.
Make a playlist
Everyone needs a go-to playlist filled with songs that makes them want to get up and dance. Make a playlist for this season in life and that inspire you to move. Bonus points if you make a playlist that inspires you for the next phase in your life, almost like vision board playlist.
Open up the blinds and let in the morning sunshine
As soon as you wake up for the day, go ahead and open up your blinds to let in the glorious sunshine. It’s been shown that people who are exposed to the morning light fall asleep faster, which means you’ll be more likely to get more quality sleep at night. Getting enough sleep (6-8 hours a night) not only curbs your crankiness but also lessens your chance of heart disease.
Cook your favorite recipe
Tired of ordering take out or are you just stuck in a kitchen rut? I can’t be the only one sick of cooking and tired of overpaying in food delivery fees. Carve out time in your busy day to make and try a new recipe. Enjoy the process, add in your own twists, and hope for the best! You might even find a new recipe that you can add to your go-to cooking meals. If you need a new cookbook to find some bomb recipes, check out this one by Gabrielle McBay called “You Have Food At Home”. I mean the name says it all honestly.
Go to a farmer’s market
Not only will you be supporting small local businesses, but you’ll also get to grab some fresh produce, unique items, and a glorious bouquet of flowers. I love adding a trip to the farmer’s market to my self care routine in the spring and summer time because I always find the coolest stuff that I wouldn’t have found otherwise.
Create a vision board
A great way to show yourself some self care and to create the life that you want is to create a vision board. You can buy a bunch of magazines and create a physical vision board or you can create one using Canva, both options are easy to do. The goal of a vision board is to help you visualize where you want to go in life. When life gets hard or you feel like quitting, you’ll be reminded of what actually matters to you.
Change your sheets
So simple but oh so sweet. When is the last time that you swapped out your sheets? More than likely you aren’t doing it often enough. There’s something so refreshing about sinking into a fresh set of sheets that makes you feel ready to start a new day.
Donate your clutter to a local charity
A quote that I’ve always been taught was that a clean space equals a clear mind. Add a decluttering session to your self care routine and pend some time decluttering your home. You can then go donate whatever you don’t need anymore. You’ll be surprised how much stuff you have that you don’t even use or wear anymore. I like to declutter my closet every quarter so that I’m not hoarding items that I’ll never wear again.
Enroll in a fun class that you’ve always wanted to do
Maybe you’ve always wanted to learn calligraphy, take better photos, or learn how to roller skate. Use the quality time with yourself learning something new and exciting. It’ll keep your brain active and give you the opportunity to meet some new friends, which we already know is much harder to do as an adult.
I hope this blog post was helpful for you as a pharmacist or pharmacy student. I know it’s hard for us as healthcare professionals to set aside time for ourselves, but it’s a necessary requirement if you want to be our best selves for our patients. Which activity are you thinking about adding to your routine?
You may also like: 11 Ways to Invest in Yourself this Year, 30 Day Self- Care Challenge to Decrease Anxiety, and Chatbooks: The Perfect Photo App for Millennials
