Hey, mama. How are you? Are you taking care of yourself?
As a mom of three, it’s super easy to find myself in self-care ruts. I find myself going too many days between washing my hair; just throwing it up in a top knot (which is totally cool, I just don’t want that to be my only hair style!) I get in the habit of rushing to get myself dressed in whatever I can find in the clean clothes pile after spending a ton of time getting my kids ready for the day. It’s easy to forget that you deserve to get ready to, you know? Like, are people going to notice that I’m on day 4 of dry shampoo? Or that I have crusty oatmeal on my shoulder? That I never wear makeup?
I’m not saying you should worry about what other people think. You do whatever you want and whatever makes you feel comfortable in your skin. Somedays, I’m totally okay with the fact that I look like a hot mess. I’m a mom of three really young kids. If my kids don’t sleep, or fight with me all morning, I’m probably going to be wearing leggings and a top knot with no makeup because, life. Just tell me I look awesome and bring me coffee.
But what I am talking about is taking time for yourself in the morning. Makeup or not. Drink your coffee. Read your book. Get that workout in. Put on your makeup. Curl your hair. Get dressed in actual clothes. Pee alone.
Just pick one thing that makes YOU feel good for the day. I promise if you do, your whole day will go smoother and you might even be more productive!
I’ve found, though I’m not always great at following through, that if I get up before my kids, my day runs WAY more smoothly. I hear you, some days it’s really hard to drag yourself out of bed, especially when your kids woke you up a million times. The morning, for me, is the best time for a little self-care.
Three days a week, I attend a crossfit-style workout class. It’s a whole hour out of the house without my kids and it is amazing! The class is really hard and I have a love/hate relationship with it but I never regret taking that time for myself, even if I want to cry about how hard the workout is.
A couple of other days during the week, I try to get up between 5:15 and 5:30 to get some work done. I find that writing comes more easily to me first thing in the morning because nothing else has happened during the day to distract me. I sit in the dark on my computer, drink hot coffee and write or read articles or work on my business. It’s probably my most productive hour and a half in the whole day.
I’ll be the first to admit that I can go weeks without following through on this. Lately, Madi has been waking me and John up FREQUENTLY in the night, so we both have a really hard time waking up early. Most days when this happens, I choose sleep over getting up early to work. And I’M OKAY WITH THAT and you should be too. Don’t ever feel the pressure to “push on” when you’re literally exhausted. I’ve done it and it doesn’t end well for anybody. Trust me.
BUT! On these days, remember to be gentle with yourself. DO still take time to drink a hot cup of coffee or put makeup on. Whatever makes you feel good. Do that one thing, even if it’s only 5 minutes for yourself. You deserve it. For real.
Much love, mamas. You hate to hear it, but these days are fleeting and soon all of your kids will be in school and you’ll be basking in the glow of silence and hot coffee. Oh wait, that’s not how that’s supposed to go.
We all love our little cherubs, but we also need to look out for number 1 or everything else will fall apart. <3
