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If you are a mom, you know that raising littles is wonderful but also incredibly draining, exhausting and taxing. Many moms stop taking care of themselves and put their littles needs before their own. While this may seem like the best thing to do, it is actually the opposite...think about it for a second with me…
You are tired and drained because you are doing all the things for your family. Meals, chauffeur, event organizer, dry cleaner, maid, emotional sounding board, and the list continues. Because you are tired you are a little more snappy and short with your littles resulting in the mom guilt coming on strong because no one feels good after yelling and being short. Everyone feels bad and the cycle continues because we constantly put everyone's needs above our own. If you are reading this, I am guessing you want to be and embody a happy, vibrant mom and the good news is that you can!
The process is easy-- you just have to flip the script so to speak! Putting your needs FIRST is essential...I will say it again… Putting your needs FIRST is ESSENTIAL. Happy, vibrant moms know that when they take care of themselves and put their needs first, that happy and vibrant energy spreads to their family and everyone wins. In this blog post I will be sharing 17 habits you can start today to become the most vibrant version of you!
Water-- Yes this might seem simple but hydration is important! Our bodies are made up of 60% water. When you are dehydrated you can experience headaches, constipation and lethargy. We need ALL the energy we can get being a mom so drinking enough water is one way to flood our bodies with goodness.
PRO Tip#1- Start your day with a glass of room temperature water with salt and lemon. Together this combo floods your body with minerals and nutrients to start your day on a hydrated note!
PRO Tip#2- Buy a reusable water bottle and figure out how many you would need to drink half your body weight in ounces of water. For example, I am 150 pounds so I want to drink at least 75 ounces a water a day. I have an obnoxiously big water bottle that holds 40 ounces so my goal each day is to drink two of them. (always consult a health professional before starting something new)
Movement-- This one is HUGE. Honestly between this and water, I believe are essential to creating happiness. To me, movement is any way I move my body that feels good to ME. It could be a walk, zumba, yoga, cycling, lifting, kick boxing, barre, HIIT, running, cross-training..it can be anything. Moving your body for 30 minutes gets your endorphins going and it releases stagnant or pent up energy from our bodies. When I am having a harder mom day, I will have my littles do a workout with me allowing all of us to get that energy OUT.
PRO Tip: If you are new to moving your body, start slow and experiment with different types of exercises that feel good to you. I never thought I would be a cycler but I love cycling. It took some time to figure out what I like to do!
PRO Tip: Schedule your workout time in advance. On Sunday’s I plan my workouts by looking at what we have coming up. I prefer to workout in the morning and do my best to do it then.
PRO Tip: Track your Cycle. I workout according to my menstrual cycle (I talk all about this in my Stepping into Spirituality Course) and ¾ weeks I alternate between cycling and lifting. During my period, I rest and do stretching.
Gratitude list- Gratitude is everything when it comes to cultivating and sustaining happiness. I list 7-10 things I am grateful for every single day. We are all so blessed and so many times we don’t take the time to appreciate what we have right in front of us. Our health, wealth, home, food, family, flowers, books, technology and coffee just to name a few.
PRO Tip: Use a Journal. There are so many gratitude and daily journals out there. The Yogic Path is one of my favorites to use since it allows me to track and check in with myself in the morning and evening.
PRO Tip: Add in affirmations. Affirmations are powerful sentences that re-wire your brain to think differently and in turn create a better reality. This journal was created to support moms and help them live intentionally.
PRO Tip: Do a gratitude practice with your littles! Ideally, we do this every night but at this current season we are in it hasn’t happened that often. Find a time to share what you are grateful for as a family. I made this simple yet effective Affirmation and Gratitude Journal for Kids!
