Dear reader,
Here’s the deal: I have something serious to talk to you about. I know you are busy and things are crazy right now, but you are just not taking care of yourself the way you should be! I totally get it; life is just so darn busy!
The term “self-care” has gotten thrown around so much it’s just become another meaningless buzzword. But we know, deep down, how vital it is for our wellbeing! So I’ve pulled together 59 self-care quotes (and 1 short poem!) to inspire and motivate you to FINALLY start taking care of yourself the way you should be!
Memorize them! Write them in your journal! Mail them to yourself! Put them on sticky notes and stick them all over your house! Whatever you need to do to convince yourself to stick with it.
I’ve broken them up into subsections by theme to make it easier on you.
Ready? Here they are:
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14 Short Self Care Quotes
Short self-care quotes for those of us with short attention spans or out-of-control schedules!
- “Self-Care equals success.” – j Dixie L. Nichols
- “If you get tired, learn to rest, not to quit.” – Banksy
- “Your subconscious mind is paying attention to how you treat yourself.” – Sam Owen
- “Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love.” – Brené Brown
- “The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.” – Sydney J. Harris
- “Self-care is how you take your power back.” – Lalah Delia
- “Carve out and claim the time to care for yourself and kindle your own fire.” – Amy Ippoliti
- “Be kinder to yourself. And then let your kindness flood the world.” – Pema Chodron
- “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance. ” – Oscar Wilde
- “An empty lantern provides no light. Self-care is the fuel that allows your light to shine brightly.” – Unknown
- “Put yourself at the top of your to-do list every single day and the rest will fall into place.” – Unknown
- “Self-care is not a waste of time. Self-care makes your use of time more sustainable.” – Jackie Viramontez
- “The perfect man of old looked after himself first before looking to help others.” – Chuang Tzu
- “If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.” – Jack Kornfield
Inspirational Self Care Quotes
These 9 beautiful quotes will inspire you to finally give yourself the love and attention you need!
“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” – Howard Thurman
“There are days I drop words of comfort on myself like falling leaves and remember that it is enough to be taken care of by myself.” – Brian Andreas
“Our soul is like a soft and gentle flower, it needs to be nurtured, cared for, tended to, with sufficient sunlight, fresh air and freedom to bloom into its most precious and beautiful form. This, my friend, is self-love.” – Miya Yamanouchi
“With every act of self-care your authentic self gets stronger, and the critical, fearful mind gets weaker. Every act of self-care is a powerful declaration: I am on my side, I am on my side, each day I am more and more on my own side.” – Susan Weiss Berry
“As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” – Maya Angelou
“There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self” – Aldous Huxley
“When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life.” – Jean Shinoda Bolen
“Caring for your body, mind, and spirit is your greatest and grandest responsibility. It’s about listening to the needs of your soul and then honoring them.” – Kristi Ling
“Nourishing yourself in a way that helps you blossom in the direction you want to go is attainable, and you are worth the effort” – Deborah Day
Self Care is Mental Health
If you are serious about your mental health than you need to be serious about taking care of yourself! These 7 quotes emphasize the importance of prioritizing self-care.
“For me, recovery and self-care are inextricably connected. My recovery from abuse, addiction, and a suicide attempt required dump truck loads of self-care.” – Steve Austin
“It’s common to reject or punish yourself when you’ve been rejected by others. When you experience disappointment from the way your family or others treat you, that’s the time to take special care of yourself. What are you doing to nurture yourself? What are you doing to protect yourself? Find a healthy way to express your pain.” – Christina Enevoldsen
“If you feel “burnout” setting in, if you feel demoralized and exhausted, it is best, for the sake of everyone, to withdraw and restore yourself.” – Dalai Lama
“Self-care is so much more than a beauty regimen or an external thing you do. It has to start within your heart to know what you need to navigate your life. A pedicure doesn’t last, but meditating every day does.” – Carrie-Anne Moss
“Self-care is taking all the pressures you are facing right now, and deciding to which you will respond, and how.” – Imani Shola
“How we care for ourselves gives our brain messages that shape our self-worth so we must care for ourselves in every way, every day.” – Sam Owen
“With every act of self-care your authentic self gets stronger, and the critical, fearful mind gets weaker. Every act of self-care is a powerful declaration: I am on my side, I am on my side, each day I am more and more on my own side.” – Susan Weiss Berry
You Have to Take Care of Yourself Before You Can Help Others
These 7 quotes are about taking care of yourself first – before you take care of other people. You can’t really help others if you are barely hanging on!
