Whether you are a new mom or you are just your average stressed out adult, you have one thing in common: you need to relax! Easier said than done? While most people these days mindlessly scroll TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook and label that their “relaxation time”…I hate to break it to you, but usually all that scrolling is just feeding into anxiety, depression, etc. There are so many ways to relax, today we will focus on a handful to put you in the right direction.
5 Things to Help You Relax
Next time you have a few minutes to yourself (even if it is just 5 or 10 minutes at a time!), put down your phone and consider doing one of the following ways to relax:
1.) Diamond Painting
Ever heard of it? No, they really aren’t really diamonds. They are little gems that you use to decorate a “sticky” pre-designed sheet of something you love: your favorite animal, a beautiful landscape, etc.
Diamond painting is not only a very inexpensive hobby to start (less than $10 for some designs which include applicators, trays, diamonds, wax, and of course, your “sticky” design template), it is incredibly easy to do.
If you have never tried diamond painting, you are in for a treat. And it’s ADDICTING! There are also a ton of accessories you can get (containers to sort your diamonds, light tables and stands) if you decide you like your first diamond painting.
Also, what’s fun about diamond painting is that after you are finished with your design, you can either use it to decorate your home, or give it to someone as a gift.
Diamond painting is a great way to relax because it is so simple, and it allows you to work on something beautiful while letting your mind and body take a break, relax, and unwind.
Here are a few diamond painting kits (they come with the basics):
3 Pack of Sunflower Diamond Painting Kits $13.99 (I have this one! Currently working on the bottom right sunflower pictured)
Sea Shell Beach Themed Diamond Painting Kit $9.97
Mandala Diamond Painting Kit $6.99
Farm and Truck Themed Diamond Painting Kit $7.99
You can test out and see if you like them since they are so affordably priced. If you decide you must do more diamond paintings after buying your first (yay!) then you might want to invest in a light board or carrying case. These are the ones I have:
They also both come with containers for all your diamonds! I just got both to make sure I was covered, but if I were to have to choose now, I would probably just get the light board kit.
2.) Essential Oil Diffusers paired with Meditation
You have probably know of someone that has an essential oil diffuser. While some people just use it as a more natural way to make their home smell pleasant, some us it as a way to relax.
What I love about essential oil diffusers is not only can you change your essential oil scent depending on the time of day or your mood, but some diffusers allow you to pick the light color to pair with the oil scent or your mood at the time. There are even ones that rotate colors if you can’t pick just one color.
Once you set up your essential oil diffuser, you can turn off the lights /dim your lights, appreciate the nice smelling scent, and practice meditation. Using lavender essential oil will help even more with relaxation.
You can then meditate internally, practice breathing. Or you can meditate outward with affirmations (like I am peaceful, I am powerful, I am beautiful). If you have trouble leading yourself through meditation, there are plenty of free guided meditations on places like YouTube.com and the FitOn app (not sponsored by either of these, just love the free content). My favorite trainers’s voice to meditate to on FitOn is DeAndre. His voice is super soothing and if you need to relax, or even go to sleep, his meditations are perfection! Highly recommend!
Here is the oil diffuser I purchased. It came with 6 different essential oils. It was about $25 for everything.
There are some that are less expensive, but you would have to have your own essential oils already.
Here’s a diffuser if you are already stocked up on essential oils. It’s $16.00, so very affordable.
3. Bubble Bath Bombs, Shower Steamers, Bath Accessories
There are so many bath and shower accessories these days to make your time getting clean actually relaxing.
For those that either want to conserve water, don’t have a bathtub, or don’t have the time, you can use Shower Steamers. It’s essentially aromatherapy, but while taking a shower! You can get a small multi-pack for different needs (calm, relief, energize, etc) or you can get your favorite scent in a bags of 12 to 15! These are even great when you are sick because they have Vicks VapoShower Steamers too! Great when you have a cough or just want to breathe better.
Shower steamers are great for gifts too (especially over bath bombs) — because most people don’t take baths on a regularly basis. I have so many bath bombs stocked up to pick from to take my once a month relaxing bath, haha.
Here is a small pack of steamers to try them out!
Okay, on to bath relaxation! This is where things get a little more exciting, because when you take a bath, you can have a nice relaxing epsom salt bath, a fun bath bomb bath with a fun prize inside (like a ring or some other fun thing!), read a book, or even enjoy a glass of wine.
