It is quite easy as a mother/parent to neglect one's own self-care. The competing demands of tending to our children, while also juggling the countless other roles and responsibilities in our lives and careers, can leave hardly any time left for self-care activities (or inactivities as the case may be). Self-care and self-nurturing are foundational to our well-being and effectiveness as mothers (and as human beings). We not merely have our kids to love and care for, and our partners where they exist, but additionally ourselves.

In lots of ways, we ultimately love and look after others, to the extent we love and look after ourselves. Many of you reading this article are very good at being "other focused", looking after the requirements of children, partners, aging parents, friends, neighbours, and perhaps also clients, patients and students if your work in the world involves helping or supporting others. Again, the extent to which you can fully show up on your own behalf, will be reflected in the distance you are able to support others to take in terms of their health insurance and well-being- including your children. A wise woman once said to me, "we only take people as far as we have gone ourselves." As mothers, you want to take children the fantastic distance towards their health, well-being and happiness, hence a journey we are called to make ourselves.

Being a mother, may be the most complex, amazing, exhausting, and meaningful work that I have ever done in my life so far. All the tending, loving, giggling, clearing up, getting snacks, changing diapers, running baths, reading stories, teaching, sleepless nights, adjusting, evolving, coordinating, learning and growing is actually mind boggling. I used to think the toughest job I ever had was as a child welfare social worker, than I worked in the emergency department of a hospital and thought that has been up there in the "that is challenging work" category. Onward to key note speeches and facilitating training programs before a huge selection of people, where my heart would pound loudly in my ears when i was introduced, seconds away from needing to say something brilliant (or at least not foolish) to the people sitting at round tables making use of their name tags on. I QUICKLY became a mother and fell to my knees in the humility of the all consuming, miracle of motherhood. Now That is hard work! Motherhood, if you ask me, is hard, easy, natural, challenging, joyful, soulful and frequently invisible work.

Self-care has a whole new meaning now since how well I manage myself will determine, in some way, how well I care for my children. That said, I also notice the more we care for others, the harder it really is to maintain self-care - there may be so many competing imperatives on our time. With deep respect and compassion for this reality, here are a few tips for prioritiizing your own self-care as a mother/parent (if you're not a parent - I am hoping you find value in these pointers as you honour your self-care in the midst of what is true that you experienced).

Do everything you love - in the event that you only can create 30 minutes a day to deal with yourself - choose activities that you really love to do (what really fills you up, inspires you, nurtures you, supports you - choose these things!) - it will make it easier to get to them. Yes, running 5 kms will be good, but maybe you would rather have a bubble bath - so have the bath!

Think integration versus balance - balance might seem like a distant far fetched notion while you pack kids into the car, run back in the home to grab your vehicle keys and the lunch bag you forgot on the counter, so let's reframe balance into integration. Integration means that the really important elements of your life get some of one's attention - and that means you exercise, eat healthy, and make time for self reflection. But perchance you can't do many of these things every single day - but overall you have a tendency to them in the course of a week, a month - this is integration.

Give yourself permission to put yourself first - there's always more to do - another load of laundry, more dishes - there is always something that may take you away from yourself! You need to give yourself permission, absolute endorsement, to look after yourself. This WILL mean walking away from other activities to claim this time on your own - this guilt free, essential time on your own devoted to maintaining your wellness and replenishment.

Ask for what you need and want - we need support from our family, friends and colleagues to put self-care up front in our lives. One way to get this support would be to not leave it to chance or default, ask for it, be clear and specific in the thing you need from others to assist you achieve your self-care goals. Be sure to also ask how you can support them to be mindful too - this creates a win-win environment for creating and sustaining healthy lifestyles inside our families and in our workplaces.

Create self-care routines and habits - if you have to always give a lot of thought and preparation to your self-care activities, you're much less likely to actually follow through with getting right down to it. This can be a lot better to have routines for the self-care - for example, you understand you go for a walk at lunch time (period - you protect the time, you don't have to find out when you are going to exercise, and while others are working through lunch, giving an answer to more email, etc. you are moving your body and having a rest!)

solawave-reviews.com to rest - most Moms I understand are tired - and for good reason. Getting some sleep and some rest is key to having the energy and mindset to tend to other self-care activities. If you are feeling depleted, run-down, exhausted - it is OK to create rest your number one priority! Your energy will rise, you will feel much better by getting some rest. Depending on how old your kids are, what stage of sleep deprivation you might be in as a parent, rest might need to be the ONLY think you're attempting to do in effort to deal with yourself. It's OK to have just one thing on your own self-care "to do" list!