“Hey Mom, Give Yourself a Break”Happy Mother’s Day Friday Ladies! I hope everyone has a good umbrella. The weather this week has been less than desirable. Looks like we’re going to go straight into summer next week! I look forward to sunshine and pool time!Today I wanted to touch on self-care and giving yourself a break. We all know that Mother’s Day is this weekend. Being a modern mother can be oh so difficult. The rewards are immeasurable, but the grind is unrelentless.The word “mother” is formally defined as “a female parent.” In today’s society a mom is so much more than a female parent. Moms are caretakers, teachers, heads of households, breadwinners, psychologists and so much more. We have kids, fur-babies and husbands. Moms are still moms on vacation (I did laundry on a cruise ship last week ) There. Is. No. Break.What moms lack as a group is the ability to identify needs for self-care and when it’s time to take a break. Burnout is inevitable as a mom. Being able to recover from the day-to-day grind is imperative.The #1 reason for self-care is that frankly, you deserve it. Many times we don’t know how far gone we are until it’s too late and we enter crisis mode (again...totally guilty of this!) Also, when we don’t practice self-care, we’re less effective at being a mom. It’s easy to lose patience with our kids and family. Our marital relationships can strain. My husband always jokes that “if Mama ain’t happy, nobody’s happy." It’s a joke…but there’s a lot of truth to that saying.Sometimes we’re so far gone we don’t know what self-care consists of. I’ll make it easy for you and give you some starting points:-Adequate sleep (at least 8 hours is ideal)-Proper nutrition (lots of clean eating...think fresh fruit, veggies, poultry, fish, etc) Oh and don't forget lots of water! -Ability to exercise-this could be any form...walking, hiking (enjoy the fresh air!), small group fitness classes, swimming, biking, etc-Mental, emotional, and spiritual healing/development-this could be meditation, yoga, reading, journaling, going to church, etc.-Whatever else you deem important to your well-being (for me it's bubble baths, getting my nails/hair done, reality TV and an occassional glass of wine!)One last thing. Remember that you’re human and make mistakes. The modern mom is stretched thinner than ever before. Love yourself for everything that you are. You’re not perfect, and that’s ok.So enjoy your weekend moms! Going forward, see if you can identify areas that you can practice self-care. You’ll have weeks where YOUR needs go unfulfilled, but if you make it a habit to add in some self-care every once in awhile, you’ll notice a huge difference. (And probably be a better and happier mother because of it!)
