When you are up against it (and when aren’t you as a mum?), things seem difficult, stressful… this LIFE is stressful. This is a direct order from someone who’s been there. You NEED to take care of your self-care.

It’s really easy to think that this is something that other people have time to do, but listen up; I want to tell you something:  Selfcare is not selfish. self-care is essential for every mum.

You have to do this. Not sure what self-care is? It’s those little things you must do every day just for your own enjoyment. Its different from a non food reward, which is something you might do as a special treat for work well done. This is not even the baseline for what you need to do to make your life OK and survivable. Self-care is the recognition that only YOU can make yourself happy and that, if you make sure that you dedicate some time EVERY DAY purely for yourself, you will have more fun, you will be more fun to be around, and you will have far greater reserves to deal with the stresses of everyday life.

At the same time, it’s also worth thinking about how you reward yourself. That might be for just getting through the day sometimes, or it might be for a week of eating well. Typically, women tend to go for chocolate or wine to fulfil this role. Its not  that either of these is bad for you as such, but if you’re not happy with your energy levels or weight these will definitely be working against you.