A thoughtful self-care routine is beneficial for mothers to reduce stress and improve concentration. Self-care is directly proportional to minimizing anger, frustration, guilt, and increasing energy levels.
For example, slowing down makes mothers more productive in their day-to-day endeavors, boosts the immune system, improves self-compassion, enhances self-realization, and strengthens bonds with your family and your kids.
The question is: how do you take care of yourself as a mom? Victoria Martuscelli, Holistic Health Coach and owner of Lavender Lifestyle, LLC, has some valuable tips on how to support yourself so that you can perform throughout the day to the best of your ability – without feeling guilty. Today’s article will give the top five guilt-free self-care tips to improve your overall health and wellbeing.
Seek Help and Stay Organized
It may be hard for you to accept that you need help from others to achieve your goals, There is an old saying “it takes a village to care for kids and family.” When you try to do everything on your own, you overburden yourself and negatively impact your overall health.
Find your village and seek help from your family members or loved ones. Accept assistance when your husband, partner, friend, or sibling offers you support. That way, you can spare some time to focus on yourself without feeling guilty. It’s also important to learn to say “No” to requests for things or for your time when the task or objective doesn’t interest you or will add stress or pressure to your current workload.
We recommend keeping a calendar, planner, or to-do list for upcoming tasks and appointments. This will allow you to leave time in your schedule each day to cover things that come up. When you have consistent, expected obligations, like helping your child with school work, you’ll be able to schedule for that and avoid double booking. Keep a calendar can certainly help to avoid stress from unexpected commitments you may forget because you didn’t jot them down.
Prioritizing your tasks is an excellent way to prevent extra load on your body and mind. Complete the most important task first to save time for yourself. You can use the saved time to read a book, catch up with a friend, talk with your family, participate in a dance class, or do anything else that refreshes and relaxes you.
Create an Exercise Routine
Regular exercise is beneficial for everyone, including moms, to improve their physical health and mental wellbeing. However, most moms find it challenging to create a consistent workout routine.
Consider four crucial factors: equipment, time, goals, and exercises when creating a routine to match your lifestyle. Once you consider these factors and address each one, you will move one step forward toward making a result-oriented workout routine.
Equipment is one of the most critical things to consider when creating an exercise plan. Ask yourself: what do I have access to on a daily basis? For most busy mothers, hitting the gym a few times a week can seem impossible and may cause you to give up before you even get started! That’s why we suggest exercising at home. You don’t need expensive tools or equipment to work out at home. You can engage yourself in cardiovascular exercises, such as dancing or jumping rope, to avoid the cost of a treadmill for running.
Consider how often you want to work out. Exercising three times a week is a practical and guilt-free practice. This easily fits into the schedules of most moms making it easier to commit to and achieve your goals.
Bear in mind that there is not a single perfect way to exercise. It means your workout routine must center on what you enjoy what you can do. Exercises you may want to consider are Pilates, Yoga, HIIT training, circuit training, body weight and strength building exercises.
Maintain a Healthy Diet
There is no better way to honor yourself and commit to good self care than to maintain a healthy diet to improve your physical and mental wellbeing. Although there is no specific diet best for physical and psychological health, some eating patterns are better than others.
A growing body of research evidence supports the Mediterranean diet for moms who want to improve their physical health, reduce depression, and live happier lives. Vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids, and methyl folate are healthy compounds found in the Mediterranean diet to enhance your physical and mental health. We recommend consuming*:
- Fruits and veggies
- Whole grains
- Cereals
- Nuts and seeds
- Beans
- Olive oil
- Eggs
- Lean meat
- Fish
- Poultry
- Dairy products
*Avoid known allergens
In addition to the Mediterranean diet, we recommend focusing on your body’s hydration. Research shows that the human body is composed of 70% of water. If you breastfeed your child, fluid intake becomes even more critical.
Moms should drink at least 8-10 glasses of water to optimize your metabolic and homeostatic levels, keep your skin flexible, muscles/joints strong, and blood cleansed even if you are not nursing.
Learn to Let Go
Motherhood is not an easy task. It requires careful planning, preparation, and making massive adjustments. You have spent your entire life taking care of yourself, and now, you have to take care of your child. Most moms feel guilty about practicing in self care because it seems like an indulgence. Like you are letting down the ones you love who depend on your constant care and attention.
Thoughts like “Can I really take care of myself and my child?” can feel like the most significant worries that moms develop. If you think the same, you will experience stress and deteriorated productivity. Remember, no woman starts as the perfect mom. So, even if you make a mistake, you should not feel guilty because no one is perfect.
Your child loves you the way you are, so reject negativity and embrace joy. Believe it or not, as the song says, “You’re gonna miss this.” Childhood is a special time that we all remember, but thinking back to the time when your children are small is a precious gift. Even the messy, imperfect, barely made it through the day moments can bring tears of longing to your eyes. So, relax. Take time to write what you are feeling down in a journal and “don’t sweat the small stuff”. And remember, it’s all small stuff.
Letting go offers a wide range of mental health benefits. When you let go of negative emotions, painful thoughts, and focus on the present moment, you regulate your feelings and control your brain. Consider mindfulness meditation to let go of your biggest worries, which in reality don’t exist and are just the delusional side of your mind.
Schedule Your Sleep
Many moms sleep when their baby sleeps. Although this is good advice for some moms, it only works when the baby’s sleep schedule aligns with what you feel you have to get done during the day. Understand that when babies are small, making time commitments to others can be hard. Make it easy on yourself by keeping your schedule flexible to give yourself the opportunity to take cat naps throughout the day.
Some mothers find it helpful to make a sleep schedule for yourself and your baby to maintain a good balance. For example, if your baby falls asleep at 9:00 PM, you should also try to sleep. In that case, avoid using your smartphone or watching TV.
Add meditation and yoga to your daily routine to increase blood circulation to your brain. The purpose is to trigger your brain to release melatonin, a hormone that streamlines your circadian rhythm and promotes a good night’s sleep.
Use these tips to improve your self-care routine
Self-care for moms is essential and anything you do to take care of your physical, mental, emotional, and social wellbeing qualifies. Follow these top five tips to improve your self-care routine and achieve healthier outcomes with fostered resilience, improved stress management, and increased happiness.