Alone time-- I didn’t know I needed this until I was a stay at home mom and was never alone. However, I think it is important for working, work from home and stay at home moms. Creating space to be alone and be ourselves is essential. Motherhood can swallow us up whole and our entire identity can be wrapped up in our littles. While this isn’t terrible, I guarantee you are not happy and vibrant when you don’t have time and space to just be you. Alone time can be when you move your body, taking a bath, getting a facial or going for coffee. It can be what you want but making sure you have time to yourself each week or day if you can will benefit your mental, emotional, and physical self.
PRO Tip: If you have a partner or spouse, plan your alone time ahead of time. We like to do a Sunday meeting where we run through the week and look at each other's needs and schedules. This allows us to be super transparent of what we need and when we are going to do it.
Friend time-- Mom friends are the best friends, am I right? There is nothing like getting together with moms who get it and your life. How often do you get together with your girlfriends? How often would you like to get together with your girlfriends? Answering these questions can help you determine how frequently seeing your friends would benefit you. Now, I want to add that I know it has been challenging to see friends during a pandemic. One of the ways I have overcome that is by creating Illuminated Sisterhood. Illuminated Sisterhood is an online community of moms where we meet twice a month on Zoom to chat all things motherhood and learning. It is a simple and convenient way to be with other moms just like you while the world around us is isolated.
Meditate-- I love to meditate. Does it happen how you imagine in a quiet and calm space where I sit cross legged and feel completely zen? Nope. I am a mom of four littles. Meditating for me is a time where I quiet my mind, focus on breathing and listen to calming music. Many times I lay down for 5 minutes during our “quiet time” after lunch. Sometimes my daughter joins me and sometimes it doesn’t last more than a minute. Meditating can be a walk looking at nature and being present. Meditating can be driving and looking for the beautiful things around you. Meditating can be sitting on a comfy pillow and focusing on your breathing. Meditating is an opportunity to quiet the chaos and be in the present moment--however that looks and feels for you.
PRO Tip:- Calm or Insight timer are great meditation apps for your phone. I love Insight Timer and have a few favorites that I go to. You can find any length and a variety of different styles.
Don't Sweat the Small Stuff- So, we all agree that mom life is nuts right?? Then why do we spend so much time getting worked up over crap that doesn’t matter?!? Running late for an appointment, missing the bus, spilled coffee are all annoying but they aren’t that big of a deal. Sometimes we let these small things turn into huge moments that then taint the rest of our day. When you have an annoying moment, take a breath and reassure yourself that it is ok.
Self Care Routine-- Self care is all the rage but do we actually take time to do it? To care for ourselves in a loving and fulfilling way? Self care is different for everyone but finding activities that you love doing that feel nurturing for yourself will fill your cup up. For me, I get a monthly facial and then do a facial scrub once a week--usually on Sundays. See this post on Overwhelm to help further.Happy vibrant moms care for themselves!
Skin health-- I don’t know about you but when I look good, I feel good. Something I started taking seriously in my 30s was my skin health. I got serious about washing my face, using products that are meant for my skin type and learning all about caring for my skin. I am so passionate about it. I wrote this post about what every mom in her 30s should do for her skin!
Screen Time Limits-- we have all been there...sitting on the couch scrolling our phones and we look up and 45 minutes have passed. Whoops! In my opinion, social media apps are great for connecting and inspiring us. However, they also are a way for us to “numb out” or zone out when things feel overwhelming or hard. There are a few ways to monitor your screen time but the easiest way I have found is to set limits on your phone. I have it set where I can only be on certain apps for an hour a day! Happy moms are out LIVING their life, not watching others live theirs!
PRO Tip: Look at your screen times for your most used apps and figure out how much time you would ideally spend on that app.
Get outside/grounding-- Being outside is SO good for our bodies. It helps boost our immune system, improves our mood, and gets fresh air into our lungs. On top of getting outside, being outside barefoot is a phenomenal way to reset your nervous system and connect to the earth.
PRO Tip: Go outside with your morning coffee or tea and walk around your front or backyard barefoot, breathing in the fresh air and running through your gratuities in your head.
