Start Here: The Self-Care Habit That Costs Nothing

Happy Friday and Happy Thanksgiving.

Not all self-care requires time, money or preparation. It doesn’t have to involve changing into workout gear, candles, or cleaning the bathtub (so you can actually use it). It doesn’t have to be another item, taunting you from your ever-growing to-do list.

Self-care can be easy and can be done without anyone else’s cooperation.

Let’s collectively breathe a sigh of relief. 

The self-care intervention that fits all these criteria is gratitude. And the best part is, you can start it right now.

Even without the growing body of evidence that gratitude can improve well-being, common sense tells us that gratitude is a good idea.

And yet, to be used as an intervention, it needs to be practiced on the regular. It isn’t just some state-of-being that magically descends upon you and sprinkles you with fairy dust. (Although there are those beautiful occasions when we can be spontaneously overwhelmed with gratitude.)

Today is a perfect time to start, especially since we just celebrated Thanksgiving. 

As soon as you are done reading this, think of 10 things you are grateful for and text them to yourself.

Done- the first rep is completed, and you didn’t even break a sweat. 

Gratitude isn’t an obligation. There is no judgment if it hasn’t occurred to you to try it regularly. It is a lovely form of self-care that has zero downside. 

Your brain believes what you repeat, so let’s repeat good things (way easier than cleaning the bathtub).

Can you try it once a week? Once a day? 

Pair it with something you already do: brushing your teeth, starting or ending a shift, dropping your child off, working out, or even before you scroll social media.send the text- 10 things you are grateful for. 

Soon you will have an amazing running list of all the good things in your life. THIS is how we build resilience. THIS is one way we take ownership of our self-care and our wellbeing. 

We already know all the things that stress us out during the day; this is a way to give equal airtime to all the good things. 

Let’s use gratitude as a skill, not just an emotion. Use it as an exercise, an obligation-free form of self-care. 

Let’s not put it on the shelf of things we “should do to be healthy”. Let’s commit together, BEFORE the end of the year, to use gratitude daily. 33 days of texting 10 gratitude items will bring us to the new year and will show us 330 things that are good in our lives. 

Imagine starting 2026 already grounded in everything that’s going right. Doesn’t that sound great?

Let’s start today- your future self will thank you.

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If you want more support building habits like this—or navigating stress with tools that actually work—I offer 1:1 coaching designed to help you feel better without adding pressure to your already full life. If you’re curious, reach out and let’s talk about whether coaching might be a good fit. Megan@NursingBeyondtheJob.com