“If we don’t take care of ourselves, if we don’t put on the oxygen mask first, we don’t have the capacity to help those people we care so much about.” – Megan McCormick
“Practice self-rescue first before you ‘help’ someone else” – Maureen Joyce Connolly
“Self-care is the number one solution to helping somebody else. If you are being good to yourself and your body and your psyche, that serves other people better, because you will grow strong enough to lift someone else up.” – Mary Lambert
“In my own deepening understanding of myself I find my capacity to serve others is deepened as well. The better I am at self-care the more genuinely nurturing of others I am able to be.” – Mary Anne Radmacher
“The value of self-care and self-love is often underestimated. It starts with you. You can’t give what you don’t have.” – Izey Victoria Odiase
“Self-care has become a new priority – the revelation that it’s perfectly permissible to listen to your body and do what it needs.” – Frances Ryan
“Taking care of yourself is the most powerful way to begin to take care of others.” – Bryant McGill
Self Love and Self Care Go Hand-in-Hand
Putting in the time to take care of yourself will increase your self-esteem. These 9 positive quotes emphasize the need to love yourself.
“Self-compassion is simply giving the same kindness to ourselves that we would give to others.” – Christopher Germer
“When I loved myself enough, I began leaving whatever wasn’t healthy. This meant people, jobs, my own beliefs and habits – anything that kept me small. My judgement called it disloyal. Now I see it as self-loving.” – Kim McMillen
“If we truly loved ourselves, we’d never harm another. That is a truly revolutionary, celebratory mode of self-care.” ― Sharon Salzberg
“Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.” – Lucille Ball
“Self-love is an ocean and your heart is a vessel. Make it full, and any excess will spill over into the lives of the people you hold dear. But you must come first.” – Beau Taplin
“If you aren’t good at loving yourself, you will have a difficult time loving anyone, since you’ll resent the time and energy you give another person that you aren’t even giving to yourself.” – Barbara De Angelis
“A healthy self-love means we have no compulsion to justify to ourselves or others why we take vacations, why we sleep late, why we buy new shoes, why we spoil ourselves from time to time. We feel comfortable doing things which add quality and beauty to life.” – Andrew Matthews
“Do something every day that is loving toward your body and gives you the opportunity to enjoy the sensations of your body.” – Golda Poretsky
“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” – Buddha
Quotes About the Importance of Self Care
In case you are still not convinced that self-care is important, here are 8 quotes to change your mind!
“Learning self-care is like building your own lifeboat, plank by plank. Once you’ve got your boat, you’ll still be rocked by the waves of life, but you’ll have a feeling of safety, and stability that means you can pick other people up on your way.” – Nadia Narain
“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 Brownn
“Every time you make a commitment to your own self-care, self-love, and self-respect and then follow through, you build trust in yourself.” – Miranda J. Barrett
“Self-care is never a selfish act—it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer to others.” – Parker Palmer
“Prioritise self-care & incorporate a MINIMUM of 60 mins ‘ME TIME’ into your daily routine. YES THERE ARE enough hours in the day. NO EXCUSES.” – Miya Yamanouchi
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” – Audre Lorde
“Caring for your body, mind, and spirit is your greatest and grandest responsibility. It’s about listening to the needs of your soul and then honoring them.” – Kristi Ling
“It’s not selfish to love yourself, take care of yourself, and to make your happiness a priority. It’s necessary.” – Mandy Hale
It’s Ok to Rest
Rest and relaxation are vital parts of self-care! These 5 quotes are all about taking some time to yourself.
“As important as it is to have a plan for doing work, it is perhaps more important to have a plan for rest, relaxation, self-care, and sleep.” – Akiroq Brost
“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under the trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.” – John Lubbock
“Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths.” – Etty Hillesum
“Self-care is a deliberate choice to gift yourself with people, places, things, events, and opportunities that recharge our personal battery and promote whole health — body, mind, and spirit.” – Laurie Buchanan, PhD
“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” – Anne Lamott
1 Short Poem
Never apologize for taking care of yourself!
“I lied and said I was busy.
I was busy;
but not in a way most people understand.
I was busy taking deeper breaths.
I was busy silencing irrational thoughts.
I was busy calming a racing heart.
I was busy telling myself I am okay.
Sometimes, this is my busy –
and I will not apologize for it.”
– Brittin Oakman
In Conclusion: You Are Worth It
I hope these quotes have given you the motivation you need to finally get serious about prioritizing your self care!
If you are feeling restless and frustrated with your life click here to download the Soulful Realignment Guided Journal that will take you through the 5 steps you need to start living your refreshingly authentic life.
What have you found to be the biggest obstacle keeping you from taking care of yourself as well as you should? Tell me in the comments below!