When you have a new baby and the centre of the universe has shifted firmly to the direction of a little human, the idea of self care for you seems, well, frankly, ridiculous.
But as one of my favourite sayings goes; “you can’t fill a cup from an empty jug”. And honestly, this saying has never been more relevant than in ‘Mum land’. Particularly, ‘Mum of new baby land’.
You see, You, yes YOU, have just grown a human! A whole, beautiful human. And it’s amazing and overwhelming and exhausting! And now, you are going to feed and nurture and, well basically ‘everything’ that beautiful little human for quite some time. Seven days a week, with no annual leave or even public holidays in sight.
So, it’s really important that you find ways to keep that 'Mum Jug' nice and full, so you can continue to fill ALL the cups!
Firstly, lose the pressure to be perfect. Yeah, yeah, Instagram suggests you should be able to keep the perfect; house, hair, wardrobe, complexion, diet and selfie lighting, all while hanging our with your perfect, sleeping, freshly preened newborn, while walking 17ks, pushing a pram and sipping a decaf almond latte. But it’s time to throw that Mum guilt in the bin and remember self care is actually family care!
It’s time to look at ways to work smarter not harder. You absolutely can’t and shouldn’t even try, to do it all. This is the time to 'hack the heck' out of new Mum life.
Making sure you make time for you is imperative, at all times, but particularly when you are raising little people. And your children will benefit much more from their Mum taking time for herself, than a freshly vacuumed floor or sparkly clean windows; every day of the week.
