Taking Time Out for You: Self-Care Tips For A Busy Mom
Today's moms are expected to do it all: have a full-time career, take care of the kids, maintain a healthy relationship, and keep a beautiful home. It's a lot to handle and can drain your energy before you know it. You need something to refill your cup and give you the stress relief and balance you need to juggle all those plates and prevent burnout.
How do you find time for self-care, though? With everything you're responsible for and need to do personally and at work, where do you and your needs fit in? Is it possible to find a work-life balance?
You do things that are simple but rewarding. Adopt habits of self-care that don't take a lot of time or, even better, are simple changes to things you already do. Let's look at some easy, satisfying self-care tips to help you find balance in your life.
Prioritize Rest as Much as Productivity
We live in a world where we are often judged based on our productivity. How much can you get done in a set amount of time? How busy can you be? Who can be the busiest? It's not just exhausting; it's a straight path to total burnout!
Work-life balance matters. But it's not just about your career. It's also all the other things you do: the household chores, the groups you volunteer with, the school events you agree to help with, and more.
Instead of constantly trying to be productive and looking for ways to fit in more things to do, start prioritizing rest. Rest is as important as getting things done. Without proper rest—and that doesn't just mean sleeping—your productivity drops. When you're tired, you aren't able to focus as well. This means you'll make more mistakes, forget steps, and complete tasks more slowly than if you were well-rested. In other words, you'll work harder and get less done.
Make rest a priority, and give yourself time each day to sit and do nothing. Rest looks different for everyone. You might do nothing but stare at a wall. You might watch a TV show, read a novel, nap (or go to bed early), or sip tea. Whatever you do during this time should not be about accomplishing something.
Take Some Healthy Brain Breaks
You spend all day working, planning, coordinating, and otherwise using your brain. By the end of the day, you might feel like you want to flip a switch and turn your brain off. While that's impossible, you can give your brain a healthy break that allows it to rest and refresh itself.
Try sketching, coloring an adult coloring book, reading, meditating, writing in a journal, or doing a word search or crossword puzzle.
You might also reconsider some of your existing habits. Doom-scrolling social media or watching endless news coverage may speed up your feelings of burnout. Think about making these simple changes to nourish your mental health instead.
Bookend Your Day With the Sun
So many working moms go from the moment they wake up until they fall into bed. It's exhausting, especially when most of that day is spent looking at a computer screen. Between a full day at work and managing kids and home, you might not spend time outside other than walking to and from the car.
Try starting your day by getting outside. Take your morning coffee or tea and sit on your porch or patio. Enjoy the gradual lightening of the sky and the blooming warmth on your face. Then, at the end of the day, do it in reverse. Watch the sunset, allowing the slight drop in temperature and the slow darkening of the sky to release the tension of the day and help you get ready for sleep.
Reduce Caffeine and Add Water
Coffee, sugary sodas, and energy drinks are all things that many moms rely on to get through the day. You sip them to start the day, get through the afternoon slump, or push through a busy evening. But all that caffeine continues to course through your system long after you've swallowed it. It can interfere with sleep, leading to more caffeine the next day. Before you know it, it's a vicious cycle you can't escape.
Plus, caffeine dehydrates you, which leads to more fatigue, as well as mood changes.
If you want to boost your energy, drink more water. Staying hydrated boosts your energy and helps stimulate nutrients and hormones that will release the feel-good endorphins that boost your mood. And that all comes together to increase your productivity, too.
Self-care is essential for working moms. It can be easy to put yourself last when you're constantly taking care of others, but it's necessary to make time for daily self-care. There are many simple ways to incorporate these self-care tips into your life; the most important thing is finding what works for you. By caring for yourself, you can be a better mom and a happier person.
