balancing self care as a mother

As a mother self care looks different for me. Having a toddler makes me get creative with the ways I sneak self care in my daily routine. I finally figured out how to love on me and pour back into myself. Lately a simple shower has been transformative. The simple cleansing of my skin has become meditative to me. Starting with exfoliating my skin, I wash my body and remove the days stressors and worries. Next I close my eyes and visualize the negative energy leaving my body and filling myself back up with a higher frequency. I take long deep breaths and focus only on the water. 

Backstory: Something about water since I was a child has been so calming to my spirit. Probably why I love the beach so much. Water is so useful in its many forms and everything is practically made from it. Including us. 

I engage all five senses to center my mind on the water. How it feels against my skin, how my pores spring open from the temperature, how the shape changes every time it touches me, how it dissolves the soap on my legs. During these moments I am not worried about how long I’ve been in the bathroom or if I left the stove on by accident(thankfully not this time). I am just being. Being. And it’s all been kind of magical. If it’s not obvious by now I definitely recommend it. The meditation portion as well as bathing on a regular. It’s something I get to do everyday, which establishes a healthy habit that allows me to pour into me. 

Following this shower I give myself a well needed oil massage. Staying in the bathroom, that is now filled with steam and my skin is still wet, I use Dr. Bronners Organic Coconut Oil to massage and moisturize my body. I take my time with this step and make sure I am giving each part of my body intentional love and care.

Other ways I get my self care on:

Reading a book. It's simple, it is adaptable to all lifestyles; meaning you can fit it in anytime and anywhere in your day. Growing in knowledge inspires me to take action and follow my dreams.

Cooking. Okay so in no way am I a chef, but as of late cooking new meals or signature ones has been a “moment” in my day that I look forward to. I get to ignore everything else around me and just focus on this one thing. Perfecting and learning my way around the kitchen since like I said, I’m not chef. 

Coffee in the morning. This. Is. Needed. No matter what, I must have my coffee. No exceptions. I don’t play with my caramel macchiato. Period. 

Writing. Always been my go to for everything. This is my way of documenting moments, feelings, thoughts, notes, scribbles, etc.

Cleaning. Okay stay with me, because I know I am sounding like your moms mom(grandma) right now. But when I clean my space it just feels so freeing and fresh. It’s like getting a clean slate again. With cleaning comes fresh scents of essential oils(My Fav!) I am loving the scent of Lavender lately and since Dr. Bronners products uses organic essential oils I LOVE cleaning with their Lavendar Castle Soap. I can clean my body and my house with it. It's a two-fer! Also, It doesn’t leave a harsh chemically smell nor is it harmful for toddlers(bonus plus). Dr. Bronners Castle Soap is made with organic and certified fair trade ingredients aka it is liquid gold(bonus-plus-plus).

Doing my hair. Ok, if I’m honest I DONT enjoy the process of “doing” my hair. Only because I’m impatient(but who isn’t?) and like I mentioned I have a toddler so this process has got to be quick and painless. For both of us. But it does make me feel joyful when my hair is being properly taken care of. When it is healthy and flourishing by my hands. Normally I achieve this by wearing a protective style and making a DIY hair spray. I use it to strengthen, moisturize + make me feel better about not doing my hair. I mix water, Dr. Bronners Organic Hair Creme(leave in conditioner) and aloe vera juice together in a spray bottle and shake it up. Boom! Spray my hair every morning and go about my day. 

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IMPORTANT NOTE TO REMEMBER-- Self care for you doesn’t have to look like mine, nor does mine look like everyone else’s. It’s called SELFcare for a reason. What is fulfilling to yourSELF? What is for YOU? What makes YOU smile? What fills YOU up mentally and spiritually? In what ways do YOU find time for YOURself to pause and love on YOU? Get it now. 

QUESTION-- I'm nosey, what does self care look like for you? If you're a mother or not, how do you add time and what do you do with that time for yourself? Comment down below.

Moral of the story: Self care = Self love. If you love yourself, you will take care of yourself. Unapologetic and Unconditionally.

To learn more about Dr. Bronners Products visit their site here.

5 healthy habits you should do every morning

Journaling. This is my “me time”. The time I get to pour back into me. This is my self care, self love and self awareness. I write my affirmations. I pray. I allow my thoughts, feelings and emotions to flow onto the pages. Writing with ease and intention. This also relieves stress and anxiety and provides clarity about myself. I highly recommend beginning your day with writing.

