Look around, you’ll see it everywhere- Engage in self-care! Fill your own cup! Do something for you.
You know what I’m talking about right? The pretty picture and moving quote that comes up on your social scroll with the message that you DESERVE to do something for you.
You think on it for .003 seconds. You look around your house and see the kids’ toys which need to be put away, the laundry that needs to be folded and the dishes that have to be put in the dishwasher.
You WISH you had the time, the energy, the support to engage in self-care. You surrender yourself to your current phase of life, feel a little more depressed that you aren’t one of those women who can find the time and then you move on to the funny video of a cat licking a dog.
Stop with the self care lie. You can take care of yourself and you must!
We work with a lot of women in their early postpartum period and we see commonalities.
Something happens when a woman becomes a mother.
She turns into an amorphous being whose job it is to tend to her new baby’s every whim and desire.
She gives up girls’ nights to be home with her baby- because, you know– they will only be tiny for half a second. She gives up her tennis or yoga schedule because it interferes with nap time or bedtime. She stops painting because she wants to spend more time reading books with her littles.
AND she becomes DEPRESSED.
Don’t get me wrong, all of that stuff is important and valuable. Your children will remember the warmth of their mother’s lap, the snuggles before bed and the games you played.
But it’s time we stop giving up who we were before, in exchange for this new role we took on. It’s okay to be a sexy-ass mother who goes out with her friends in her pencil skirt, drinks a martini or two, dances until midnight and has a blast.
It’s okay to go to yoga. Your baby and spouse will survive.
A match of tennis every week isn’t going to be the difference between your success in raising a well bonded and socially adjusted child.
If you draw out the woman you were before you had the baby, I promise you will feel a little bit lighter, brighter and energized to take on the tasks of motherhood.
Make a plan today
Execute said plan. Find some other mothers who are seeking to extend their life through healthy fulfilling choices, make a calendar, and go do the things that made you who you used to be or become someone even better! Sign up for childcare at Lifetime Fitness or the Y, hire a sitter or a mother’s helper. You can do this. Where there’s a will, there’s a way and where there are excuses there is only more of the same.
Do you need help making a plan? We’ve got your back. Give us a call.
