If you have ever taken a flight you are familiar with the safety briefing they give you after you board the plane. One thing the crew is adamant about is you putting your oxygen mask first before you try to assist anyone else. It took me a couple flight safety briefings to fully understand the reasoning behind why you have to take care of your own mask first.
You cannot help others if you are not ok yourself.
This same principle applies to self-care. If both your physical and mental health are not taken care of, you cannot help those around you.
Below you will find the top 5 reasons why you need to practice self-care.
To Reduce Stress
Mama, I know stress is part of life, but that does not mean it has to become the new normal. When I scroll through social media I see a lot of moms expressing how worn out they are from running around trying to do a million things. Take a minute to sit down and analyze which things are causing the most stress and eliminate them. I know that is easier said than done, but take it one step at a time. For example, when my husband and I were preparing the nursery for our second baby, we were stressed to the max trying to get things finalized. We had to sit down and write out the tasks that were most important to us and split them up to where we had a certain amount of tasks scheduled for each weekend. Seeing things written down on a calendar seems so simple, but it was exactly what we needed to help reduce stress and freed up some time for self- care!
To Have More Energy
When you put self-care on the back burner, little by little, without even noticing when it started, you begin feeling drained. Completing simple tasks become overwhelming since you have little to no energy left in you. It might seem like a good idea to just lounge around to recuperate, but we have to dig a little deeper. Get to the root of what is draining your energy and create a plan to work around it. One of my old co- worker’s favorite saying was “Work smarter, not harder.” This is excellent advice as when you plan things out and strategically target where your energy goes, you will find you have plenty of it left, and you can focus it on yourself!
To Be Present
This has got to be one of my top reasons I practice self-care, to be present! By present I don’t mean just physically. I mean actually be there. I cannot tell you how many times I have let anxiety take over things and find myself getting lost in my thoughts, all while not being present in the moment. It saddens me when this happens because it usually means I am missing out on important moments I will not get back. I have to step back and redirect my attention where it actually matters.
To Have More Self Love & Compassion
Sometimes we get caught up doing things for everyone except ourselves. We are kind and encourage others, yet we forget about us! How do we expect our little ones to learn to do this on their own if their mom doesn’t do it herself? Self- love and compassion have to be modeled explicitly so our babies can see it is a must in our everyday life.
To Give More
The saying “You can’t pour from an empty cup” resonates a lot with me now that I am a mother. I still find myself worrying if I am being selfish with my time practicing self-care, but I have to remember there is no way I can fully give my family the love and attention they need if I am not ok.
Final Thoughts
Mami, I know life gets busy and you have a million and one things to do, but make sure you remember what we talked about earlier and put your mask on first.
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