Lemon water. Starting your day with water will keep you hydrated and provide the nourishment to fuel your body for the day. Adding the lemon enhances the flavor, improves skin quality and it wakes up your digestive system. You can enjoy this beverage hot or cold.

Set intentions. You can do this for the day, month, year whatever works for you. When you set an intention, you manifest and put out that which you intend to attract and call into your life. This power provides guidance for your day and gives you actionable things to do to fulfill your goals. These intentions don’t have to be just tangible things, but how you operate internally and spiritually. [i.e my intention today is to gain more knowledge of ways to attract clarity and balance in my life or my intention for this month is to get Cameron potty trained.] Whatever your intentions are, set them and keep them set.

Sunlight. Somewhere in science I’m sure it says that feeling the sun on your skin and being outdoors makes people more happy. When it’s bright and sunny, I feel bright and sunny. So take in all this vitamin D and start your day off with light. 

Early rise. As a momma of an almost two year old it benefits me to wake up before him so I have enough time to complete my full skin care routine and get myself together for the day. I don’t have to rush through my morning routine or forget to make the coffee that I need to survive the rest of the morning. 

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SIDE NOTE: I can lecture you all day about the use of your phone, but I’ll spare you by just saying give the first hour(or two) of the day to yourself.

Moral of the story: A well developed and consistent morning routine has the ability to change your entire life. 

what's 'REALLY' in my bag

An impromptu trip to Target somehow resulted in me wanting to clean out my purse and after pulling everything out I just had to take a picture. LOL I mean really, how funny is this mash up? Everything in it has a story or explanation. So I’ll give you one. 

Backstory: When my amazing husband bought me my first “grown women” purse for Mother’s Day this year I was SO excited to fill it up with stuff. At the time, all I had to put in it was my wallet and Carmex. Seemed pretty sufficient, until the devil on my left shoulder needed MORE. As a former no-purse-wearing-women I always just assumed that if you had a purse it had to be filled all the way up. Wrong. I now know that bags fill themselves or at least mine did.

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Explanation—

Socks. Let us first address the elephant in the room, or in this case the rolled up socks. I bring an extra pair of socks with me, because it’s summer time and you can more than likely you will catch me bare foot or in my Birkenstocks. We’ve been going to a lot of bounce house, toddler friendly places lately with my son, which don’t allow bare feet, hence the socks. And yes, they are clean.

Deodorant. It's summer time and if you don't have this in your bag, or on your person, just know I am judging you. 

Baby food. We call these squeezies(squeeze-zees). I keep one of these on hand if I bring Cameron(my toddler monster) with me. He loves them and I love them, because their organic, they keep him quiet and it's my way of sneaking in more veggies. 

Journal. For any moment that needs to be recorded, new ideas, strange thoughts, things that need to be remembered, random story I want to blog/share about, etc. 

Hand Sanitizer. I've been needing to throw this shit away! I bought it when I was on my I-need-to-fill-this-purse-up-right-now kick and it is terrible. It leaves my hands sticky and not smelling like lemons as it advertises. Did I just get a bad one? Is it expired? Does sanitizer expire? 

Air Pods + Headphones. The Air Pods are my husbands and I put them in my purse because he leaves his things laying around and that is my way of making sure it "doesn't go missing." *insert evil laugh* The head phones are mine of course. Does anyone else still use the original free headphones that come with the iPhone?

Tampon/Pad. I have been that girl before walking around without my "proper materials" for that time-of-the-month, because Mother Nature does what the hell she wants and comes whenever the hell she feels like it. But now I am forever traumatized and prepared. 

Pen. In case I need to sign some autographs. Y'all know I'm an author now right?

School ID. Yes, I am a full time student. I am studying Communications and this mug shot ID was required to record my attendance.

Coupon. I love me some steals and deals. And this coupon in particular is for Old Navy and their baby clothes are everything. So this will come in handy when I need to size up on Cams clothes again. 

Carmex. Again, if your lips are ashy and-or chapped and you're not prepared to moisturize them, I. Am. Judging. You!

Keys. Because I can't go anywhere without them.  

Moral of the story: Don't be fooled by these whats-in-my-bag pictures you see on Pinterest, THEY. AREN'T. REAL.