Self-care non-negotiable routines / habits

[RichterScale7]

Looking to make consistent changes to improve personal well-being in mid-40s. From past experience, I struggle with everything in moderation / intuitive approaches to diet, exercise and lifestyle. It all ends up in bargaining, trade offs and fails.

But hard rules like no deserts / alcohol until deadline, I find straightforward and much easier to follow. I am thinking about strict 10 pm bed time for working day, for example. Just wondering if anyone is the same and what your best serving rules are, if you had to but anything in place to help you adhere?

Start with one easy thing. For me it was doing a few minutes of stretches after getting out of bed and drinking a big glass of water when I wake up. When these are second nature add something else…. Phone away in another room at 9:00 for eg made a huge difference to my sleep quality so I felt more able to implement other changes as I wasn’t exhausted or grumpy.

-No coffee after 12
-No alcohol on a school night
-Never skip skincare
-Fruit every day
-Dessert/treat once a week only

I find these easy to stick to!

Reduce consumption of alcohol, refined carbs, sugar, UPF. You'll have infinitely more energy and everything else will be so much easier.

Eat healthy: lots of vegetables, moderate amounts of protein, some healthy fats and dairy. Experiment with cooking simple whole foods. Add things like herbs, lemon juice, garlic, ginger, chilli sauce, horseradish, mustard, hoisin sauce, fish sauce, soy sauce....... etc to add flavour.

Exercise at a set time a day, even if it's just 15-20 minutes a day. Check out Lucy Wyndham Read, Growingannanas, Heather Robertson, Caroline Girvan. Do a plank or a few stretches while Watchung TV or waiting for the kettle to boil.

Nurture things that give you joy - for instance music, art, reading, theatre, friendship groups, long walks..... whatever floats your boat, but reserve time for it and do it consistently.

Keep a diary and reflect on your life and goals every now and again - without too much navel gazing.

This is good advice.

Read/listen to Atomic Habits.

I dont like hard and fast rules....they usually get broken at some point then you just feel crap about yourself.
Only thing that is non-negotiable for me is dental care coz menopause gave me gum disease.🙄

I find habit stacking to be useful though. Where you build onto pre-existing habits.
For example my usual routine was 'walk dogs, breakfast, shower' now its 'walk dogs, breakfast, rebound and Netflix!, shower'.
I get my cardio in it feels weird not to. Even simple things like add a piece of fruit to lunch, walk somewhere you usually might drive, etc.