Me time/Self care, I am happy to say is quite a common phrase these days. It is so important for physical and mental health. Since becoming a mum and having a chronic condition I have really realised just how important it is.
You don’t have to set off to an expensive spa to get the me time and it can be 5 minutes or an hour its really up to you. I often hear people say “I don’t have time’ and it really bugs me because if you have 5-10 minutes to scroll through facebook… then you do have time.
These are the things I do to help me hit reset and recharge:
- Sounds so silly to actually write down but I breathe, I sit down for 2 minutes and breathe in and out deeply, I use the breathe app on my Apple Watch for this but set a 2 minute timer, or download the millions of apps designed just for this purpose. If you have 10 minutes I 100% recommend the Headspace App.
- Shower/Bath, sounds a bit mental to use personal hygiene as that me time but if you can be alone…. usually once Jake is in bed or James is playing with Jake. I milk this on a Tuesday and Friday when its hair washing day haha!
- Cooking, now I rarely use this and if I do use it, it is when Jacob is at school. Just batch cooking pasta sauces to cooking fairy cakes, as long as I am totally on what I am doing I find it relaxing.
- Spending time with my friends, mainly friends I can 100% be myself around, I find it so exhausting worrying about saying the right thing so when I am with certain friends where it doesn’t matter if I say something weird, they just get me, I come away relaxed.
- Listen to music and clean, haha now I know this is odd if you hate cleaning and if this is the case then just listen to music and have a boogie but I love putting Kisstory on my Alexa and cracking on with the dusting.
- Read with Jacob, we take turns in reading and it is so nice listening to Jacob read to me, he does get bored though so we swap which I love.
- Sticking with the reading… my Kindle has been my best friend I love it.
- Watching Netflix, I find finding something to binge on is brilliant, I have been watching Suits and I am hooked.
- Playing a game on my phone, nothing better than putting my phone on Airplane mode and playing Best Fiends… addictive, annoying and totally distracting from thoughts of daily life.
- And last but not least, writing. I lost the love for writing for awhile but slowly I am getting it back. Instead of writing on my laptop I have been putting pen to paper and its so therapeutic.
Hope this has given you some tips to just get even 5 minutes to yourself. Forget the housework for 5 minutes and washing and do something that helps reset the brain. I don’t do all of these in one day because I am a mum and have a life, but it is easier to grab those 5 minutes now Jacob is 5, at school and a lot more independent. XO