Mum life can be totally crazy right. And the thing that usually gets put on the back burner is YOU. You know what I mean.. your me time and prioritizing your health isn’t at the fore front of your mind.
I experienced this on the extreme level the first time I became a Mum and you probably did too. Because you use to be your own independent women who did want ever you wanted, when ever you wanted. BUT now your schedule is completely turned up side down and determined by another moody human (or 2) who you have to negotiate with. This is why it is a little challenging to settle into your groove when you become a Mum because you haven’t just made a little change. It was a huge over night change and takes us a minute (or few weeks or sometimes months) to sit into that.
I heard this great analogy last week that your life or time is like a book shelf. You have set size (set hours in the day) that you must work with. You fill up that shelf with all sorts of things. Lots of different books right. You might have a ‘books’ about your baby/children, family time, meal’s time, hobbies, maybe work… all sorts of things that take up your day, right.
So if you are trying to fit in something new like ‘me time’ or ‘exercise’, there is literally no room to squeeze something in.
But you can change these books around or even get rid of the ones that no longer serve you and not really supporting you in what you want to do. You might even let go of something that was previously really important to you. It really is ok to shuffle and change these books your entire life.
Just think, you have already done this before. An easy example of think of the things you use to do before you had children. Maybe you did Friday night after work drinks or something similar but with a baby or children you have exchanged this book caring for your family or maybe it’s take-out night and a home movie instead, maybe it’s just going to bed early. By the way, this doesn’t mean this is never coming back but it is totally normal to prioritise your baby!
So what you can do, is really have a look through your day and figure out a ‘book’, perhaps it’s a hobby or timewaster that really isn’t serving you that you want to slot me time or exercise in there instead. You can start really small with a short ‘book’ (10mins of time) or may discover a big book that needs the boot. It could be scrolling your phone too long or too regularly, it could be attending a mothers group that just isn’t gelling with you, it be Netflix, it could be a hobby that really doesn’t fill you up any more, it could be any pocket of time.
But for you to be willing to exchange this ‘book’ the new book has to have a lot of value. Why MUST or why WILL you prioritise this new book?? Because if it isn’t that important to you, you aren’t really committed to putting it on your shelf. If you are thinking about exercising because you think its important and you are meant to do it, its not really going to tug at you. But if you MUST exercise because you are sick of feeling exhausted and tired, lacking energy, if you want to be a shining role model for you children, if you want to improve your general and feel sexy again, if your sick of feel blurh and uncomfortable in your body, THIS juicy stuff will help you go ‘hell yeah’ let’s dump 3 useless books!
But generally, Mums with young children or women who haven’t really enjoyed fitness before need to start really small. So start with 10mins. Will 10mins of exercise flip your health?! Not exactly, but the habit will. It wont stay at 10mins forever. But you will start to notice that you are an exerciser. You will start to notice you feel better and stronger in your body. You will see that you can commited to small things. And you will slowly want to upgrade this to a bigger book!
The fact of the matter is, there is enough time in the day. We can do ANYTHING but we can’t do EVERYTHING. Plus we have a few more decades left on this earth. We can swap change and upgrade our book shelf constantly with new and exciting things. Your priorities are different now and will probably change again in a few years time… but your health should always be a big book, so that you get more happy time on this earth.
Decide today which books your are swapping on your shelf. It’s a great decision and just something needs some deep diving. But I know you can do this.
Repeat after me. “There is enough time in the day. I love prioritizing my health”