My favorite bath accessory is the bath tray. You can put your glass of wine, some chocolate, candles, and your book on there, and nothing gets wet! I’ve even seen some have tablets on there…but I would be too scared to bring electronics in the tub.
Here is the bath tray that I just adore!
Another idea is just to grab either a bath pillow or a fluffy towel and put it under your head and just close your eyes with some music in the background. There is nothing like just letting it all go while floating.
The bath pillow every stressed out person should have!
4. Garden plants, backyard accessories
Probably one of my favorite ways to relax is taking care of my plants. It’s nice to get your hands a little dirty moving around the plant food, and digging holes for new plants. Adding items like water globes (to make sure your plants don’t die when you forget about them for a day or two!), plant markers, and decorative pieces (like gnomes!) to your garden will help your garden feel more enjoyable.
Rather than go all out and buy a million plants, start small with small to medium size container gardens, or even individual pots. If you live in a warmer climate (like Phoenix, Las Vegas, or southern California), you can pick items like succulents (think baby cacti, aloe vera, etc) to add easy plants to maintain that contribute color all year long to your garden.
Wind chimes, garden benches, hanging lights, and bird feeders are other great ways to spruce up a small or new garden. I have a large patio, so I grabbed a beautiful solar lantern to help light up the plants in the evening. Using lights for your garden can make it so you will enjoy your garden at any time of the day you would like or is most convenient for you!
Here is a beautiful solar lantern that you need to have in your life!
You can also have an edible garden with beautiful herbs like basil and cilantro so you can get even more from your relaxing space. Being able to provide nourishment to yourself through your garden is amazing! You can also plant vegetables and fruits like zucchini and strawberries, which don’t require a lot of work. Strawberries can be in a fairly small pot (for one strawberry plant) and you can grab a plant that already has mini strawberries on there (Green ones) that are about to turn red, which takes all the guess work out. I got some strawberry plants at (Believe it or not) Walmart and they are great. You put them in direct sunlight, water, and watch them grow.
If gardening isn’t your thing, you could just invest in a nice lounge chair by the pool or an awesome fire pit with some comfy chairs!
5. Face Rollers, Masques, and other Facial Products
One of my favorite, inexpensive buys online is my Jade Facial Roller. You keep it in the fridge until you are ready to use (I keep mine in my butter drawer, lol). You gently roll your face from bottom to top to not only relax your skin and mind, but to reduce wrinkles, puffiness, improve blood circulation and lymphatic drainage.
You will immediately start to relax as you start to roll your face. The cold sensation of the cold, green colored stone feels absolutely amazing against your skin as well!
Here is the jade roller I got. It was only $7.99!
Another way to unwind and relax is to apply a facial masque. There are so many to choose from: peel off masques, wash off masques, paper masques! Most masques have you wait at least 10 to 15 minutes, pretty much forcing you to sit down and relax because who can or wants to do something with a masque on their face? The masque also rejuvenates your skin and I always feel like my face looks 100 times better after any kind of masques.
If you get masques at a regular store (like Target, Walgreens, Ulta), you are looking to spend $3 to $15/masque (or more,especially at Ulta..they have some crazy expensive masques). If you go online, especially like a place like Amazon, you can get 10 or 20 masques for the price of 1 to 5 masques at a regular store. And most masque packs come with a variety of scents like aloe vera, etc.
Here is a 12 pack I got for about $1.00/masque on Amazon, I liked all of them, but my favorites were the Avocado and Cucumber ones, just because they are so soothing.
Another idea of a way to relax is wearing an eye mask, also known as a sleeping mask and laying in bed for a few minutes. Whether it’s just a cheap $5 eye mask at the store or a nice contoured, padded, light canceling mask, wearing an eye mask is a great, easy way to relax — especially when you don’t have a lot of time and just need a few minutes to calm down or de-stress.
Here is a great sleep mask — and it doesn’t just come in black: black, gray, pink, and purple color options.
Hopefully you were able to find a new way to relax after reading this post. If you need some more ideas on how to relax, you can also check out my post about gifts for new mamas! You don’t have to be a new mom to enjoy these gifts, they really are for everyone and indulging in any of these will definitely help you relax.
Click here for that post!
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