As a busy mom, time to practice self care often feels like an impossible task.
With so many things going on each day, being mindful or finding time for yourself can be hard.
You may feel like you don’t have enough time, but not taking time for yourself leads to stress, burnout, and even health problems.
As an experienced health coach for women, I can tell you that self-care is not only essential for your well-beingbut also helps you look after your family and get through the day with more vitality.
Here, we’ll share some simple self care ideas for busy moms that will help you manage stress and make time for yourself.
Whether you have only a few minutes or more time, these self-care ideas will fit into your routine. You’ll find out how to incorporate self-care in a way that feels easy, so you don’t feel overwhelmed and who knows, you may even find a spare moment to pamper, relax and read a good book!
By the end of this post, you will:
- Get practical tips to help you feel better
- Learn how to ask for help with ease
- Schedule ‘take care of yourself’ time realistically
- Find time every day to incorporate physical activity
- Feel more relaxed
- Make self-care a priority in your daily life.
With just a few small changes, you’ll feel good, more balance, less stressed, and ready to enjoy each day and spend time with your little one and loved ones knowing that you are also prioritising your well being.
As parents, it can be tricky to take a moment to stop and focus on wellness. Let me guide you on your way to knowing how to stop and re-set! Keep reading for not only self care tips but quick tips!
We both know you don’t have all day so let’s get started…
Key Points: Self-Care Essentials for Busy Mums
- Quick Self-Care Hacks: Fit deep breathing, stretching, or quick mindfulness exercises into a few spare minutes.
- Multitasking with Self-Care: Meditate while the baby naps, or practice gratitude while cooking.
- Prioritize Self-Care, Guilt-Free: Recognize self-care as essential, not indulgent, for your well-being.
- Set Boundaries: Schedule “me time” and communicate this with your family.
- Affordable Self-Care: Enjoy low-cost options like DIY spa time, journaling, or listening to podcasts.
- Small Wins Matter: Simple actions like a 10-minute walk or hot tea can boost mood.
- Stress-Busting Habits: Replace social media with journaling or a quick gratitude list.
- Ask for Help: Accept offers for babysitting or other help to create more personal time.
- Prioritize Sleep: Create a calming bedtime routine and avoid screens before sleep.
- Boost Energy Naturally: Stay hydrated, eat nutritious snacks, and take short movement breaks.
Quick Self-Care Hacks for Time-Starved Mums
5-Minute Stress Relievers
One thing we all need is something quick that will not only leave us feeling great, but something that will work and help us switch off, particularly at bed time or in the hour or 2 beforehand.
Try to incorporate micro-practices like:
- Deep breathing
- Stretching
- Mindfulness exercises
It can be done in just a few minutes.
Multitasking with Self-Care
Learn how to fit self-care into everyday routines — meditate while your baby naps, or practice gratitude while making dinner.
If this sounds like it’s not your thing and you need something a little more specific to you or social, together time with a loved one can sometimes make all the difference.
Maybe simply taking that baby sitting offer to allow yourself half an hour to eat in peace is what you need today.
This is so simple but so important for reducing our cortisol. Accept that time now guilt free. This accepting of help without guilt leads beautifully onto next tip…
How to Prioritize Self-Care Without the Guilt
Understanding Self-Care as a Necessity, Not a Luxury
Shift your mindset from seeing self-care as indulgent to recognizing it as essential for your health and happiness.
Our minds need for us to be able to stop, leave home and be outside, do other things other than mom duties and really take the time to check out.
Even if you cannot take advantage of the kind support of another and have no choice but to mom today, we can still steal some time. It does not make you a terrible mother if you put your kid down to watch their favorite childrens programme or let them play an app or game on a phone.
This could even be their short little fun or ‘different’ time where they can pick any activity from a list that they love. This then allows you to have scheduled you time to write, journal, eat in peace! Anything your body and mind may crave!
Set Boundaries
Learn how to set small, manageable boundaries that allow you time for yourself without neglecting family or responsibilities.
It can be all consuming when we forget about ourselves but also tricky to carve out that special time.
What can we do about it? A boundary such as a new ‘sacred time’ which can be easily inserted into your day.
When another parent or ‘someone of support’ comes home, tell them ahead of time that this is your 5 minutes of ‘calm’ time in or outside of the house. This person knows you get a full 5 minutes to decompress doing your favourite activity.
Make sure you do this so regularly that even your children say ‘this is mummies time’.
This is in-fact a great lesson for them and the likelyhood is, they will take me time as adults prioritising their own self care.
Self-Care Doesn’t Need to be Time-Consuming or Expensive
Affordable Self-Care Ideas
Let’s talk simple much needed tips for some inexpensive, low cost, yet effective self-care practices — like:
- A DIY mom spa day at home
- Journaling
- Five minute kid free time
Or it might be as simple as listening to a podcast for mental recharge.
Make it your best you time, consider the quietest space possible and immerse yourself in your favourite activity.
The Power of Small Wins
Even the smallest of self-care activities (like a 10-minute walk or a hot cup of tea) can significantly improve your mood and energy levels.
The Struggles of Busy Mums and Why Self-Care Matters
The Impact of Overwhelm and Exhaustion
Many mums feel overwhelmed and stretched too thin, which can lead to burnout and stress-related health issues.
Understanding why and how small self-care actions can make a big difference is worth considering as a valuable strategy.
