How to Add a Whimsical Self-Care Spread to Your Journal

I’ve got a fun new self-care spread in my journal, and it’s RAINBOW! Check out how I’m celebrating self-care and self-love in February with good habits and a touch of whimsy!

How to Add a Whimsical Self-Care Spread to Your Journal

You know it’s going to be a great day when you get to break out a full rainbow of colored pens! When I made this self-care spread (during a Live Facebook session), I wasn’t planning on writing a full blog post about it. Then I shared it on Instagram. Wowza! You can all get onboard with rainbow pages, that’s for sure. Beyond the pretty colors, self-care spreads like this one serve a valuable purpose. So, I figured we would spend a few minutes talking about how to make self-care a real part of your routine, and of course, we’ll dive into the colored pens for a step-by-step walkthrough of how to make this fun self-care spread.

What is self-care?

If you want the short answer, self-care is anything you do to take care of yourself. That seemed too easy, right? The long answer is more complicated since self-care can encompass a broad range of activities, and it’s different for each person. In essence, self-care encompasses habits and behaviors that work together to help you live more effectively. It’s not just about self-indulgence.

Let’s get one thing straight: self-care is not selfish. Selfishness is devoid of balance. It happens when we show total disregard for how our behavior affects others. The opposite (though also imbalanced) would be self-sacrifice. Women (yeah, I’m lookin’ at you!) have a tendency to sacrifice themselves on the altar of those around them: coworkers, children, partners, family, and friends. We mistakenly assume that the needs of others must always come before our own. Not only is this self-destructive, but it sabotages our ability to effectively contribute. Self-care adds balance between your own needs and the demands placed on you.

Often, good self-care means taking time for ourselves. Does that mean it’s all about bubble baths and Netflix? Not exactly. Sure, sometimes taking care of ourselves is knowing when (and how) to take a break, but it can also be good old-fashioned responsible living. That might mean preparing nutritious meals to keep your body strong. At the same time, a weekly meeting with a friend over coffee and cake can do wonders for your mental and emotional health. You should walk away from self-care activities feeling that you’ve given yourself something (health, rest, peace-of-mind, etc.).

They key is to make a deliberate effort to infuse your life with activities that refuel you.

What does self-care do for you?

Rest and self-care are so important. When you take time to replenish your spirit, it allows you to serve others from the overflow. You cannot serve from an empty vessel.” ~ Eleanor Brown

Addressing our own needs makes us better able to deal with the physical, emotional, and mental demands of our lives. More importantly, by nurturing ourselves first, we have something left to give to others. For many of us, self-care goes deeper than that. It boils down to how much we value ourselves, which in turn, determines how much we can expect others to value us. I guess you could say self-care is kind of a big deal!

How do you practice self-care?

I’m guessing your journal plays a big role in how you take care of yourself. I must be psychic, right? Or maybe my corner of the internet is visited by people who journal. Nah, definitely the psychic thing.

One of the reasons we neglect self-care is that we feel we’re “too busy.” First, check out these quick self-care activities you do have time for. Then remember that you ‘re useless to address all the “busy” in your life when you’re running on empty.

Brainstorm some of the activities that make you feel refreshed and healthy, and keep the list handy. You’ll use it for the colorful self-care spread I’m showing you today. These should be deliberate actions that have a positive effect on you. (Note: This isn’t a should list. Please don’t list things you dread doing.) Here are some ideas to get your started:

• Read a book
• Write in your journal (and use your self-care spread!)
• Spend time outdoors
• Make a special cup of tea and drink it in silence
• Put away your phone
• Say no
• Meditate
• Prepare healthy snacks
• Take a shower
• Listen to music
• Go for a walk/run
• Meet a true friend for lunch
• Take a timeout
• Anything and everything you can think of that adds balance to your life, calms your mind, and makes you feel like a new you!

Rainbow Self-Care Spread for Your Journal

Ready for the fun part? Grab your list of self-care ideas, your journal, and your favorite colored pens! As I mentioned before, this page was created during a live journaling meet-up on my Facebook page (make sure you follow my page if you want to catch those in the future). Everyone commented with their suggestions, so we had an awesome assortment of self-care activities! There were a few things I did ahead of time (like the pencil sketch). Let’s just dive in…

1. Create the Outline: Using a pencil, sketch a heart or other shape in your journal (the notebook I’m using is a Scribbles That Matter Pro). The pencil outline is just a guide for where your colored portions will appear. I also sketched my header in pencil. I chose a hollow script, which I later colored according to my rainbow pattern.

2. Organize Your Colors: Choose the number of colors you’ll use in your spread. I chose 10 colors from my Tombow TwinTones and organized them in a rainbow-like effect. I created a cheat-sheet for my colors and assigned each one a number (I didn’t want to forget which colors I chose if I had to do this page in more than one session). It’s doesn’t have to be pretty. The card is just to keep things organized.

3. Divide your heart into columns: If you watch the original FB live video, you’ll see that I split my heart into 10 equal vertical sections (in pencil), which I also numbered 1-10. Each color from my cheat-sheet matches with the same numbered column on the heart. In short, I divided the heart and assigned a single color to each column. Pretty easy so far, right?

4. Add your positive self-care activities inside the heart. As I wrote my self-care activities across the page, I switched colors whenever I crossed into a new color column. If you like, you can also add negative habits (things that take away from your self-care) outside the heart. I love the way the grey makes the rest of the heart pop off the page!

Don’t just take this page and forget about it. You’ll need to revisit it periodically to renew your commitment to good self-care. But with a fun rainbow color scheme and soul-refreshing activities, this will surely become one of your favorite pages to visit. Happy journaling!

I love hearing your perspective! Do you keep a self-care spread in your journal? Comment below with your favorite activities or tips for making self-care a priority!

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Megan Rutell

Writer & Creative Blogger

Megan Rutell is the blogger behind Page Flutter. She's also a writer, stationery lover, Air Force veteran, and homesick Colorado girl.