And 5 Ways You Can Do it Too

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Often times as mothers we are in survival mode, at least that was the case for me, especially after having two babies 18 months apart and then going right into lockdown. Spending basically every waking moment on my girls and making sure their needs were being met, I truly forgot about myself. There were so many days I was so drained from caring for these tiny humans that I didn’t even have energy to clean, to cook, to even move. So many days I prioritized the needs of everyone else around me that I didn’t even realize I wasn’t serving myself, I wasn’t caring for myself. I was eating my kids leftovers and drinking coffee dreaming of my next cup. To say the least I had given up on me and I tried to start so many things…tried to start this blog, my photography biz, monetizing my IG but I was letting my fears and doubts and using my kids as an excuse as to why I couldn’t do the things I wanted to do. So at the start of the year my only goal was to PRIORITZE me, for me that meant taking the time to move my body, listening to my body and wearing what makes me feel good!

Just a few ways prioritizing me changed my life.

• I learned to really love myself and accept my body

• I have more patience and am a better mother and partner

• I have more confidence than ever before

• I learned to make time for things that matter

• Starting small and showing up for me daily has motivated me

1. Decide what Prioritizing YOU looks like

   For me that meant moving my body each day. It started out with dance parties with my girls in the morning and finding and trying out workout videos from YouTube to see what I liked. Then I started walking once a week going on 3 mile inclined walks to really beautiful hikes. My breakthrough was finding a workout challenge I committed to for 2 weeks and I felt SO STRONG and I wanted to keep feeling that feeling! I also started utilizing my Apple watch to track how much I was moving and now 12 weeks later (from starting the challenge) I’m down about 20lbs, have more energy than ever, I can keep up with my girls and working out has become my new ME TIME.

2. Listen to your body

   Moving this body was new for me which meant I was sore ALL THE TIME, I could have kept going hard and worked through the pain but I listened to what my body needed and that was REST. Prioritizing rest and breaks from every aspect of your life (social media included) is so good and so needed! Paying attention to how we feel in situations and what we consume is so important to understand what we need to do for ourselves when it comes to nourishing our bodies and mental health.

3. Track your Progress

   This can mean something different for everyone but finding a healthy way to track your progress helps keep you motivated to keep going. Sometimes a scale can be triggering or even obsessive, look for non scale victories like how your clothes look and feel on you, how you’ve picked up the pace on a walk, or even your mood and energy levels. Using my Apple watch has been so helpful for me to see how much I move my body and has also been a fun way to get my family to move their body too by doing competitions! I did recently get a new scale that gives a break down of BMR, Body Fat% and more, I’ve used it more to see how my percentages for each category go down as opposed to my weight. You can find it here.

4. Know when to say NO

   Throughout this wellness journey one of the most important things I’ve learned is to set boundaries; in a nutshell know when to say NO. And that also means saying no to working out sometimes; you have to take breaks, actual real rest days so you don’t burn out and your body can recover. Protect your vibe and know when something does not serve you anymore that’s okay, by saying no to those things, you’re saying yes to yourself.

5. Just Start

   And the culmination of all these suggestions is to just start! Start small, start right now, where you are, with what you have available to you. When I made the decision to prioritize me I started by going on a walk once a week to gradually increasing my physical activity to where I am now. So go ahead friends, start that YouTube, that blog, or your wellness journey, I am right there with you and will be cheering you on.