As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. See Full Disclosure Here
As the days get longer and warmer and flowers start to bloom, it’s time to step outdoors and celebrate spring!
Where winter self-care is all about candles and coziness, spring self-care ideas are about getting outside and embracing the beauty of nature.
The self-care ideas you’ll find below include a mix of outdoor, indoor, emotional, home, and health-related activities.
They are sure to boost your spirits and leave you feeling refreshed and re-energized.
1. Spend More Time Outdoors
After months of being cooped up indoors in winter, stepping outdoors can feel refreshing and energizing. What’s more, it’s vital to your overall health.
Connecting with nature offers some unexpected benefits and the best part is you don’t make to make elaborate plans for spending time outdoors.
There’s a long list of things you can do with just a few minutes of planning…
Enjoy an outdoor picnic at the park or in your backyard with a loved one, a friend, or even by yourself.
Grab your fishing gear and spend time at a nearby lake.
Spend a day at a nearby National Park or botanical garden.
Time spent outdoors can bring about incredible rewards.
What you do is up to you. The goal is to get outside, connect with others, and enjoy new experiences. Spring just makes it that much better.
2. Soak In The Sunshine
Spending just 15 minutes in the sun every day can boost your Vitamin D levels and your mental health, both of which are so important.
Sunlight offers powerful health benefits. Getting your dose of sunlight early morning allows you to get the benefits of sunlight without the risk of overexposure.
Combine your outdoor time and sunshine time to get the best of both worlds.
Sit in a sunny spot and absorb the sunshine. Meditate, read a book, or listen to an inspirational audiobook.
Don’t feel forced to do something at this time though. If you don’t want to do anything while basking in the sun, don’t. Remind yourself that you’re boosting your physical health and inviting calmness and peace to your day. And that’s more important than anything else.
Take things slowly for a few minutes (or longer). Be good to yourself when taking time for spring self care. The other stuff in your life can wait a bit.
3. Take Your Workouts Outdoors
Spring is a time to get out and get moving. You’ve spent the winter working out indoors. Not it’s time to take it outdoors. Combine your outdoor time with some energetic exercise to release endorphins, and boost the outdoor benefits.
A brisk walk will shake out those tense muscles you’ve developed while hibernating on the couch during snowstorms and flu season. It will also build cardiovascular endurance.
Walk through meadows that are in full bloom in spring, do your yoga workouts outdoors, or join a local walking group. At the very least, walk around the park.
Prefer something more energetic when you’re outdoors? Plan early morning runs or spend a day hiking.
4. Practice Barefoot Earthing To truly reconnect with nature
What is barefoot earthing? This is simply the practice of walking outdoors barefoot along any natural surface. The idea is to let your bare feet come in direct contact with the earth’s natural surface.
Natural surfaces include soil, sand, grass, or a natural water body. This study is one of many that show spending time reconnecting with nature is truly healing.
When it comes to spring self care ideas, nothing beats barefoot earthing or grounding as it is also called. Here’s everything you need to know about What is Barefoot Earthing and what are its benefits.
5. Nurture Your Garden
Spring is the time to plant seeds that will bring results later. Regardless of what you decide to grow, herbs, flowers, or vegetables, seeing the fruits of your labor can be immensely satisfying.
Already have a garden that was left unattended in winter? Time to clean it up, and plant new seedlings.
Have a large unused outdoor space but no garden? Read up on how to start your own garden and make a plan that works with your lifestyle and time.
Live in an apartment? Don’t let space constraints stop you from starting your own garden. You can always start an indoor garden.
If this is your first foray into gardening, take time to decide what type of garden you’d like to have and then read up on a few good gardening books so you can get started the right way. Browse through seed catalogs, pick your produce, teach the kids, and build self-reliance. Spring is the time for growth, and gardening epitomizes this perfectly!
6. Throw open the windows
Nothing feels as refreshing and energizing as letting that fresh air inside your home. It’s also the simplest form of spring sef care.
The simple act of opening the windows changes the way your home feels, looks, and smells. It will feel cleaner, look brighter, and smell fresher, drowning out those stale winter odors
If you are susceptible to allergies, use an air purifier to minimize the allergens that find their way indoors.
7. Make Time for Spring Cleaning
They don’t call it spring cleaning for nothing!
With the renewal of the season, it’s time to refresh your living spaces. The long winter months drag in all sorts of dirt and grime.
Spending a couple of days cleaning and detoxing your home will make your living space look fresher, brighter, and more inviting. You’ll start to feel better and more energetic too.
Take your spring cleaning to the next level by using essential oils instead of commercial cleaning products. These tips for spring cleaning with essential oils will help you get started.
