If Mama ain't happy

It seems as though there has been a movement lately amongst women, specifically mothers, towards an increased awareness of the importance of self care. Great, right?! Seriously. So good! It's about time that women started to understand the importance of self care. The benefits of it are undeniable.

For me, this is an area where I really struggle. In fact, I down right suck at caring for myself. I often find myself pondering over this, and questioning why it is that I am pretty good at taking care of EVERYONE else, but can't get my shit together when it comes to me and my needs. I am genuinely curious to find out how other women do it. Seriously! Why does everyone else seem to be able to get their shit together and I'm over here sucking huge bal....errrr....I mean, failing miserably?

In theory, it sounds easy enough. Just make time for yourself. Go for a walk. Schedule a coffee date. Get your hair done. Take a hot bath. Doesn't matter what it is, just take time to do something I enjoy. Easy. We come back to this whole "Expectations vs. Reality" thing, though, and here is where the problem lies. In my reality, I actually have no idea where, when or how I am suppose to schedule this self care in. No clue! I'm clearly not doing something (or a whole lotta things) right, because in my opinion finding a goddamn needle in a hay stack would be less daunting then finding a bloody minute for self care. Why don't we just take the term "self care" and add it to my list of "Things that I feel guilty for not doing more of".

So anyways, I've decided that I am going to try to get my shit together and figure out how to start taking better care of myself. I read this article recently that makes a few suggestions that actually make the task sound slightly less daunting. It suggests starting slowly and working your way up. I've already got a friend signed up to walk with me on Monday nights, and I'm going to find time once a week to squeeze in a half hour walk on my lunch break. I'm really hoping that this will help me to achieve the "energetic and refreshed mom" thing that the article mentions as opposed to the "already stressed to the max and can't even begin to think about adding one more task or responsibility onto my plate because I feel like my head is going to burst" thing that I've currently got going on.

xo Michelle