As a mompreneur, I often found myself wearing many hats. School teacher, mom, chauffeur, business owner, health coach, yoga teacher, wife, nurturer, disciplinarian, chef, blogger, maid . . . These are just a few of the responsibilities I juggled throughout the day. But after reading this list, did you notice what was left off . . . ME!!!

Isn’t it funny how as we get older and step into new roles, we tend to rank ourselves lower and lower when it comes to our daily priorities? Everyone and everything else seems to get our attention. And even when we do put ourselves first, usually it’s for tasks we MUST accomplish rather than the things we WANT to do. I’m sure you’ve heard that saying, “You can’t pour from an empty cup.” Well it’s so true! After a long day of responsibilities to others, all I want to do is curl up with a little Netflix, hang with my family with presence, read for pleasure, sit in peace, take a yoga class, soak in the tub, listen to music, get outside (when it’s not blistering cold), and a million more things just for me.

I love what I do, but overwhelm was real and without some systems in place it was really hard to feel any other way. As a Mompreneur I often felt the need to push through and keep working until everything was done. I talked myself into skipping lunch so I could meet a deadline. I would say no to personal commitments because I felt the pressure of what was coming down the pike. But who was that helping? As a recovering workaholic, all that stress and pressure only left me feeling scattered and overwhelmed and filled with excuses. I’d tell myself things like: “I don’t have enough time to make meals.” “I just want to finish this last thing,” (which often turned into 3 more before heading to bed). “I’ll do yoga/go to the gym tomorrow.” All this did for me was create an endless cycle of work, stress, skip meals and workouts, or overindulge in snacks or whatever was convenient (M&M’s Peanuts, chips and guac, sweet potato fries). All that did was make me feel gross. I didn’t like the body I saw in the mirror or the lack of commitment I was giving to myself.

So what what did I do? There were a few key things that helped and I love to share with my clients.

1. Regular Exercise/Movement

   I began to notice that I felt happier, more productive, less stressed and overall better about my body when I was able to get regular exercise or movement in. What does that look like? Well, it used to be an all or nothing thing, but in order to make it fit into my busy schedule, I needed to start with smaller workouts more frequently. So sometimes that meant going for a walk with my daughter during the school day (this one’s not in school yet). Other times it meant doing squats between meetings. When I had the time, I would do a full workout video or go to the gym if I was feeling that one day. The point is that, exercise and movement can look like so many things (i.e. dance, walks, running, swimming, hiking, horseback riding, cycling, etc.). Do what makes you happy and if it works to get others involved do it. If you’re enjoying yourself, then you’re more likely to do it again.

2. Yoga/Meditation

   I won’t get into all the philosophy of yoga here, but yoga is a practice that helps people to look inward especially during the meditation and savanna portions of the class. Allow yourself time to become aware of what’s happening, what your patterns are, what’s worked in the past, and what needs to change. Write them down, and give yourself time (even if it’s just 1 minute a day) to settle your thoughts of all your “To Do’s” so that you can just focus on you. Notice what comes up. You might be surprised at what you find if you can be honest with yourself.

3. Fitting “Me” In

   The last thing I’d encourage you to do, is to commit to a certain amount of “ME” time daily or weekly so that you feel important too! Again, this does not have to take a ton of time, but think about what happens when we deprive ourselves of our favorite sweets. So often when we are in front of them, we end up at the bottom of the brownie plate, the chip bowl or tub of ice cream. Then we feel terrible. Well, when we deprive ourselves of filling up our cups, what do you think happens to you? You feel depleted and as if you don’t have the energy to get through your day. It’s time to make you a more prominent part of your day and your week.

Once I started incorporating these simple tasks along with coaching, I began to realize that balance in life was the key to my happiness. I needed to find a way to make myself as important as I made others in my life. Without finding that sweet spot between the two, I was making choices that were destructive to my own health goals and happiness. Coaching really helped me to become aware of the ways I was actually sabotaging my health and happiness and helped me to prioritize what was important. Think about it, in life we don’t often have time to devote to everything, but we can make time for what we feel is important to us. So make a list of what’s important to you, what do you want to prioritize? Perhaps it’s your health, maybe it’s your business, or maybe it’s getting organized and putting systems in place. Make those your focus and then when you accomplish those things, move on to the next items on the list. Overwhelm doesn’t have to take over your life if you don’t let it.

So I’d love to know . . . What’s truly important to you in your life? What do you really want for your health? And how will you get there? Is what you’re doing now working for you? Or perhaps you know what to do, but you need that accountability to get there. 2022 is just getting started, so let’s commit to finding that balance and valuing ourselves just as much as we value everyone else in our lives. Feel free to set up a free 15 minute Clarity Call HERE to see if coaching might be the right fit for you.