“Health is a state of complete harmony of the body, mind, and spirit.”
-B.K.S. Iyengar
Creating a wellness routine is all about finding balance and making time for self-care in your busy life. Whether you’re looking to improve your physical health, mental clarity, or emotional well-being, a personalized wellness routine can be your foundation for a more vibrant and fulfilling lifestyle. In this blog post, I’ll guide you through simple, actionable steps to create a routine that works for you—helping you feel more energized, relaxed, and connected with yourself every day.
Let’s dive in!
When creating a wellness routine it is important to first start with your mindset. If you want this routine to have a lasting impact on your health and wellbeing it is vital you set yourself up for success from the beginning.
When we make goals we have the intention to keep them. What stops us from seeing them through is a lack of resonance. The method we choose to pursue our goal has as much of an impact on our ability to achieve it as what the goal is. In order to stick to the routine we will create below, it is vital you make it as personal as possible.
There are so many categories of wellness to consider: social, spiritual, emotional, physical, mental, etc. With many facets within each category. As we go along keep in mind your reasoning behind starting a wellness routine, and what areas you specifically feel is the most important for you to highlight.
I will not try to tell you what should be important to you, however, I will provide some personally proven recommendations that will help you create some structure around those goals.
Without further ado, here is how to create a wellness routine:
Assess Your Current Routine (Or lack thereof)
To start creating the wellness routine of your dreams it is important to first assess your current situation. You won’t know how far you are from your goals if you don’t first evaluate your start point.
It is easy in this step to be overly critical. People tend to be unnecessarily harsh on themselves when they turn their gaze inwards, seeing fault before progress. As you assess your current habits, patterns, beliefs, and routines with an objective eye I encourage you to hold grace for your “flaws,” and consider them opportunities for growth.
No harsh criticisms, just honesty.
My favorite way to self-assess is to document myself over a few weeks to a month. That way I get the full picture of my regular habits. I use a journal or notebook to log little pieces of my routine (water intake, how often I exercise, how long I slept, what thoughts tend to circulate this week, etc). You don’t have to log every move you make, just an overview will do.
You’ll be surprised by the end at how many tasks and routines you have done on autopilot. Those are the ones to pay attention to as they will do the most to help or hurt us.
Being intentional behind the actions you take will make you feel more in control of your behaviors.
Which brings me to my next point!
Braindump Your Aspirations
Once you have a good idea of where you are, now is a great time to start dreaming.
Where do you want to be? What aspect of your life are you trying to improve? In an ideal world, what would your routine look like?
Think about some of the major categories in wellness: spiritual, social, mental, physical, etc. What areas do you see room for improvement?
Start in the large categories then go into specifics. And, take your time with this part!
Do you want to be a boss babe who wants to improve their physical health by waking up at 5 am to run and drink your green juice before your morning meeting? Or you homemaker who is more concerned with your mental health and wants to incorporate quiet time and journaling before tending to your kids.
However you ideally want to structure your wellness routine, there is likely inspiration out there for you to find should you feel stuck.
Create an “In Case of Emergency” Plan
When it comes to wellness we always have the best of intentions.
“I am going to wake up earlier,” “Staring tomorrow I will only eat plant-based foods,” “I will keep the promises I make to myself, ” I will learn financial literacy and restore my relationship with money.”
We do our best to fall in line with our ideal path, with the highest expectations that we will become whole new people, ignoring the years of negative habits we’ve built.
Starting anything new, especially cold turkey, even when it is well-intended needs room for grace.
So as you create a wellness routine make space for forgetful moments, tired afternoons, and overwhelmed energies. Life happens, and learning to stick to your goals through the unpredictable twists and turns takes time. Creating a wellness journey is not something that has to be perfect overnight.
Taking your time to find what systems work best for you is what creates longevity. With that, I recommend what I call a “Break in case of emergency” plan. Activities you love that you can establish ahead of time to use when you need to hit pause and center yourself when you start to get off track.
It can be practical like doing a deep clean of your physical environment; a clean home makes for a peaceful mind. Or something structured like lighting a candle and processing out your exhausted thoughts by journaling. Or something spontaneous like going for a long drive with the windows down, anything that gets you out of your spiral and reminds you of your aspirations.
Whatever you choose, use the time to reset. Be honest with yourself about where you are mentally, and do not try to push through your burnout. Show yourself a little TLC and keep moving forward at a pace that is sustainable and fulfilling to you.
My wellness routine includes:
Blasting music and deep cleaning after baking myself a tasty treat, lighting a candle, drawing a luxurious bath, and soaking away the stress with a glass of grape juice, and my favorite show.
*Cheesecake is one of my favorites to bake
One routine At A Time
James Clear author of Atomic Habits, says when crafting a new routine it helps to layer one habit onto an existing one. When I originally tried to establish my wellness routine I attempted to follow that advice. But what I found over time was I became overly critical when I struggled to do even that!
Even though I tried, I felt like a failure when I couldn’t reach even the simple goals. I criticized my inability to improve my mental, physical, social, spiritual, and emotional wellness all at the same time.
Wanting to make impactful change felt like it had to be immediate, done perfectly, and all at once.
That thinking was very damaging and set me back. After doing a few rounds of my emergency plan, I landed on this idea:
One routine at a time.
This may not be a new idea but, it worked for me. Instead of stacking habits upon habits, or trying to stuff all my goals into one I chose to focus on one new routine at a time. I started with something small, drinking more water. I allotted one month to incorporate this new routine. Starting my day with a glass of water, keeping my bottle with me at work, getting a cute coaster for my bedside table to remind me. All while allowing myself the grace of a full month to invest in my hydration habits without worrying about anything else.
Once the month was up, I was drinking water throughout the day without thinking about it. In month two I picked a new habit to add and went from there. You choose your timetable. Whether you need a couple of weeks or 2 months to acclimate, give yourself the time to feel steady in the accomplishment of living up to your intentions.
One wellness habit at a time.
Experiment and Refine
As I mentioned in the last section, the journey of creating your ideal wellness routine takes some refining. Over time as you get some experience under your belt you will see where you need to make edits. Perhaps you will need to adjust your timeline expectations. Or, you’ll realize you weren’t dreaming big enough. Maybe your “why” will change over time, or you will take a break and come back when you feel better prepared.
Experimentation and refining go hand in hand. You test out your theory of how you think you will succeed, then time shows you the outcome of that assumption. You may go back to the drawing board, you may not. But you cannot find what works best for you without some trial and error.
A customized wellness routine is better than a one-size-fits-all model.
Final Notes
With a world that celebrates productivity, perfection, and endless pursuits, the art of crafting a life you can actually enjoy seems lost. Wellness becomes an afterthought as we live our lives on autopilot. Investing in your well-being through the establishment of a wellness routine is a practical way to intentionally prioritize what is most important.
Self-investment doesn’t mean you have to break the bank or overextend yourself. There are always economical, practical, and impactful ways you can invest in yourself. Willow Tree Therapeutics was founded with the belief that the little things have the most impact. That the simple act of bath time and body care can be used to practice creating moments of peace in a rushed and chaotic world.
Fall in love with building routines that make you fall deeper in love with yourself.
Your life and your time are valuable, spend each with intention, till next time.
Stay cozy,
