Congratulations! You’ve made it through a quarter of your life. To celebrate, would you like to spend the day contemplating why your life just feels “off” lately? Or, go down memory lane and overanalyze every wrong decision you’ve ever made and swear that if you chose differently your life would be better?
Don’t both of those options sound dreadful? The good news is there is another option. You can beat those quarter life crisis meltdowns by planning/focusing on your quarter-life glow-up instead. Not sure where to begin? Keep reading, I’m sharing all you need to get started.
A Quick Quarter-Life Audit
Before you dream up where you want to be, you need to find out where you are at. This may be tough, but I need you to be completely honest with yourself here. Don’t sell yourself short, but don’t put down an answer that you want to be true either.
For this audit I want you to look at each area of your life (physical health, mental health, relationships, and spiritual life) and answer these questions.
- On a scale from 1-10 (one being the worst and 10 being the best) how satisfied are you with this area of your life?
- What contributes to how you answered the previous question?
- How can this area of your life get better?
- What is one small action you can take for the next 21 days that would improve this area of your life?
Your Guide To A Quarter-Life Glow-Up
I believe that the best way to make your glow-up last is to focus on the habits that will improve your life. Sure getting your hair colored and buying new clothes is fun and can give you that glow-up high vibe energy. However, if you want this glow-up to stick around, you’ll want to put some work in and change your habits.
In no particular order, I’ve listed a variety of habits that will help you on your glow-up journey. Don’t try to implement them all at once. Pick one to three that will impact you the most, based on the answers from your life audit. Then, once you have those habits down, try a few more.
Celebrate Weekly Wins
The more you celebrate the small things, the better you will feel overall. Didn’t hit snooze on your alarm all week? Pat yourself on the back. Finished a book in time for book club? You are rocking it! What else could you celebrate?
Embrace Failure in Your Quarter-Life Glow-Up
What a lot of people don’t realize is that failure is a part of the process, not something to be avoided. It’s through failure that we learn some of our biggest lessons. Embracing failure during your glow-up season will keep your vibes up and help you truly grow.
Get A Skincare & Haircare Routine
If you haven’t started both skincare and haircare routines yet, consider this your sign to start them. Your future self will thank you. There are a plethora of products out there, and everyone’s skin and hair are different. What works for me may not work for you.
All that to say, you should definitely do your research to find a good starting point, but also be open to trial and error. An important tip to remember is that you want to try new products one at a time. That way if you have a reaction you’ll know what product to stop using.
Find Something That Grounds You
Whether you want to get closer to God, or are looking for a way to feel peace in your soul during stressful times, it’s crucial you find something that will spiritually ground you.
Your spiritual growth can easily be missed when focusing on a glow-up. In my opinion this is a big mistake. If you want a true glow-up from the inside out, you’ll want to add a spiritual element to your plans.
Develop A Journaling Practice for Your Quarter-Life Glow-Up
Journaling is a great way to document your journey. It can also help you make breakthroughs with any mental blocks, inspire you to start something new, help you plan for the future, and so much more. We have a lot of resources to help you start journaling, so definitely check them out.
Find A Workout Style You Enjoy
Physical activity is not just important for your health, it’s also a great mood booster. I know the sound of doing a workout isn’t your first choice for something fun to do. That can change though. You just have to find the type of workout that you enjoy. For me that is dance fitness, but for you it could be yoga, HIIT, barre, etc..
Find Your Favorite Way To Relieve Stress
Just like there are many ways to do a workout, there are also many ways to relieve stress. Life is stressful, especially these days. The key is to recognize when the stress begins and be proactive about moving past it.
You may find that your stress melts away when you listen to your favorite playlist, take a walk, or talk to a close friend. Find out what calms you and reach for that when you notice yourself feeling stress.
Get Good Quality Sleep
The amount of sleep you get really does make an impact on your day to day life. Running on low sleep can bring down your immune system, lead to bad, impulse decisions, and just makes you feel awful. We don’t want any part of that during our glow-up season.
The quality of your sleep matters as well. You could sleep your 8-10 recommended hours, but if you woke up a lot during that period you may as well have only gotten five hours of sleep.
Make Your Doctor Appointments During Your Quarter-Life Glow-Up
When you feel like you are in good health, going to the doctor can be the last thing on your mind. In order to do this glow-up right though, I need you to make AND attend those routine doctor appointments.
Best case scenario, the doctor tells you you are doing great. It’s nice to catch any abnormalities early though. The only way to do that is to go to those appointments.
Set Boundaries With Your Digital Life
If we want to focus on having the best glow-up, we need to cut out all the noise. We are constantly surrounded by everyone else’s thoughts, drama, and lives. All it takes is a few swipes and scrolls to turn a great day into a bad day. So here are some habits I want you to work on in an effort to set boundaries in your digital life. Pick one, or a few, whatever you think you need.
- No phone usage the first hour of the day and the last
- Put your phone face down during meals, better yet on do not disturb
- Set a limit on your weekly social media usage
Do Regularly Scheduled Spa Days (At Home, At The Actual Spa, Or A Mix Of Both)
You deserve to treat yourself during this time too. Prioritizing regular spa days is a great way to relax your mind and body, and it will make you look good too. What more could you want for a glow-up activity?
Creating an at home spa is easier than you may think. Set the mood with some relaxing music and dim lighting, grab a face mask, nail polish, and any other skin care you may have, and then you are set.
Make A Dopamine Burst List And Reference It When You Need It
The last habit on the list of glow-up habits is something I’ve started calling a Dopamine Burst List. I discovered this with the help of my therapist recently. We were talking about my tendency to participate in bad habits, like impulse shopping and eating junk food, whenever I want to feel good.
She helped me realize that there are other, more helpful, things I could be doing to get that feeling of a dopamine boost. So I decided to make a list to reference when I need it and it has helped tremendously.
So before you start your glow-up journey and want you to make a list of some things that make you feel a boost of happiness. It could be things like listening to a certain song, watching a funny animal video, stretching, playing one of those New York Times games, you get the idea. By making this list now you’ll have it to reference throughout your glow-up journey and beyond.
Final Thoughts on Your Quarter-Life Glow-Up
This may not have been what you thought doing a glow-up would consist of, or maybe it is, but it is what will make the most difference in your life. Feel free to make it fun, set it to a theme, or even make it a challenge. Let us know how you plan on starting your glow-up journey down in the comments.
About the Author
Kelly graduated from Liberty University with a degree in Advertising and Public Relations and a minor in Journalism. Even though it took her a little while to find her career path, she was always meant to be in Communications. She remembers writing poems and songs when she was a little girl and pitching to my parents the reasons why I should have a cell phone when I was a teenager. She currently has a blog (budding-joy.com) where she talks about her weight-loss journey, mental health and personal development. Her hope is to encourage and inspire readers and let them know they are not alone. Reading blog posts like that are what helped her in tough times and she wants to pay it forward. She loves dance fitness, listening to music, and creating layouts in her bullet journal. She's a big fan of planning, especially when cute notebooks and pens are involved. Her dream job has changed so much over the years; right now she'd love to co-own a dance studio.
Website: budding-joy.com