A summer self-care guide
It’s finally here! The time of the year your kids have been talking about and looking forward to all year long! SUMMER TIME!!
As all the students and teachers rejoice, the stay-at-home mommas mourn a little for the loss of their sacred time. Instead, they prepare to “go to battle” in order to maintain, entertain and balance summer time schedules!
When self-care gets left behind
Now, hear me out. Summer is awesome and a much needed break for our sweet kids and their wonderful teachers! However, it puts us moms back in that place of feeling like our survival- or sanity- depends on us putting everyone else’s needs before our own.
The problem is that we get through a few weeks or so and begin to feel the effects of our lack of self-care! We end the summer completely burned out (and I’m not just talking about getting too much sun!). So, in order to successfully balance the needs of others and ourselves, here are 5 effective self-care ideas for the summer.
5 Summer self-care ideas:
Do something YOU enjoy.
Make it a priority to find some time daily, or at least every few days, to do something you enjoy! Go ahead and put some things on the calendar so that you have something to look forward to on those long, hot days! Buy a new book, see a movie ALONE, have some friends over or plan for a mani/pedi.
Try to avoid multitasking.
I know it’s tempting to finish your grocery list planning or respond to a few emails while you’re spending time with your kids, but we are most likely missing something if we are multitasking. Whether it’s with our kids or hitting send to that email before we finished the reply, practice giving your full attention to one thing at a time this summer.
Get some rest.
Hours in the sun or playing with your kids all day can definitely lead to feeling exhausted! Make it a priority to get a little rest time for yourself each day. If your kids are old enough to be on their own for that time then there are no worries! If they are still a bit too young to be unsupervised, implement a mandatory “rest time” for each day! 20 minutes of resting or napping goes a LONG way.
Maintain a loose schedule.
A big struggle for me is constantly trying to find a balance between structure and relaxation! If I don’t have something planned every moment of every day, my kid will be bored (and therefore moody), but being overly busy can lead to fatigue. Make downtime a priority so that your kids can learn to be creative out of boredom, but also so that their brains can have a break!
Plan some away time.
BE SURE to plan some time away for yourself! It doesn’t have to be a grandiose vacation (but if it can be, GO FOR IT!). Planning for a day or 2 of time with yourself, partner, or friends will do wonders for you. It will allow you to re-energize as well as check in with yourself to be sure your daily needs are being met.
I know that as mommas, we are constantly at battle with the desire to put our family’s needs before our own. However, if we are completely burned out and spent, how can we have anything to give? Purposefully practicing self-care allows us to bring a healthy balance to maintaining and meeting our own needs so that we can aid others (our children) in having their needs met as well!
You got this momma!
If you have any questions about Amy Wine Counseling and our therapeutic services feel free to call us at 832-421-8714 or contact us here.
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