There’s a lot about self-care going around, more rampant now especially during the pandemic. Things like meditating, yoga, pamper sessions, and eating well are just some of those that I’ve commonly seen—even I’ve shared a lot about these. But today I wanted to share other little things that I feel can contribute to self-care that aren’t usually discussed in articles. I call these little things because you don’t usually think they play a part of everyday stressors or add to the load of what you take in, but they do.

I’ve applied and have been practicing these for a while now, and I can say that they’ve really helped in reducing unnecessary stress and noise. Sometimes you just have to look into the little things of your everyday, prioritize and decide on what matters, and learn to let go of those that don’t add value. Sometimes you just need to organize the little things to change your perspective and disposition. These can make unexpected, major changes in your everyday that you’d never expect, because as far as you’re concerned, they were just little things.

• Unsubscribe from unnecessary newsletters. I used to want to subscribe to a ton of these to make sure I don’t miss out on deals and I get as much info as I need on a certain brand or topic. It was nice being so informed, but I eventually started feeling overwhelmed. I was always tempted to buy items even if I didn’t have the budget because I saw brands had new items or sales. It was exciting, but also exhausting. It was then that I decided to unsubscribe to a bunch of brands and publications, and I kept only a handful of these that I felt I really wanted to hear from. Sifting through emails nowadays feels so much lighter, and I now value the newsletters I subscribe to more.
• Rebuild your Instagram following. This was a bit tedious, since it involved manually unfollowing about 700-1,000 people until I hit 0. But I did it because over time, I followed so many accounts, some of them I’ve eventually lost interest in; some of them I still really like, but the overwhelming information and temptation to shop wasn’t doing me any good. I also followed people “since they followed me,” but I realized that I didn’t need to pressure myself to do that. I don’t dislike them, i’m just not closely connected to them nowadays. So I worked my way to 0 and built it again from there. Now Instagram is a much more enjoyable and lighter scroll. To learn more about how I did it, you can read up on it in my Relevant Instagram highlight.
• Maximize the saved folders feature on Instagram. In line with rebuilding my Instagram following, I decided not to follow all the brands I used to follow. Again, this is to avoid a load of temptation on the daily and to choose what I take in. I only followed a few brands, while all the others are in saved folders. Once in a while I allow myself to check these pages to see what’s new, and the habit of purchasing became less, with me only online “window shopping” when I’m really in need of certain items. How about muting? Can, but I personally rarely ever mute any account because it’s either I want to see you/it on my feed or I don’t. I also end up forgetting about accounts I mute, and it just feels like unnecessary baggage.
• Clean out the Pages you follow on Facebook. This is pretty much the same concept too as the Instagram following clean-up. Choose the information you take in daily.
• Write things down. This works for the over-thinkers and multi-taskers like me. With work I was always so stressed, pressuring myself to get things done even when they’re not yet due. I hate the idea of unfinished items lingering when I know I can get it done. It helped a lot for me to write it down, especially when it’s past work hours, so that I know that it’s part of my agenda for the next day and I don’t need to worry about not accomplishing it. I’m also very forgetful, so writing things down was really a big help. I have notes for almost everything on my phone, laptop, and notebook.
• Turn off unnecessary phone notifications. Nothing is more stressful than a constantly beeping/vibrating/lighting up cellphone. I also can’t take seeing red bubbles of unread messages in my apps. I make it a habit to really just keep the emergency lines open, which are for calls, texts and messaging apps. Most of my groups are on silent, but I make it a point to check it at different times of the day. I never turn on notifications for applications like email, Instagram, Facebook, etc., since they just add extra stress. I’ll make time for them when i’m ready to go through them.
• Leave chat groups you don’t engage with. No one will take offense if they understand why.
• Make separate emails for the things you sign-up for, and for real human engaging emails. I like keeping paper trail of a lot of things, so I have an email just for notifications from applications that I sign up for. It’s not something I check daily, but I do once in a while to see if there are any important things I need. It also helps with tracking several things.

Starting little has really helped me get things going, especially when I’m overwhelmed. I hope this first set of little things helps anyone who wants to start feeling lighter too.