It might seem stupid, but looking after yourself properly can be one of the toughest things to do, especially if you are the mum who looks after everyone else. There may be the small 10 minutes in the morning when the kids are still asleep when you can let yourself daydream, or in the evening where you can relax for all of 30 minutes before you have to go to bed. But these small snippets of time really don’t allow you to look after yourself to the best of your ability.
As a parent, I am sure you will have it down to a fine art of looking after the kids, making sure the husband is all set for his day. However, over time this can lead to some serious burnout because all of the self-care is left until everyone else has been catered for. With all this, it is very easy for frustration to build as personal goals, ambitions are left unfulfilled as there just isn’t enough hours in the day to get it all done. After a while of running around looking after everyone else each and every day, inevitably exhaustion will set in and you will have some of those days where you really don’t feel like you can even get out of bed.
However, by taking a few steps to help look after yourself, you can help prevent this exhaustion and actually start a process of achieving your own personal goals.
- Getting enough sleep.
- Eating nutritious food that fuels your body.
- Exercising a few days per week.
- Spending focused quality time with your partner, children, family, and friends.
- Getting the medical care you need.
- Participating in leisure activities.
- Even doing absolutely nothing.
These are all things we would recommend for our children to do. However as parents, particularly mums, many of these go to the wayside due to the lack of time we leave for ourselves after helping everyone else. But here are a few steps you can take to start doing these things and actually looking after yourself.
- Start Simple – By starting with a simple strategy, it is way more likely that you will be able to stick with it and find it easier to fit in to your day. So instead of possibly starting with trying to run 5km, why not try just by doing a 10 min home workout. This is much easier to do, as you can so it at home and takes much less time than trying to head for a long run straight away.
- Plan It In To Your Day – Once you have begun this easier habit, it is then important to plan it in to your diary/day. Otherwise it can be very easy for this new habit to fall by the wayside and you stop doing it altogether. But having it planned in, gives you that structure and incentive to get it done consistently, and before you know it, it will become part of your weekly routine.
- Start Slowly – Now we have this new habit that we are going to have a go at fitting into our week, remember to try and start slowly. This means that you don’t necessarily have to try and start doing a home workout every day, try with 3x per week. This gives you time to adjust to it, and helps to avoid you feeling overwhelmed again of when you are going to fit these workouts in to everyday. But if you plan for only 3x per week to start, then it is much more easy to plan these workouts into the course of a week. Thus helping you remain consistent with it.
Start slowly ladies, don’t rush it, but make sure you start to put in something to help look after yourselves. It doesn’t have to be hours everyday, but just 5-10 minutes 3 x per week is a great place to start.. So what are you going to start doing to help look after yourself?