Self Care Tips for Moms

Self care tips are something all moms can use – these self care tips are written specifically with moms in mind. Self care doesn’t have to take a huge time commitment – you can take care of your mental and emotional health simply by devoting small snippets of time to improving your own well being. By valuing yourself, you are training those around you that you also need self care. Use these simple self care tips to get you on the right track.

If you’re anything like me, you can be on your death bed, missing 3 toes, no sleep in 3 weeks, and you’ll still insist you can make the kids dinner. Why? Because not only do I feel like I can do it all, I often feel like I NEED to do it all.

I am mom, hear me roar.

But the reality is, we can’t do it all. As moms, we give and give and give and give until we have absolutely nothing left for ourselves and then we give that away too. We keep giving until it breaks us down, keep putting others first until we’re so far behind we may never catch up. And where does that leave us?

I’ll tell you where – crying in the cereal aisle of a Target, having totally lost it because you yelled at your 1.5 year old and you’re so overwhelmed and so. dang. tired. that you can’t keep it together.

Not that I’m speaking from experience or anything.

So today I’m teaming up with one of my favorite brands, Crispy Green, to talk to you all about self care for moms and share some self care tips for when you really just do not have time for self care.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Crispy Green. All ideas and opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting Morgan Manages Mommyhood!

What is Self Care? Why do I need Self Care tips?

We’ve all heard the term ‘self care’ thrown around a lot lately – it’s a bit of a trendy term that is being used for everything from coloring books to girls’ trips. But what is self care?

Self care is taking steps that will benefit your health – be it mental or physical – so that you are able to go about your life more confidently and with more energy and enthusiasm. Self care is remembering to fill up your own tank, to take care of yourself, occasionally putting YOU first.

I’m sure as moms, we can all agree that this is hard. It’s just plain hard. We have so many people relying on us at all times – we have mouths to feed, jobs to do, houses to clean, family to spend time with, obligations that must be met. Moms are naturally self-sacrificing – we put those we love first before even starting to think about ourselves.

But the truth is, moms need self care too.

Why is self care important?

We’ve covered what self care is – and if you’re like me you’re sitting there going, oh, okay, that’s nice and all, but ain’t no body got time for that. 

You need to. You need to make time for that. By practicing self care, you are not only helping your mental and physical health, but you are reminding those around you that you are human and need to be taken care of as well. Moms love to be superwoman – and why shouldn’t we? Uh, we literally can create human life. But by constantly having a “I can do it all with no breaks” attitude, not only are you BOUND to crash and burn (and crash and burn hard, if you’re anything like me – hello full on cry fest in the middle of  Target.) but you are training those around you to believe that you do not need to be taken care of – that you can do it all.

As moms, we can not take care of our families without taking care of ourselves. There is a reason that the phrase ‘if momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy’ is a saying – because as the matriarch of our family, how we feel trickles down to everyone else. You might think you’re hiding how stressed, worn out, run ragged you are well, but you’re also snapping at your husband more and having less patience with your kids.

Self Care Tips for Moms: the quick version

• You need to practice self care, not only for your benefit, but for the benefit of those around you.
• We as moms cannot take care of our families to our full potential without taking time for ourselves.
• Self care does not have to be a huge time commitment.
• Self care looks different for everyone.
• TAKING CARE OF YOU DOES NOT MAKE YOU A BAD MOM.

Self Care Tips for Moms

So you’re ready to start practicing some self care – awesome! And now you’re sitting there going, Uh, Morgan, I do not have hours on end to spend doing stuff for myself.

I get it! I do. I don’t have the time to spend hours getting pampered or to go away by myself either. I’m a stay at home mom with a hubs who works crazy pants hours and I’m building my own business. Every hour in my day is being used. So how do you find time for self care when you don’t even have time to pee alone?

Below you’ll find some of my favorite self care tips for moms that aren’t crazy time intensive but will still help you reap the many rewards of practicing self care.

Simple self care tips #1: Treat yo’self.

No, money will not buy you happiness. But money can buy you a huge, fancy coffee splurge, or a pretty shirt that makes you feel good about yourself. I’m not saying shop all day everyday, but a little “just for mom” treat can really help turn a rough day around and remind you that you are worth the splurge.

Sometimes making myself look pretty will do the job – I even created a one handed makeup routine for moms because of it!

Simple self care tips #2: Vent.

Nothing in my life has been more valuable than finding a group of people who understand me and what I’m going through and having those people to vent to. Sometimes all I need to do is just talk an issue out with someone who is not involved – it’s usually easier to vent to your mom BFF who gets the stress of being a mom than it is to my husband, who immediately does the man thing and tries to fix everything. Find your people, love them hard, and vent to them. They might be able to spread some light and knowledge on a situation that you couldn’t see.

Simple self care tips #3: Let others know you need help – and ACCEPT IT.

