When I first became a mom, a SAHM, I swore that the day I stopped doing my hair (make up has never been mandatory for me on weekends), or any of those little things we do to take care of ourselves, that I should just throw in the towel. Well, I don’t do my hair every day any more, which isn’t so bad, but the fact that I do very little for myself is something I definitely need to work on.
A recurring conversation I’ve been having with other moms lately is how we, as mothers, rarely make/take time for ourselves. It’s not the ‘doing hair & make up every day’ type of time, it’s the ‘ME time away from household/kiddo obligations’ kind of time. It’s the ‘thinking of myself every once in a while’ type of time that I’m talking about here. A perfect example of this is that I will take the time to make sure that my son has sunscreen on whenever we go for walks or spend any time outside…but I don’t take the extra couple of minutes to put some on myself. The end result? I’ve gotten unnecessary burns, and the amount of unprotected sun exposure I’ve received is horrible — why don’t I think about myself too, even for something so minute?
I recently decided that I have to take the time to do little things for myself, carve out a little time or add an extra step, because I’m no good for anyone else if my needs aren’t met and I’ve not been caring for myself. For many of us, this concept looks great on paper, but is very difficult to put into practice, and for that reason, I started doing baby steps towards having some ‘Lauren time’. The first step? Putting lotion on after my morning shower.