In fact, it matters so much that I dedicated an entire blog post to this topic, packed with practical wellness tips tailored for tired mums.
Consequences of Neglecting Self-Care
The long-term effects of ignoring self-care, such as chronic stress, physical health issues, and the toll it takes on relationships and mental well-being alone tells us we need to make a change.
This can be really tough when you have a kid always needing you and depleting your time.
This can also have a big impact on our finances and we can spiral into never ending amazon shopping splurges, trying to buy our way out of exhaustion.
We already know this so what should we do…
Time-Saving Tips for Integrating Self-Care into Your Daily Routine
Self-Care in Small Bites
Becoming a master of juggling has beome our thing!
We don’t have much time because, well, we are too busy caring for everyone else!
It is essential that we break up self-care into manageable moments, like:
- Practicing mindfulness while doing chores
- Simply stopping rushing and being sloth like in our chores
- Listening to a guided meditation in the car
Create a Routine That Includes You
It is really important to develope strategies to make self-care a non-negotiable part of your day, from setting early morning ‘me time’ to scheduling self-care breaks throughout the week.
Start with one thing.
you are already overloaded so don’t over-complicate this. Choose one small, quick activity today and tie it to a pre-existing habit like brushing your teeth.
Implement this daily for at least one week before building in something else.
Mental Health Care: Managing Stress and Preventing Burnout
Mindfulness and Quick Meditation Techniques
First and foremost it is important to recognise that we cannot get away from stress.
I have attempted this myself and it is a mistake to think we can control every first and last cause of stress on our lives.
My top tip is to introduce mindfulness practices that take just a few minutes, cost little to no money but help to reduce stress and increase mental clarity.
Keep it simple, short and sweet initially. This is particularly useful at night following a long day taking care of everyone.
At this point it is unlikely you have the energy for 30 minutes of yoga so rest your legs against a wall, close your eyes and simply breathe. Let everything else melt away.
Stress-Busting Activities
We often reach for social media as a way to de-stress.
However, as I discuss in my blog post on mum anxiety, social media can actually fast-track us toward anxiety and depression.
We do not need to hide from it altogether, but it is useful to be aware that it raises our cortisol rather than reduce.
From journaling to gratitude exercises, discover ways to release tension and stay mentally strong even on the busiest days.
So, stop doom scrolling social media post after social media post and start a new stress busting habit.
We can participate in something physical such as literally shaking our whole body as the animals do in the wild.
This might seem bonkers but in fact has such a wonderful way of putting that high cortisol to an end and getting you back to a state of rest and digest.
Leveraging Support Systems
The Importance of Asking for Help
Delegating tasks to your partner, family, or friends can free up more time for self-care.
It might be time to take up that friend of family members offer of a sitter whilst get outside for coffee with a friend or take that bath on your own, kids free!
Sometimes this is just the 10 minutes our body needs.
This can also help to relieve back and neck pains. Remember people truly want to help when they offer to cook a meal or to give you down time.
Finding Community Support
Learn how connecting with other mums, joining support groups with young children, hearing about their children or using local resources can lighten your load and give you more breathing space.
Being a parent can feel like a lot and it can reduce our burden ten fold to simply share this feeling with someone else who understands.
This may also give you the time to find that favourite person to talk to which can be the key to early breakdown prevention and provide just the right pin to deflate that overwhelm just enough to keep you sane.
Prioritizing Sleep and Energy
Simple Sleep Hygiene Tips
It is so important to give yourself a chance by prioritising rest.
It may seem like the amount of time you have is not the same as everyone else and that you cannot prioritise rest during this time.
This is one of the most common feelings amonsts moms which directly impacts their physical and mental health.
Here are some tips for improving sleep quality, like creating a bedtime routine or setting boundaries around nighttime tasks.
The likelyhood is, your phone becomes a bit of a crutch at night. Despite how tired we are, we feel like we are missing out.
How much is this impacting your rest? More than you would like to admit.
My top advice is to have a firm boundary around phone night time mode. Get the phone on night time mode at least one hour before bed snf don’t look at it beyond that point. If you can get this right, you’ll be laughing!
Energy-Boosting Habits
When it comes to having a one year old two year old… who are we kidding? any kid uder 25! we give them so much of ourselves that we leave ourselves drained!
Some quick ideas for maintaining energy throughout the day, include:
- Staying hydrated
- Eating healthy snacks such as nuts, seeds and fruit
- Maintaining brief movement breaks
…It can make all the difference to our energy levels.
Your little ones will ensure they are on top of their own movement so we want to make sure we get ours in too.
This doesn’t mean you have to participate in a big workout. A 10 minute walk or workout will give you the release of endorphins your body is craving.
Nike got it right, even if you don’t feel like it, sometimes you just do it. Keep it short and sweet and reap the energy boosting rewards.
Conclusion: Self-Care is Possible, Even for Busy Mums
Self-care doesn’t have to be time-consuming, expensive, you don’t need to buy the latest self help guide, nor does it have to be guilt-inducing.
By making small but meaningful adjustments to your routine, you can prioritize your well-being and prevent burnout.
Remember, when you take care of yourself, you’re better able to care for those you love. You are more likely to feel calm and spread that feeling of calm within your home.
Start with these simple strategies and see the positive impact self-care can have on your daily life.
