Finding time for yourself

As a busy mom I struggle finding time for myself. Between kids’ activities, working a full-time job, time for myself is hit and miss most days. By the time the kids are down for the night I am either to tired to do anything or I finish up on house work. Let’s face it, momming is hard and you don’t have many breaks. But the breaks you do get are sometime riddled with mom guilt, wife guilt, or house guilt. At least for me anyways. 

Over the last 4 years I’ve worked hard trying to shave out time in my day for me time. While there are somedays or weeks that don’t see much at all I strive for those times where I can relax, shut my brain off and just take a moment for myself. Now over the last four years I went from one kid to three kids, so time disappears really quickly.  Here are some of the things I do to recharge myself. 

1.       Workout- I find time in most of my days to workout. I try to spend 30-45 minutes in the middle of my day to break up the day and to get over the afternoon crash I tend to get.

For me working out is a stress reliever, I notice how crabby I can get when I go without it for a few days. It’s a way to spend time on myself and in my own head where I don’t have “mom” being said 100000 times.  

2.       Reading – I’m one that has about 10 books started and depending on what mood I’m in depends on what I read.  I’ve realized that its ok to sit down when baby is sleeping and enjoy the quiet time. The dishes will be there when nap is done.

3.       Enjoying a glass of wine – After the kids have gone to sleep and the house is quiet for longer than 5 minutes, I will sit down and enjoy a glass of wine. Now I’m not saying that glass has never turned into the bottle because face it, it has. But its something about the quietness of the house after a particularly crazy night to really make the wine taste good. If drinking isn’t something you enjoy cheesecake works too.

4.       Mommy timeouts – I’ve picked this one up here lately, I saw one of the moms I follow on Instagram do this and thought, “that’s flippin genius”. So as long as I know the kids are taken care of I will either hide out in my bedroom for 10-15 minutes, or just in a different room. Give myself a little break to Instagram surf, play a few levels of a game, just basically shut off for a few minutes.

Mom guilt is a thing and I struggle with that, but at the same time I have to constantly remind myself you can only fill up your littles cups as long as your cup is full. Meaning if you don’t take care of yourself it makes it harder to take care of your littles. 

Mom you are important, you are loved, and at the end of the day your littles will love you no matter what. Take time for yourself, show yourself love and grace. Momming is hard but you’ve got this.