Despite how hard it may sound “take care of yourself before others”, especially when you are a mother and your children are a priority, this is the most efficient way for you to be able to give the best of yourself by taking care of yours.
Why do I tell you this? If you dedicate 100% of the time to take care of your children, your house, your husband, your family, your work, without dedicating time to yourself, your exhaustion will be such! That your negative feelings will begin to feed and grow, from there many things start, and you will probably begin to feel that nothing you do makes sense, that your vibration and your energy are very low, that frustration comes constantly, and that sadness floods your heart despite having everything. We must take care of ourselves and make sure we are well so that we have enough tools to take care of others.
It is very important that you feel your heart full of purpose, this will help you to move forward with any plan, objective, or goal that you propose.
How can we start taking care of ourselves more?
1. Creating habits that generate well-being
Creating new habits is possible every day is a new opportunity.
What creates habits: constancy, and the purpose for which we want to adopt and include them in your life.
How to start creating habits that serve your daily life?
• Analyze, deepen and understand your goal when implementing this new habit, it is extremely important to be aware of the goal. Always remember that the motivation lasts little but the purpose, the intention will be what will move you.
• Write what additional benefits it will bring to your life.
• Start with day one without thinking much about it, always remember that the objective is achieved with the cumulative effect, thus contributing every day a grain of sand to achieve your final objective.
Suggested habits you can start with to make your day more beneficial and productive:
• When you get up in the morning take a glass of water and hydrate your body after the Rest.
• Get up a little earlier than your children and start your day on your own terms.
• Read, listen to a podcast, meditation, or something that feeds your mind
• Look closely through your Window this new day and practice gratitude.
• Write 3 things that are a priority for that day, that are achievable for that particular day, in this way you will begin to feel the fulfillment of your objectives.
• Organize mentally or in writing how the activities you want to do with your children are more comfortable for you and what will be the quality time that you will dedicate to them that day to take advantage of them, contemplate them and generate that daily connection.
• Pay attention to the internal dialogue you have with yourself, thus, being very careful how you talk to yourself and what words you choose to say to yourself on a daily basis. It is important that we begin to be kinder to ourselves.
2. Leaving a free space for yourself within your calendar
Locate your new habit within your calendar, it is very important that you give space to this time in a realistic way. That means, place it within your calendar where you are confident that you can do it without being interrupted.
3. Invest in yourself.
What do you like? What can you invest in? One of the things that cost me a lot was buying things for myself; every time I spent money on something for myself, I immediately felt guilty as if I didn’t deserve it. It is important that you give yourself those tastes that make you feel good. I’m not saying to waste the money but for instance: go to the beauty salon, buy a book, buy clothes. Invest in things that make you feel good.
4. Cultivating ideas and schedule yourself to be with your children as if it were a date.
One of the things that make my day with my children easier is to have an activity plan to be able to develop and thus feel that we are making good use of time, I am also connecting with them, and my day passes much easier when I have it organized. It does not have to be a minute-by-minute organization as children are unpredictable many times and things do not always go as planned. However, if you already have a certain number of activities organized in the morning and in the afternoon is perfect, put it on your calendar and do it. If something doesn’t go as planned, nothing happens, of course. Just manage your emotions and go with what follows.
5. Accomplishing specific tasks daily that are aimed at fulfilling your objective and make you feel satisfied for having had a productive day.
This last point is related to the previous one. One of the things that made me feel the most frustrated was having a to-do list that was never accomplished because it was simply too many things. We mothers already know that we do not have the same free time that we used to have before our children. We know it BUT we do not internalize it because we continue to put a load of tasks to be carried out unconsciously; Therefore, it is important that you first understand your real free time, and based on this, put 3 tasks as a priority. Therefore, you will end up that day with the feeling of achievement, this will make you feel progress little or much towards our main objective.