Why Moms Should Prioritize Self-care
It’s important for everyone, especially moms, to be in a state physical, emotional and mental well-being. As a mom, you do a lot for your children and your family, which can take a toll on you. Prioritizing your self-care is the only way to keep it together without sabotaging yourself.
What is self-care?
Self-care includes simple but consistent things that you do to uplift your body and soul. You feel good after doing self-care, and you’re able to maneuver through your chaotic daily life in a better spirit.
Self-care can be as simple as having your bath or out-of-the-way activities like going on a vacation. These activities tend to put you in a good mood and make you energetic enough to keep you going on your stressful days.
Why should you prioritize self-care?
Every day, you expend a lot of physical, mental and emotional energy on taking care of your family. You work as the family manager, teacher, chef, nurse, counselor, homemaker, and the glue that keeps everyone together. These duties drain your energy level.
When your battery runs down, you become stressed, and overwhelmed. You may begin to question why you’re doing so much for everyone when nobody seems to care about you.
You may get cranky and take your frustrations out on your partner and your children.
You would wonder why nobody is offering take care of your tasks while you rest, despite the fact that they see how much you do for everybody else, every day.
Or do they?
You might even have to deal with judgment from other moms or people who chose to not have children. You become an angry mom, and possibly a bitter person.
Your family whom you so love and cherish will suffer as you suffer, as consequence.
As you fall deeper into the abyss, you chug down more cups of coffee, hoping that caffeine would give you enough energy and positivity to move on and feel good.
But what you truly need is self-care.
Self-care is the key
Expressing your innate desire to care, love and nurture others without neglecting yourself is the goal.
Therefore, you should, put yourself first, because only when you’re doing good can you give your best to everyone else.
You need to replenish your lost energy to feel good about yourself. To be able to focus on the positive sides of motherhood, you need to prioritize consistent, simple acts of loving yourself.
Here are 5 reasons why you should prioritise self-care
1. You deserve some love
You’re a mom. You’re doing a lot for your family, and you sometimes show up for your friends. You’re a shoulder to lean on, you love unconditionally and you care and nurture your children because they need you. You’re a wonderful soul, a blessing and I can’t emphasise that enough. You deserve love. Give yourself some.
2. You need to show others how to make you happy
As unbelievable as this seems, when you consistently show up for people, like you do for your family, it’s easy for them to see you only as a refuge and remember you only when they need you. It’s easy for them to become entitled and make everything about them alone.
But when you give yourself some care, and they see how happy you are while you are at it, you’re teaching them to recognise that you are human and open to receiving. They’ll be learning about the things that make you happy, and they would be open to doing that when they think you need it.
3. To have a healthy and balanced relationship with your family
When you run on empty, you become dissatisfied and resentful. This would negatively impact the relationship you have with your children and partner.
A good mom is someone who tries their best to love, care and nurture their children. When you keep sacrificing yourself without getting anything in return, you start to exhibit some toxic behaviors that don’t align with the idea of being a good mom.
4. You don’t want to lose yourself
As a mom, your stressful life can easily transform you physically and mentally.
You don’t want to wake up one day and wonder how much of your life you’ve lost sabotaging yourself while you’re putting your family together, especially knowing that you could’ve done better. The best time to start looking out for yourself is right now.
5. Prevent depression and other health issues
Your mental and physical health will benefit from you taking care of yourself and doing things that make you feel loved. Reaching your limit every day is a guaranteed way to suffer depression and stress disorders. You’re likely to binge on unhealthy foods and consume excessive sugars when you’re tired and defeated. That slowly winds you down towards health issues such as heart diseases and hormonal dysfunctions.
And here’s a bonus reason: when you prioritize self-care, you’re breaking the cycle of unhealthy strong-woman expectations. You’re showing your family and community that taking care of yourself is essential. And by choosing motherhood, you don’t have to lose yourself
