If you’ve read my Calm & Confident Mom Handbook, or my blog post titled Radical Self-Care, you’ll know my philosophy about self-care. What I think it is, and what I think it’s not..
But now I want to take this a few steps further.
Perhaps the word “self-care” can be a bit off-putting. And the reason for that is that it starts with the word “self,” which can then conjure up feelings of selfishness and indulgence. And that’s why I titled this Selfless Self-Care. Because TRULY, REAL self-care is selfless. It’s taking care of yourself FOR THE SAKE OF ... our children. SO THAT … we could be the moms we want to be. (See blog post titled So That). Which leads me to my next point … self-care is HARD.
Self care = self-discipline. It doesn’t mean getting massages and mani/pedis all day. It can mean doing the hard thing of preparing a salad instead of grabbing a bagel, because you know you need the healthy fuel for your body. It can mean going to bed at 10 even though your family is up chatting and having fun, because you know you need sleep to be patient and present for your kids. Self-care is HARD. It’s doing the hard things FOR THE SAKE OF … SO THAT ... (see above)
And probably by far my favorite definition of self-care that I’ve come across so far: Self care means creating a life for yourself that you don’t feel the need to run away from.
Yes, ma’am. I am a huge selfless self-care advocate, only because I’ve experienced, and I see first-hand, the effects of NOT implementing selfless self-care into your life.
Go make your individualized selfless self-care plan (or we can do it together) to optimize your mom-life ASAP.
[The next 6 blog posts are a series on being more present as a mom.]