Ten tips for self care for busy mums
Do you talk yourself out of doing things you want to because you are worried about not having the time?
Though you know you need, want and deserve the time to do something for you?
Taking time for us, as mums, can be tough, I’ve been there. Over the past six years of motherhood, whilst struggling to create good healthy habits with self care, I’ve learnt that if I don’t take that time I’m left depleted, exhausted, impatient and with little energy.
Do you allow yourself the gift of rest?
In one of my coaching sessions with a client recently we focused on mindfulness, the importance of being present, taking time to rest and ultimately support ourselves to thrive.
In this session we worked through some of these questions:
✨ Do you allow yourself to just be?
✨ Do you allow yourself time to just sit?
✨ Do you allow yourself to be present in the moment?
✨ Where can you add in some moments to just be over the coming days?
Take a moment to sit with these questions and then begin to look at your week ahead, where can you add in something that nourishes you and raises your energy?
Could you take 5 minutes on the school run to sit and breathe, or have a cup of coffee to go whilst you take a walk round the block. Adding in practices around what we already do is a simple way to build healthy self care habits.
Here are some simple self care practices that might just work for you:
1. Grab your journal and reflect on what it is that brings you joy, what helps you to re-charge and relax. Having an understanding of what brings you joy, helps you re-charge and relax can help you understand what self care practices you should be adding in to your life.
2. Having self awareness of what will support you is one of the greatest things you can do to help us move forward, as can being curious and trying different practices to see what works for you. So listen to your body, and become curious about what it might need right now.
3. Pencil in some time to do some of the things that bring you joy, helps you to re-charge and relax. Grab your diary and put in those times when you are going commit to self care practices.
4. Schedule in some time when you can take five minutes to yourself – to just sit in silence, focus on your breathing, or drink some water. This time for yourself might seem unachievable, however having this time will allow you to show up as your most patient, authentic self.
5. Spend some time outdoors in nature exploring, being present and mindful in your moments. Being outside in nature has so many incredible benefits for us including improving your mood, giving you time for relaxation and reducing your stress and cortisol levels.
6. Move your body through dancing, walking, yoga, Pilates. Moving your body can be whatever you need it to be and this might be something you do on your own, with your friends or even with your children.
7. Read your favourite book, a magazine, a book with your kids. Get snuggled on the sofa or in bed and get reading. Commit to reading a chapter each night or week, whatever will work best for you.
8. Set some boundaries for yourself and those around you. Create boundaries for certain activities, for example, putting your work laptop away once you have finished for the day or putting your phone down before bed and reading a book instead.
9. Use essential oils to lift your mood and help you feel good. Using essential oils can help to boost your mood, reduce anxiety and improve sleep and you can also use some essential oil blends with your children too.
10. Listen to your body and what it is telling you, really listen in to what it is saying. You have all the answers for what you can do to support yourself at any given time, so trust them.
I’d love to hear how you get on with these self care practices and starting to build some healthy self care practices.
Emma Benyon is a Self Care and Motherhood Coach and Educator, supporting mums with the tools to move from overwhelm to balance and clarity in motherhood and beyond. Emma is a qualified NLP, mBIT and Practical Magic Coach. She is the editor of Positive Wellbeing Zine for Mums and host of the Self Care and Motherhood Edit. Her mission is to support mums to thrive and live a life they truly want through 1-2-1 coaching, self paced courses, workshops and group programmes.
Website - Emmabenyoncoaching.co.uk
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