Dear Worn-out Mama, Longing for Self-Care,

I see you.

All day long, you care so well for everyone around you – the kids, your spouse, family, coworkers, bosses, the dog – you know the list.

And sometimes you secretly wish you weren’t a caretaker for EVERYone. You wish you had time for yourself. You WANT to have self-care, but it can feel overwhelming to prioritize yourself.

When self-care isn’t on our priority list, it is hard to:

• Nurture yourSELF
• Pay attention and take care of the pain caused by stress (hello neck tension!)
• Connect with your friends a community

It’s too easy to backburner yourself, ignore the messages your body is sending you, and isolate yourself. It’s “easy” to ignore self-care.

The Burnout of the Backburner

Now here’s the reality in ignoring self-care: It’s not sustainable, it breeds resentment and a downward spiral of exhaustion, overwhelm, loneliness, and eventually leads to injuries and health problems.

I GET it. I’ve been there. After six years at home with kids, I had completely lost myself. Self-care was a foreign concept.

But here’s a secret…

It does NOT have to be this way. In fact:

• You CAN prioritize yourself
• You DON’T have to live with pain or discomfort
• Self-care can be simple and convenient
• You CAN say no

And the good news is, you can still be a good mom, all you need to do is make one person your top priority: YOU.

Put your name on the top of your priority list, mama, you need it and you deserve self-care. So, let’s get you there.

Self-care Myths

I see you shaking your head at me. I hear the “I don’t have time/energy/money/motivation to [insert whatever crazy idea you think self-care is]. Because you know what? I’m going to call you out here: those are just excuses.

Self-care doesn’t have to be:

• Spa days or mani-pedis (as wonderful as they are!)
• Girls nights or getaways
• Anything requires money, leaving the house, getting a sitter

No, self-care is MUCH more powerful than that.

We Need a Self-care Revolution

Actually, self-care is much more simple than that (relieving, right?!). It’s simply caring for yourself, choosing to add you to your caretaking list.

In fact, here’s my super top secret: it’s far more powerful to engage in small self-care acts throughout the day. Habits are formed by the things we do consistently. Two minutes, ten times a day can be way more powerful than twenty minutes once a day, especially when you’re still learning how to prioritize yourself.

As with learning anything new, it’s best to start small. Which is why I work with my clients on a concept I call:

Choose YOU for TWO

There are 60 minutes in every hour, so ask yourself, how many of those minutes are you caring for others. Probably something like 60, right? Even going to the bathroom is usually accompanied by children or checking work emails, right? Now, how many of them are devoted to self-care?

What if we reserved two, just TWO, of those minutes for YOU.

What can you accomplish in two minutes? It’s not much time, yet it’s a powerful opportunity to do something just for you. This can give you up to 12 2-minute self-care moments. It really adds up!

Here are my favorite TWO moments:

• Breathing – Deep breathing is a powerful way of calming the nervous system
• Moving my body – sometimes that’s jumping jacks, sometimes it’s simply moving my limbs around
• Lighting a candle before bed
• Connecting with my heart – taking a moment to tenderly ask myself “what do I need in this moment”?

So, what could YOU do for two self-care minutes? Make a list here:

My goal is to empower you to embrace the WONDERmom inside of you. Because every mom deserves self-care.

Are you ready?