Prioritising You
So today I want to talk to you about prioritising you!
Finding the time to exercise, meal plan, and be more active is a difficult thing with kids, work, running a home amongst a list of 100 other things your day probably includes, so how are you supposed to do it? Here are my top tips!
1. Take you time by scheduling it in!
Over the years I have learnt that if I don’t take time to myself....like pure chill time then the bit of me which finds it hard to cope comes out a lot more often! Don't let it get to a point where your not feeling good mentally or physically before you take a break, have an early nite or just be kind to yourself by scheduling it in...if it was a spice girls concert you would make time for it, so you can do it, and you must...even if it is just making time for a quiet hour in the bath!
2. Make the most of your most productive time!
I would never dream of exercising at night and I could never do paperwork at 9pm when love Island is on! I am more productive between 6am-9am, 1-3pm and 10-11pm! I know my strengths so I make the most of these hours for getting stuff done, acknowledging the fact every other hour is pretty much a no no to mean means I don’t feel guilt about not being productive at these other times, there is also a lot to say about a 30 minute crazy tidy round right before the school run!
3. Ignore the mum guilt!
I pad shaming, tooth decay from too much sugar, turning our kids into TV zombies, not giving them enough fresh air for one day....there is always someone telling us we are messing up, could do a little better or someone else managing to juggle a whole lot better than us (with whole loadsa truth bending😠!) No one is perfect and when I get to the point where I have to walk out of a room because my head is about to explode with the kids shiz then I know it’s time to make some changes!
Just as the breastfeeding debate I think a healthy baby is a happy one, bottle or breastfed! A healthy mum is a happy one, no matter how they choose to parent (obviously to a certain degree!) Feeling mum guilt is normal but to the point where your beating yourself up on a daily basis isn’t, you probably need a rest so ignore the guilt and have some time for you, you are a person with needs too and if it means the kids get an hour more of pure I pad joy is it really that bad?
4. Exercise for Joy!
If you can’t face the weights today then go for a walk or do something that you fancy, a little yoga video or a quick swim?Moving and doing something rather than nothing will release endorphins which will make you feel so much better!
5. Treat yourself as you treat your kids!
You wouldn’t skip your kids meals or keep them up til wayyyy past bed time would you?(if you get a choice in that) you wouldn’t have no more than a sip of water all day, or tell your kids every 5 minutes how much they need to loose weight and stop eating, you wouldn’t make them step on the scales everyday and shame them into loosing weight...no right, so then why do it to yourself!?
6. Make a plan
Set realistic goals that you can happily stick to, where you will achieve something everyday and you have something fun alongside your goal to work towards...maybe that spice girls concert or a day trip with the girls?!
7. 🖕🏼The routine!
OK for someone as OCD as me this is hard to do but one thing I learnt through counselling was to mix up the routine once in a while, what would happen if we went for a walk down the beach at 7pm and the kids went to bed half an hour later, would it be so bad to not macro track for a day or do the food shop on a different day and take that time to chill? Sounds daft but mixing up routine can bring all sorts of welcome change which might just change your perspective!
Self love is important, as important as being with your kids, having that always overdue date nite or doing the daily jobs we loath and going to work!
I hope this has helped? Enjoy the rest of your weekend guys!
Thanks for reading, happy chilling, enjoy a week of exercise and balanced eating and smash another week!💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼
Maricarmen x