8. Take Stock of Your Internal Environment – Declutter
Cleaning and decluttering are two different things but they can be done together. Cleaning involves getting rid of the dust and grime that’s accumulated during winter. Decluttering involves getting rid of things that you don’t really need that are filling up the space.
A cluttered environment can contribute to stress, anxiety, general discontent, and getting distracted Just looking around at the clear, clutter-free space can reduce stress and help you stay more focused.
Decluttering isn’t just cleaning up messes and putting things away, but deciding on items you might not want or need anymore. Go through each room of your home and decide what to keep, what to throw away, and what to donate or give away.
But it’s easier said than done. There are some strong emotions involved in getting rid of things, which is the main reason why clutter accumulates.
This best-selling book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo can help.
9. Bring in Fresh Flowers and Plants
While autumn and winter are all about scented pine cones and candles, in spring the focus is on fresh flowers and plants.
A vase of fresh flowers will instantly liven up your indoors with colorful and aromatic floral displays. Bouquets or even just a sprig or two of daffodils, lilies, begonias, peonies, and violas will fill your home with pops of bright colors and fabulous floral scents.
10. Diffuse refreshing spring essential oils
Switch out those warming winter essential oils for essential oils with fresher, lighter aromas. Lavender, lemongrass, and bergamot are just three of many essential oils that are perfect to diffuse in spring.
Prefer more complex scents that contain a combination of three or more essential oils? You’ll find plenty of recipes for making your own Spring Diffuser Blends.
Or you can make your own Easter Diffuser Blends, which are also great for diffusing in spring.
11. Use Spring Colors In Your Home Decor
Using seasonal colors and lightweight fabrics is the easiest way to freshen up the look of your interior decor.
Go for colors and textures that reflect the season. Think mint green, rust orange, sunny yellow, sky blue, or pastel violet. All of these are colors you find in nature.
Using seasonal colors and accessories in your home décor a wonderful way to bring some Spring from outdoors into your home.
11. Do a closet cleanout
Wash, fold, and stash away those bulky woolens and boots. You won’t need them for a while. Don’t stop at clearing out just the winter wear.
While you’re cleaning out your closet, take another look at the clothes you haven’t worn in a while. Ask yourself why you haven’t worn those clothes.
Are they too big or too small? Are they outdated? Why are you keeping them? Why not get rid of them and either downsize your wardrobe or make space for new clothes that you’ll definitely wear?
I love Marie Kondo’s advice for cleaning your closet. She suggests asking yourself, ‘Does this bring me joy?’ Keep the item if the answer is yes. Give it away if the answer is no. If you still haven’t embraced your inner Marie Kondo, now is the time – it’s worth it.
13. Plan Out Your Spring Wardrobe
Yay! After that last step, you should have more space in your closet for your spring wardrobe.
Think spring colors, lighter fabrics, and a couple of lightweight woolens or throws. It may still be too cool for strappy sandals but you can definitely switch to lighter footwear than you wore during winter.
Consider the various occasions coming up and plan what you’re going to wear. A bright, colorful outfit for Easter lunch with the family. A sassier outfit for Sunday brunch with your girlfriends.
14. Revamp Your Skincare Routine
Summer is coming and you’ll be showing more skin in the warmer weather. Now is the time to get serious about exfoliating.
Winter dries out our skin with all that indoor time with heaters on. Spring is the time to shed dry winter skin and get glowing with natural skincare products.
Use a natural exfoliant to get rid of dry skin and a rich, luxurious moisturizing to replenish your skin and keep it looking soft and supple.
Using sugar scrubs with essential oils and carrier oil is a simple and easy way to exfoliate and moisturize in one go. As you rub the sugar scrub over your skin, the sugar gently exfoliates the dead, dry cells. At the same time, the essential oils and carrier oils help to moisturize the skin.
15. Start a New Spring Morning Routine
When spring arrives, you often want to reset your lifestyle and focus on your health. What better way to start a new healthier lifestyle than with your morning routine!
The way you start your morning can make all the difference in your energy, focus, and mindset through the rest of the day.
Wake up a few minutes earlier than the rest of the household and use those quiet, early mornings to reflect on what you want to achieve during that day. Take a look at your schedule so you are better prepared for the day ahead. Think about what you could do to help yourself be healthier, happier, and more productive.
16. Make Journaling Part Of Your Morning Routine
Use those precious, quiet minutes in the morning to write a journal. It doesn’t have to take all morning or even all hour. Just 10 minutes of quiet time to do what you want, instead of what others want you to do, can help you stay more focused and recharge your batteries.
The best part about journaling as part of your self care routine is that there are so many different forms and there are no hard and fast rules about how, when, where, or how long to journal. Keep your journaling time as long or as short as you want.