Get dressed/dolled up-- Ok, I am going to admit it-- I am the laziest woman when it comes to dressing up/make up. However, there was a point early in my stay at home life that I was feeling very blah. I wore the same 5 things, I always felt like I looked like a truck had just run over me and I knew that if I started spending a few extra minutes getting ready in the morning I would feel better. And it worked. I wear minimal makeup but what I do wear makes me feel beautiful. I started wearing earrings and lipstick on days that I felt like it. I still never do my hair--it is just not my thing but figure out what makes you feel beautiful! It doesn’t have to be dressed to the nines but when I look good, I feel good and that energy transfers on to the rest of your day!
Say yes and mean no-- We are a “yes” culture. We over commit and over tax ourselves by saying yes when really our hearts aren’t in it. This takes practice but before committing to something, really ask yourself if this is a YES because if it is not an excited yes, then is a hard NO! Yes I realize sometimes we have to do things we don’t necessarily want to do but when we have those options to do something or not, we need to really use our discretion and say yes to what matters!
Eat Real Foods- I was hesitant to put this one in here but I think it is important so I am going there. In the US we are inundated with highly processed and jammed with sugar foods. I have been on a journey to heal my gut (more on that soon) and one of the things I had to do was cut out sugar and let me tell you, it was hard but it was worth it. My energy skyrocketed and I felt SO much better in my body. There are other things I did and I will share those too but the point is to look at your meals- do you have fresh fruit and veggies? Do you have a good source of protein? Our gut is our second brain and if we are putting processed, sugary foods into it, we are not going to get energy out of it, rather the opposite, tired and irritable!
PRO Tip: Try food journaling or work with a nutritionist or naturopath to see if altering the food you are eating is a way for you to feel better in your body!
Read for pleasure-- Reading is a way to enhance your life. Whether it be to learn a new skill, read a captivating story or a celebrity gossip magazine. Allow yourself some time to read for enjoyment. I don’t know about you, but I want my littles to love reading and to do that I have to be an example for them to read for pleasure. Happy and vibrant moms are learning topics they are interested in and reading while enjoying themselves. Here are a few of my favorite books!
Vitamins & Supplements-- If you haven’t gotten the gist of this post by now, SO much of being a happy momma is taking care of yourself! Always consult with a doctor before starting vitamins or supplements but a few of my favorites that I think are essential for feeling your best are below and linked to make it easier to find!
Vitamin D
Vitamin B12
Multi Vitamin
Hyaluronic Acid (skin health essential!)
There is A LOT of information in this blog post, take one or two things to implement and then once those are established come back to it and try another two! Wanting to start everything at once will create overwhelm and then guilt for not being able to do it all which will cause you to feel the opposite of happy-- which is the entire purpose of this post! If you want support creating new habits, consider enrolling in my Vibrant Mom Bootcamp!
Tired of trying to make a change with no success? Wishing you had a system to support and care for yourself while being a busy mom? Vibrant Mom Bootcamp is a four week program that allows you the space to dive deeper into yourself. This four week bootcamp encompasses all aspects of yourself with an emphasis on your mind, body, and soul. Vibrant Mom Bootcamp is self paced and you get immediate access to dive right in! Each week you get new content to dig into to allow a vibrant transformation to occur-- all for $27!
The Rundown of Vibrant Mom Bootcamp:
Week 1: Body- our bodies are our home and we need to nurture them. Together we will pick an area to love a little more.
Week 2: Mind- everything you experience in your life, you created with your mind- let’s learn how to harness that power! Together we will choose a mindfulness practice to do and see how it transforms our outer world!
Week 3: Soul- You are here to experience joy in all the ways you desire. Together we will uncover your joy and bring it to life.
Week 4: M/B/S Alignment- this is where we put it all together and create a daily ritual and routine that fills you up to allow you to pour more vibrant energy into the ones you love most.
Wherever you are in your motherhood journey, I am here for you! Be sure to check out Illuminated Mom and grab yourFREE Video Training: Stop Yelling at your Littles
