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Hello there! Ever since I started dedicating time to taking care of my emotional health, I began feeling so much better. So here are 4 tips to starting an emotional health routine.

4 Tips to Starting an Emotional Health Routine

About 10 years ago, I had a mental health breakdown. I couldn’t get out of bed, I was depressed and had very little desire to live.

In a nutshell, I was incredibly stressed because my dad was in prison and I was also deeply torn apart deciding if I was going to leave the Mormon religion.

On top of that, I had never really paid attention to my emotional health. Meaning, I had 20 years of stuck emotions within me. So, with these big life events weighing on my mind, something broke inside of me.

So, I decided to get help. I went to a doctor, got on some depression medication to help me keep my head above water and started learning how to work through all my baggage.

I began seeing a therapist and alternative healers, and opening up to loved ones about what I was going through.

Also, I started learning about how to feel good on the inside.

Everywhere I turned, I kept hearing how feeling good is an ongoing practice.

Later on, I learned the name for this. It’s called ‘emotional hygiene.’ Just like how our bodies need regular washes to stay clean, so do our emotions!

So, I started implementing an emotional health (or emotional hygiene) routine.

And it changed my life.

Over time I started feeling better and better. I still have negative emotions like everyone else, but they don’t bother me as bad as they used to.

If you want to make taking care of your emotions a regular practice, here are my tips to help you start your own emotional health routine.

Tip #1 Choose Your Practice

First of all, you need to choose which emotional health practice you want to do each day.

Personally, I enjoy both writing in my journal and meditating to help me get centered. But I also like doing EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) for clearing emotions.

If you need more ideas for choosing an emotional hygiene practice, download my free Emotional Self Care Guide below.

And if you’re not sure what you prefer doing, choose one thing to do for a week, then switch to something else and see which one feels best for you.

You can’t really go wrong, so whatever you choose is just fine! What counts is that you’re starting something to take care of yourself.

Tip #2 Decide How Much Time It’ll Take

Secondly, choose how much time you’re going to spend on it. When you know how long it’ll take, then you’ll be able to see where you can fit it into your day.

If you’re just starting out, 5 or 10 minutes is enough. But if you want to focus on your emotional health routine for a little longer, 30 minutes or an hour is good too.

Personally, I aim to spend 15-20 minutes every morning on my emotions. But if I’m short on time, I’ll do even just 3 minutes!

The important thing is that you stay regular, even if all you can do is just a few minutes.

So, decide how long you’ll spend on your emotions routine and do your best to stick with it.

Tip #3 Set A Specific Time to Do It

Next, in order to create a routine you have to decide exactly when you’ll do it.

For me, I like to get mine done first thing in the morning. After I’ve had a little breakfast, I’ll spend time with my emotions meditating, journaling or whatever I feel moved to do.

Also, I prefer the morning because otherwise I’m unlikely to do it later on.

You can definitely choose whichever time works best for YOU.

Just a note- if you choose bedtime, it’s possible that focusing on your emotions can get you thinking or upset. So, be mindful of how you feel if you set your routine at bed.

Tip #4 Be Regular AND Flexible

Finally, do your best to stay regular with your emotional health routine. Once you do it every day, you’ll start noticing a positive difference over time.

On the other hand, it’s important to stay flexible with it!

There are just some mornings when I can’t get to my emotional health routine. But because I do it MOST mornings, I know that I’ll be able to get back to it as soon as I can.

The key is to be forgiving with yourself about it. If you start getting stressed that you haven’t written in your journal for a while, you’ll probably avoid doing it even more.

Also, this is something you’re doing to HELP your emotions, not to add stress. The less of a burden it is, the better.

So, stay flexible and forgiving with yourself if you don’t always get to it.

Conclusion

Establishing an emotional health routine can be super simple and easy. Once you choose what you want to do every day and when you’ll do it, you’ll be on your way to giving your emotions the regular care that they need.

Do you have an emotional health routine? Tell me in the comments!

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