The hardest thing I ever did was admit that I am not supermom and I can not do it all. If you take only one of these self care tips to heart, please let it be this one: if you have people in your life willing to help you, accept the help graciously and with a full heart. Let your loved ones know you are struggling. Let them help you find ways to make it easier. They will not judge you for not ‘doing it all’. In fact, like I said before, they probably didn’t even know that you were struggling because you are trying to do it all with no help.

Simple self care tips #4: Count your blessings.

At the end of each day, I write down one good thing that happened that day. Just a quick line, nothing crazy, but I make sure I do it every single day. Some days it’s something amazing – “Owen said I love you for the first time!” or “Everyone is FINALLY free of the cold!” and some days it’s just about the only good thing I can think of – “Ryan went to bed without a struggle tonight.” or “I splurged on a Venti Caramel Latte and it was delicious.” But a small reminder that each day holds some good goes a long, long way. And on those days when it feels like NOTHING is good, it feels good to be able to look back and see all of the good that’s been happening.

To help you set time aside each to and note the good things that happen each day, I created a really simple printable. Simply print out a few copies and date a line and jot down one good thing that happened today. Make time each day to sit down and write it down. On your worst days, read over some of the entries as a reminder of all of the good things – big and small – that have happened lately.

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Simple self care tips #5: Download an app or two for you.

If you’re like me, your phone is full of games and apps for your kids (competing only with the obscene amount of photos of my kids, oops!) but your phone is probably the one thing oyu always have on you – make some space in it for you! I downloaded the Kindle app and use those random 5 minutes here and there reading! Get off social media (I get it – it’s addictive, but it probably doesn’t do much in terms of taking care of YOU!) and use that time for you. Maybe it’s downloading a stupid game like Candy Crush and wasting a few minutes. Or maybe it’s playing Sudoku or doing a crossword.

Simple self care tips #6: Dance party. Always.

You know that Taylor Swift song, Shake It Off? Do it. Seriously. Turn on your favorite song, blast it up high, and shake it for the full 3:14 seconds or whatever. It doesn’t have to be an hour. But I literally can’t even tell you how light your heart will feel if you spend that time just letting loose, singing at the top of your lungs, and going crazy. Let the kids join in! They will think it’s just a fun way to spend time with mom and bonus! – you’ll wear them out a bit. I love doing this right before I can feel a tantrum coming on. (for mom or kid, to be honest.)

Simple self care tips #7: Feed yo’self.

This is probably my favorite and most used of my self care tips – feed yourself. I get it. You wake up with the kids, pour yourself a cup of coffee, then run around getting everyone breakfast, packing up the kids, getting them to school. Then you come home and have a little one to entertain. Once he goes down for  a nap, you revel in the alone time, but use it to hustle – you clean, make calls, maybe work on your at home business – whatever. Then it’s time to make the little guy lunch while you run around getting things together to run some errands after school pick up. You run out the door with a kid on your hip and a travel mug of coffee, do school pick up, then go grocery shopping/dr appointments/prescription pick up/post office – whatever. By the time you’re done, it’s time to make dinner and you finally – finally sit down for your first meal of the day that isn’t coffee or leftovers from the kids.

I feel you.

I never ever ever ever ever thought I would be the kind of person to ‘forget’ a meal. Crazy talk! But more and more and more these days I find myself either grabbing some kind of junk that will in no way shape or form fuel my body the way my family needs me to, or having serious 3 PM shakes because I’m subsisting off of PB&J crusts and coffee.

This is not healthy, this is not okay.

I’ve lately gotten into the habit of making sure that I not only actually eat meals when I feed my kids, but I always have a healthy snack on hand to curb my hunger. Because a hungry Morgan is a Hangry mom.

My favorite snack these days are these Crispy Green freeze dried fruits – they’re easy to keep in my bag, glove box, etc without worrying about fruit bruising or going bad, and they are crunchy and yummy which fights of my snacking habit.

Momma – admit it. You probably have a bag full of snacks for the kids, but not a single snack for yourself when you go out. Toss a few different flavors of Crispy Green freeze dried fruit into your bag to satisfy your snack craving without any preservatives or additives. Instead, you just get a light, crispy fruit snack with all of the advantages of your favorite fruits.

Pineapple is my favorite flavor – while I’m waiting to pick up Ryan in the dead cold of winter, I like to crank my heated seats and enjoy a bag and pretend I’m on a sandy beach in the Caribbean rather than a mini van in New Jersey. (TBH that in and of itself is a form of self care!)

Their other flavors are just as delicious – apple, Asian pear, banana, cantaloupe, mango and tangerine round out their lineup, making sure there is something for everyone. Toss a few extra bags with you can hand them off to the kids to earn yourself a few quiet moments while the munch away!

Self care isn’t just for people who have the spare time to practice taking care of themselves. In fact, those who feel like they just don’t have the time to focus on themselves are the people who need self care more than anyone else – I’m looking at you, momma. I truly hope that with these self care tips you’re able to help better yourself mentally and physically so that you are better able to take care of your family.

Okay, so tell me – do you practice self care? which of these self care tips do you think you’ll use in your own life? let me know in the comments!

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