I am pretty passionate about self care. As a mom, taking care of yourself and just taking the time to put your mind in the right place is so important. Because it really does impact how you show up as a wife, as a mom, and as a person in your community. It can make all the difference between being angry and grumpy all the time to dealing with stress in a healthier way. I thought I’d share some simple ways that you can fit self care into your life without feeling like you're being overindulgent, or that you have to spend an entire Saturday all yourself to really get that self care in.
Who Has The Time and Money for Self Care? How to Use Small Pockets of Time To Stay Balanced and Happy During The Busiest Seasons of Motherhood.
There are a ton of self care memes and Pinterest images, books, podcasts all about self care, but I just wanted to share how I do self care Simple tips that don’t take a lot of money and that you can fit into little small pockets of time during your day. So you can do your best to stay balanced and happy during those busy seasons of motherhood.
Meditation is a big part of how I stay grounded. It's a practice that I've had for many years and it has really helped me. I will say that when I first started meditating, my mind wandered all the time. Now I can meditate while my husband walks in with his radio on. This happens very frequently. I'll be meditating in our bedroom and he'll not realize I'm meditating and he'll walk in with his very loud radio on his phone. After having a practice for so long, I am to the point where I can truly still concentrate even with distractions like that. Meditation is a practice and the more you practice it, the better you will get at it.
Reading is another way that I care for myself. Whether it is reading a personal development book or just reading for fun, taking a few minutes to read a book and escape for a little bit can be such a great way to heal your soul and just help you take a break from life. Again, this is something you can fit into a small pocket of time. Meditation can take five to 10 minutes. It can take longer if you want, but it really can be short and sweet. I like to do mine early in the morning before I start my day before I even go downstairs and greet my family or have my coffee or check my phone.
Reading you could do just for a few minutes, you could do it while you're eating your lunch. There's just little ways that you can squeeze it in to really make that self care a priority.
The other thing that I do that is just so important beyond self care is just really taking time for you.
Do you feel like you've been saying yes, too often? Do you say yes, and then end up doing it begrudgingly? Here’s your permission to say no a little bit more often. And know that you're not doing it because you don't want to help out, you definitely want to help out, right? You want to be a person that is a helper. But really, if you're doing it with spite, or with a little bit of just frustration because you’re stretched too thin, then it’s not benefiting anyone, including the people you’re helping. For example, you said you’d bring cookies to a party and life became overwhelming and bringing cookies got to be too much.. It's okay to say no. It's okay to just not bring them at all, or to pick up cookies at the store instead of making them at home.
Another thing that I have done that maybe is not a small amount of time, but something that really has helped me, is having something that is just for me. And for me that's a side job. I've always had side jobs in my life. The day job provided financially and for my career but it didn't necessarily fill my passion bucket. My first side job was as a Jazzercise instructor. Yes, I taught Jazzercise and I loved it. And I loved that I was able to exercise and also make a little money and help other people be healthy at the same time.
Crunchi started as a side job too. It was just a way for me to help other women feel more empowered and beautiful and also help them learn about why toxin free living is so important. And then that side job grew into Detox By Design and this podcast, and eventually it became my full time gig. And now I have a couple other side jobs. In case you didn’t know, I’m currently serving in an Italian restaurant. I just love connecting with people there and making them happy by serving them delicious food, and getting out of a house and conversing with people. I also help my friend with her interior design business, which fills my creative heart, and the ability to create these gorgeous spaces and also help her grow her business. So I've always had these little jobs that were all my own. I think as moms, sometimes our lives become so focused on our children and our husband and making the family unit work, that we don't realize how much we are missing something that is just for us. And it doesn't have to necessarily be an income producing job. Maybe you need a volunteer opportunity that is just specifically for you. It's not something your family does, it's not something that's for your family. It's just for you. It helps you feel better, because it's special for you to experience and enjoy.
Another thing that I really love to do for my self care is connecting with people. I'm an extrovert, so spending time with and connecting with others really fills my bucket and really makes me feel happy. If you're an introvert, this might not be so great for you, it might leave you feeling drained and not as happy, definitely not self care. But for me, making a phone call to a friend I haven't chatted with in a long time or sending a Marco Polo is something I can do in a really small little snippet of time.
Finally, journaling is a great thing to do to really help your mind get in the right place. It's sort of like meditating with a pen. Go back and listen to my episode about manifesting, it was just a couple episodes ago. There's some great tips about how to involve journaling and manifesting together and just dream about the life you want and write it down and believe that it will happen because if you believe it will happen, then it will.
For self care, you don’t have to spend a bunch of money at the spa, or spend an entire day on self care to reap the benefits. If you want to do that, great! But not everyone has the time or money to be able to do that. These are just a few little ideas of how to just focus on yourself and take care of yourself on a more regular basis so that you can be better to serve others.
I would love to hear your ideas on how you take care of yourself. You can DM me @themeganmikkelsen on Instagram. You can also join my Facebook group called Toxin Free Talk and I would love to hear from you in my email at megan@detox.design. I also have a weekly email that I send out with toxin-free tips and discounts and you can sign up at www.meganmikkelsen.com. Know that I am here to support you on your toxin-free journey and as I said before I love to connect with people.
Thanks for listening and sharing the message with others. With your help we can make this planet happier and healthier one step at a time.
