Nurturing Mom: A Look in the Mirror

Moms are so busy taking care of their families, that they often forget to take care of themselves. Nurturing mom is just as important as nurturing families.

Today’s post is a little different. It’s about you, Mom. It’s about us.

I’ve been at this mom-biz for almost two decades now and still learning, like everyone else. (Our kids always have something to teach us, don’t they?) My mantra when my daughter was young was that if I don’t take care of myself, I can’t adequately take care of my family. To some level, I still believe this is true. We truly need to take care of the basics. For instance, if we are always skipping meals or grabbing something down and dirty such as fast food on the fly, we’re doing our bodies a disservice, with short term effects (moodiness from lack of food, weight gain from too much) as well as long term. If we don’t eat properly, we could be inadvertently putting ourselves on the path to heart disease, diabetes or other health concerns. And, of course, we need to practice that one thing we preach to our own teens – personal hygiene.

If you are a mom of a special needs child, I’m sure you totally understand how those two key things can feel like “work” at times. No matter how much we love our kids, we can be so exhausted, taking a few extra steps to do these things for ourselves can feel like… “work.”

We’re going to step it up a notch today. It’s one thing to keep up with the basics, but taking it to another level can be revitalizing! Ready?

This starts with a confession of mine. I have never had a mani or a pedi. A few months back, my husband asked me if I ever had an interest in getting my nails done. This floored me. He’s an engineer, and if you are married to an engineer you “get it.” As much as mani’s are off the table as I can’t grow nails to save my life, a pedi was suddenly worth considering. To continue the confessional, we live frugally, but it dawned on me that if we pay for Mr. FrouFrou to have his nails trimmed (our overgrown Yorkie), I could certainly afford to give it a try.

I made the appointment with my salon. Although a fiber artist and mompreneur, I can’t pick polish colors to save my life! The pedicurist was so helpful and the entire experience so relaxing. I couldn’t believe one little thing could make such a difference in my morale. At home, I snapped a pic to my daughter (yes, we’re Snapchat buddies – go figure!) and she approved. So did my sister, who about fell off her chair that I did it. Honestly, after many years, I think I landed on something that is a treat for mom, here, that won’t break the bank or my waistline. And all due to a suggestion from my husband!

Sure, this may not be the thing for you, or may be routine, but surely there is something out there you can do for yourself, within budget, that can give you some regular “me time.”

Most of the time, life is all about the kids, right? But once in a while, it needs to be about “mom.” You’ll feel better and that energy will spill over into your own family, and that is a good thing.

~Julie

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