Does this sound familiar? You are constantly pulled in a million directions with priorities that should have been done yesterday. As much as you’d like to be a step ahead of your weekly schedule, it always feels like you’re barely keeping up, or constantly running a day behind. There are late nights and early mornings, lunches get skipped because there’s no time to stop, and takeout starts to become a regular scene in your house. Then, it happens – you crash. Suddenly, you’re sick and out for the count for at least a day, or you keep trying to tell yourself you’re fine until one day, your spouse barely says one little thing and it tips you over the edge. Suddenly, you’re not fine and the emotions take over.
As moms, we’re so conditioned to put our own needs on hold because we are the person who keeps it all together, and eventually, it takes a toll on us. That feeling of riding an emotional roller coaster takes over, and we’re either running as fast as we can, or we’re crashing.
And although it might be unrealistic that every week will be completely stress-free, maintaining a well-rounded wellness routine in our lives can help create more balance in our lives, emotions, and energy, which means less “not fine” moments and more consistency and even greater productivity.
I’m often asked what my thoughts are about balance as a mom. In fact, this recently was a topic of conversation while I was a guest on the podcast, Rev with Rachel. We chatted all things wellness for moms, what exactly wellness is, and balance.
During that conversation, I talked about the wellness wheel and how balance involves looking at all areas of our life and managing each area of wellness in order to maintain a fully balanced life. (check out this blog for more details on the wellness wheel).
Each of these areas are also made up of little and big habits that we include in our daily routines. Something you may incorporate in your daily schedule, like exercising, meditation, or even making your bed every day, are all habits that contribute to the overall wellness in your life.
If you look at the wellness wheel and notice there’s one area of wellness that seems to be missing from your daily habits, or causing additional stress in your life, it may be time to take a look at adding some new healthy habits into your daily, weekly or monthly routine.
Here are 5 ways you can start working healthy habits into your routine without making it feel like you’re disrupting your already hectic schedule:
- Get good at creating boundaries – Know when to say “no”, so you can say yes to yourself. I’m naturally a people pleaser, so when someone asks if I can help with something or want to attend an event, I’m naturally inclined to say “yes” before I’ve had a chance to think it through. Being aware of how many extracurricular activities you’re agreeing to can be a beneficial way to know when enough is enough. It’s absolutely okay to say, “maybe next time”, so you can make room for much needed time for yourself.
- Plan ahead – I’ve personally found that if I don’t schedule certain activities on my calendar, it just won’t happen. Things like going to the gym, getting my haircut, or grabbing lunch with a friend have to be planned well ahead of time in order to make sure they happen. So, if you want to make sure it’s a priority, plan for it!
- Reset your expectations – I remember when I was brand new to mom-life and I ventured out to run errands for the first time with my new baby in tow. I had at least 6 stores I planned to go to that day and was so disappointed when I made it to only 2! It seems like the rest of mom-life follows suit. If I plan a to-do list of 10 things to get done, maybe 4 will happen. If there’s a new healthy habit that I’m looking to incorporate into my routine, I know I need to make sure it’s number 1 or 2 on my list, or it will probably get skipped for the day.
- Create a wellness vision – Willpower can be incredibly short-sighted, especially when it comes to a new healthy habit like cutting out snacking or candy. However, by creating a long-term vision ahead of time, it can help to overcome those moments of struggle when getting what you want now seems to take over your long-term goals. Think about things like, “What will it look like when I achieve this new healthy habit?”, “How will I feel?”, “What will be different?”, “How will it be better?”. Even pulling in visuals can be a powerful tool when creating a vision. Print out a picture of something that represents the end result of achieving your goals, and put it in several places to remind you of your vision throughout the day.
- Develop an experiment vs Pass/fail mentality – It’s true, we really are creatures of habit, which is why introducing new habits can be extremely hard, because our brains want us to go back to the old habit (aka less healthy thing you used to do). Instead of trying to commit to a hard and fast new routine, try looking at it in the form of an experiment. What would happen if you tried a certain way this week? Then, reflect back on it after and make a note of what went well and what didn’t go so well, then, adjust accordingly. If you introduce a new healthy routine and it doesn’t go well, it doesn’t mean you failed, it just means you should try a different approach to see if you can get a better result. Once you get into this mindset with introducing new habits, it can feel more like a game than a task!
If you know something is out of balance in your life, but you’re not sure where to start, or which area you need to focus on first please schedule a complimentary fitting call here.
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