Use a gratitude journal if you find this helps you stay positive. Journal about what you plan to do that day if you need help with staying organized.
Or simply try stream-of-consciousness writing. This is a wonderful practice in which you just write whatever comes to your mind. Just getting those thoughts out of your head and down onto paper will help you see them more clearly and take action where necessary.
17. Create a Spring Vision Board
Creating a vision board is a fun way to manifest things that you want in your life. A vision board allows you to add pictures and words that reflect your goals and ambitions, or your hopes and dreams.
To create a spring vision board, use bright spring colors. Let your vision board reflect the colors of the season – green, yellow, orange, blue, and violet.
Images of flowers, leaves, and trees are another fantastic addition to a spring vision board.
18. Start the Day with a Healthy Breakfast
A healthy breakfast will set the scene for a productive day and long-term good health. A high-protein-low-carb breakfast boosts energy levels, regulates blood sugar, jumpstarts your metabolism, and supports heart health.
Ditch those comfort foods you craved during the colder months. In spring, think oats, fruit, whole wheat or multigrain bread.
19. Drink Fruit-Infused Water
You’re spending more time outdoors and also working out more. The more water you lose through perspiration the more you need to drink for optimum hydration.
But water can get boring. One way to enjoy the taste of water and trick yourself into drinking more of it is by making fruit-infused water.
Infused water tastes better than plain water, and has the added benefit of nutrients from the fruits, vegetables, and herbs you infuse it with. You can make a simple infused water with just lemons and limes, or kick it up a little with berries, watermelon and herbs like mint or thyme.
12 Tips to stay hydrated and healthy
How to stay hydrated without drinking water
20. Add More Fresh & Raw Veggies to Your Diet
Spring is a great time to make some healthy changes to your diet. It’s also that time of the year when those lovely fresh vegetables start coming into season. Adding more salads to your diet is a delicious way to give your body a boost of nutrients and a dose of spring energy.
For something crisp and refreshing, create colorful fresh salad bowls.
– Start by layering a bowl with your favorite leafy greens like kale, spinach, or romaine.
-Add colorful vegetables such as carrots, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, or turnips on top of the green layer.
– Mix this with some protein such as broiled turkey or chicken, tuna, or hardboiled eggs. Top it with flax seeds and a light dressing.
Some spring salads also incorporate fruits like apples, pears, blueberries, or strawberries. Don’t be afraid to experiment a little.
21. Focus on Spring Superfoods
If you want to detox your body and take better care of your health, think about adding more superfoods to your diet as well. These foods contain a higher-than-normal amount of vitamins and minerals.
Some superfoods that are perfect for the spring season include tuna and salmon, veggies like artichoke, asparagus, spinach, and lettuce, and fruits like strawberries and blueberries.
Oats, arugula, walnuts, and whole grains are also at the top of the list.
Visit the local farmer’s market and experiment with new produce and new recipes. Cooking healthy meals can be immensely de-stressing.
22. Take A Break From Social Media
This is a big one! Social media has become a big part of many people’s lives and unfortunately, there’s nothing good about it. So many studies show that scrolling through Instagram pictures of people traveling the world and having a blast while looking pretty can actually make you unhappy. The truth is, much of it isn’t even real.
Disconnect from social media and use that time to do something for yourself or just spend time outdoors.
23. Limit Your Screen Time
Why stop at social media? Take it one step further and disconnect from technology. Enjoy the real world around you instead of the one on your phone. You can’t imagine how liberating that can be!
A change of real-life scenery rescues us from those online virtual worlds we spend too much time in. The fresh air will help you sleep better at night too.
24. Learn Something New
Take up dance lessons or maybe enroll in a pottery class. Or if you’ve always wanted to hone your painting skills, join an art class. Learn candle-making or throw an essential oil party. Nurturing your creative side is an integral part of self-care. Signing up for classes in your neighborhood is also a great way to meet other people who are interested in the same thing as you are.
25. Practice Daily Gratitude
Practicing daily gratitude and appreciating what you have can bring about an amazingly profound transformation. This is a very satisfying form of spring self care.
Gratitude and happiness go around in a never-ending cycle, feeding off each other. When you practice gratitude you’ll start to feel happier, more fulfilled, and immensely satisfied in life instead of constantly yearning for what you don’t.
Don’t compare yourself or your life with somebody else’s. The most powerful act of self care is to let go of all those negative emotions and energy and be grateful for what you have. You’ll be amazed at how good that can make you feel!
Disclaimer: This information is not intended to serve as medical advice. Please consult your doctor before using any natural medication or if you experience any unusual symptoms. See Full Disclaimer here.
