Realistic Self-Care Ideas for Moms

posted on jessicamassey.com

TBH, I love a good theme and since May is when we celebrate Mother’s Day, I wanted to do a “For the Moms” series here on the podcast/blog this month but most of these ideas are applicable to any woman with a full life 🫶🏻

Before we dive into the actual self-care ideas, I want to get us all on the same page about self-care.

I define self-care as anything that improves my overall well-being – so things that support my mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health.

The most simple way to put it – self-care is prioritizing habits and routines that make you feel like the healthiest version of yourself.

Now here’s the thing with that – the healthiest version of you is going to look different in different seasons of your life.

How I take care of myself now, as a mom with an almost 1.5-year-old, looks different than how I took care of myself as a mom of a newborn, when I was pregnant, or before I became a mom.

Listen… there is no wrong way to practice self-care unless you just don’t.

I truly do believe that self-care is non-negotiable for everyone. Because self-care, paired with proper rest, is what keeps us grounded. It’s what helps us from burning out. From feeling like we’ve lost ourselves in motherhood.

It’s a cute and catchy little quote but self-care really isn’t selfish… however, I’d argue that neglecting your well-being is selfish because when we do that, our loved ones get the spread too thin, running on empty, gnarly version of us.

I get it – taking care of yourself when you’re a mom isn’t always the most convenient thing. It takes more planning and intentionality. But it’s important because speaking for myself here, I am the best mom when I prioritize self-care. I don’t feel guilty for taking care of myself because if I don’t, my daughter gets the impatient, exhausted, not mentally present version of me and she deserves better than that.

And also, I want her to grow up seeing me practice self-care so that burnout and hustle culture aren’t normal to her.

When I decided I wanted to become a mom, I also decided that I was still committed to prioritizing my own well-being as a person — because it doesn’t have to be either/or.