13 ways to improve your wellness routine as a working Mom.
Why is taking care of others so much easier than taking care of ourselves? I try to remind myself that I need to care for myself the way that I care for my three children. I cater to their every need and sometimes that leaves me with no energy for myself. That’s why I’ve focused over the last few years on I focus on a realistic wellness routine for moms like myself. I shared some of my self-care rituals earlier this year and now I want to share a realistic wellness routine for busy working moms. Here are a few things we can implement into our lifestyle to improve the quality of our bodies, mind and overall wellbeing.
Movement aka Exercise
Last night, I attended an event here in New York City where Tonya Lewis Lee, the executive producer of She’s Gotta Have It spoke on wellness, motherhood, and entrepreneurship. She shared with us that she has focused on making her body “army fit” by exercising four days a week (don’t worry even she falls off the bandwagon at times when life gets busy) but one thing that struck out to me was her explaining that even when her children were little and needed more of her she prioritized taking care of herself so she could take care of them and be physically strong enough to pursue her goals full force once they were older. She suggested that we make small lifestyle changes like going for a walk instead of going out to eat or drink.
I stretch daily and exercise around twice a week these days, I would like to get up to three or four days a week because I feel so much more confident, happier and strongest when I’m exercising regularly.
Meditation
I love meditating! You might have remembered me taking my first meditation class back in September and since then I’ve done a few more and meditate on my own almost daily. It really centers me and I can literally feel the stress leaving my body when I do it. My favorite meditation that I’ve tried so far is sound meditation and I even did a sound bath that at an event my friend curated late last year.
Establish Boundaries.
The first time I heard of boundaries as a wellness tool was listening to the Hey Girl podcast. I can’t recall the exact episode but it made so much sense to me immediately. Everyone doesn’t deserve to be given access to our entire life. Creating boundaries helps us to feel safer and to protect our energy which is really important. When I was younger, I would cut people out of my life but as I’ve matured I realized that is toxic and doesn’t end problems or the stress. I can just create boundaries in our relationship. Once you establish boundaries your days will be less stressful.
Create a preventative plan.
Taking time to learn our family’s health history and then creating a preventative plan to protect our bodies is important. For instance, both of my maternal grandparents had diabetes and I had gestational diabetes while pregnant with my oldest child. I learned that chia seeds can control blood sugar so I started adding it to my water an smoothies. I also using moringa regularly which protects our bodies from a long list of diseases.
Journal or video journal.
Whether you write or video journal (I do both), getting your thoughts out of your head is really important and should be part of your daily wellness routine. When you start feeling yucky feelings like envy and anger get it out of your body immediately. Try to determine why you’re feeling that way and how you could change your life so you don’t experience that feeling again. A few years ago, if I ever felt gross after gossiping I would close my eyes and visualize myself asking the person to forgive me. Doing this always helps me to immediately clear my energy whenever I’m in that situation.
Drink Water and mind your business.
Minding your business will cut down on jealousy feelings and gossiping and will help you to achieve your goals fast plus you will have more time to drink more water and be healthier.
Therapy.
We all have crap that we need to work through whether it’s from our childhood, relationships, career etc. the best way to not have it affect our health in the long term is to address it all through therapy. As many of you know I’ve been to therapy before and I am a big advocate for mental health care since it’s just as important and our physical health.
Use your time wisely.
Social media could suck us in for hours but using our time to bond with our loved ones is much better for our wellness. I know this is weird coming from a blogger since social media is how I connect and share my journey with my community but it’s important to connect intentionally and then log off. Instagram now gives you the option to get an alert when you’re on the app for over a certain period of time that you can select and some smartphones track your social media usage which is helpful.
Have a spiritual practice.
Whether you participate in religion or not, you need to have a daily spiritual practice that you can use to center yourself. Personally, I pray every morning which makes me feel good.
Join a likeminded tribe.
Hanging out with people with similar interests and goals would make you feel energized on a daily basis. Having friends who you can try new yoga classes with or who can share healthy recipes will make your wellness journey a little easier.
Listen to your body.
The fascinating thing about our bodies is that they let us know exactly what they need when we’re listening. If your body is tired then sleep if your body craving greens eat them if your body needs to move then dance or exercise. Also, when you body is ill, get the best care you can for it.
Keep track of triggers.
We all would prefer not to remember any of our past traumas, but we usually get triggered when we least expect it with many times not realizing what the trigger is. Determining what our triggers are can be helpful for us to avoid them. Write down a list of possible triggers and then avoid them as much as you can. Maybe even tell your close friends and family so they can help.
Be honest with yourself about your energy.
The fact that many people seem to not realize they have negative energy (or they are the negative energy) shows how unaware many of us are of negativity in our lives. Be honest with yourself so you can make your energy brighter, clearer and improve yourself in the process.
