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:

1. 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.
2. 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!
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Sticking with the reading… my Kindle has been my best friend I love it.
8. Watching Netflix, I find finding something to binge on is brilliant, I have been watching Suits and I am hooked.
9. 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.
10. 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