In the spirit of Mother’s Day, I want to write about nourishing ourselves as mothers. I want to give you permission to LOVE ON YOURSELF, Momma! Here are three small steps to nurturing yourself this week (and beyond): Affirm, Assess, Choose one small step.
Affirm
If you are anything like me, you have had your share of negative thoughts, self-doubt, frustration, exhaustion, and hopelessness. This has been a difficult year to be a parent; if you feel alone in this experience – take a listen to The Daily’s podcast on Pandemic Parenting and you’ll hear the commonality of that anguished feeling. Now, what would you say to a friend to offer support, encouragement, or empathy? The image below lists a few suggestions: “I see you”, “I IS hard”, “I love you”, “I know”, “I get it”, “I hear you”, and “I’m here for you.”
Can you hold up a mirror and say those things to yourself? OK, maybe no mirror, but can you take that support in? Read a few of them again:
- It IS hard.
- I love you.
- I’m here for you.
We, as parents, are holding so much! We have endless, sometimes opposing needs and requests coming at us.
The upcoming Mother’s Day holiday is one opportunity to pause, step back, receive encouragement, assess how we as a WHOLE being are doing, and discover one small way we can nourish and nurture ourselves.
Assess & See Your Whole Fantastic Being
Now that we have paused and, hopefully, received a small bit of encouragement, let’s move on to assessing how we are doing a WHOLE being. Sometimes being a parent is so all-consuming that we neglect other parts of ourselves. Take this super short self-assessment to evaluate how you are doing. It can help you consider various elements of your being including physical, emotional, spiritual, vocational, psychological, and relational.
Another way to do this is to look at the image below and consider how each of these facets of your being is faring. What stands out to you?
You could also grab your journal and create an identity map of sorts. This activity has helped me tremendously as a grounding document. I review it when I feel out of sorts or out of balance. In my example below, I use the categories from the self-assessment, but you can be creative, drawing and writing about the elements of yourself that are important for YOU.
Choose One Small Step
When you step back and look at the self-assessment results or the other exercises, what do you see? Is one component of yourself needing some attention? Are you spending more time in an area of your life where saying no could provide some relief? What is one small step you could take to nurture your very own self?
I hope this process is helpful in either removing something that is depleting energy from your life or adding something that provides joy, contentment, and peace. What small thing could you do to nourish yourself regularly?
I am sending you tons of love and encouragement this week as we approach the weekend of Mother’s Day. If you need a listening ear, someone to reflect back your greatness, or support you in finding solutions, please reach out.
Recent Comments