I know I haven’t written in months, but I wanted to give a quick update on where I’ve been since February. I started training to become a life coach through the World Coach Institute which has been extremely valuable. Not only have I learned how to coach, but it’s helped me build my confidence as well. It has also made me realize that I am on the right path. I enjoy coaching and would love to help you achieve your goals.
Introducing NMC Coaching
I’d like to introduce my new website, NMCCoaching.com. I have launched a new blog over there which focuses on personal development and ways to help your children. NMC Coaching stands for Navigating Motherhood Coaching. I work with moms who want to make real changes in their lives.
Are you transitioning into a new career?
Do you want to feel more productive throughout your day?
Do you want to feel more confident in your parenting abilities?
Do you feel like you’ve lost your identity as a mom and want to rediscover what lights you up?
Do you simply need help regrouping during these uncertain times?
Due to Covid19, I am unemployed which has given me the time to devote to my coaching business. That leads me to the topic of this blog and what will happen to it. I hope to still post on here once per month. I have a Mother’s Day post coming up. Eventually, I hope to tie the two blogs together, but haven’t figured it out yet. This blog has been a labor of love for me. It’s been my introduction to professional blogging, but still remains personal. It’s been part of our journey with some helpful tips thrown in. I hope you will continue to check back for updates and of course, my older posts will still be here. If you are interested in personal development and parenting tips and tricks, come over to NMCCoaching.com and check it out. I will be offering a weekly newsletter with freebies plus building a community of likeminded moms who are working on achieving their goals. Most of all, I want to thank you for visiting my little corner on the web.
As moms, we are always jumping from one task to the next and taking care of ourselves is an after thought. What do you picture when you hear the term self-care? Maybe you picture days at the spa or a weekend at home in your pj’s with your favorite comfort foods. What if I told you that self-care can take 10 minutes or less? Here are my 10 self-care tips for busy moms that can be done in under 10 minutes.
You may be thinking 10 minutes is too short to make a difference. You might be dying to have a whole weekend to yourself, but let’s be realistic. A refresher is better than nothing and during this pandemic, most of us aren’t leaving the house anyway. If you regularly schedule these five to ten minute breaks in your routine, they will become a habit and it will start to add up and make a huge difference in your outlook, health and wellbeing. Okay, I know your busy, so let’s get to those self-care tips now.
Journaling
Journaling is one of my favorite self-care routines. I don’t journal as much as I’d like to, but journaling has so many benefits. Personally, it has helped me work through feelings, visualize my future, keep track of goals and ideas, remember my dreams and preserve memories. With all these ways that journaling can help you, why wouldn’t you want to try it? The great thing about journaling is that there is no right or wrong way to journal. You just write from the heart. If you are not much of a writer, you can make lists or even sketch instead. The best part for us busy moms is that you can journal in less than ten minutes. You can include it in your routine first thing in the morning or before you go to bed or maybe you find it more beneficial to jot down notes throughout the day. Here are some ideas to get you started.
A gratitude journal; make lists of what you are grateful for.
Write using journal prompts.
Write down your dreams when you wake up.
Write down your goals and big dreams each day.
Write about your day.
Make a journal using photos.
Meditation
Many people use meditation as their form of self-care. There are numerous benefits of meditation. There are so many forms of meditation out there, so try several and figure out which meditations work best for you. Even if meditation is hard for you, just try to find a time to be in calm and stillness. We are always juggling and rarely get to stop to sit with our thoughts. There are many meditations that can be done in ten minutes or less like these.
Stretch Routines
If you are working at home now like I am, you may be sitting for hours at a time. It’s really important to get up and move around. A quick five to ten minute stretch routine is the perfect way to do that.
Workouts
If you have the energy and motivation, why not schedule a ten minute workout? If you are low on energy, doing even a short exercise routine is a great way to beat fatigue! If you have an exercise machine at home, do that, but if you don’t have any exercise equipment, I’ve got you covered. There are many strength based workouts that you can do from the comfort of your home that only use your body weight and can burn just as many calories.
Favorite Snack
What are your favorite snacks? This will look different for everyone and that’s okay. For some people self-care is grabbing their favorite comfort food and for other people self-care includes eating something healthy for their body. Whatever the case may be for you, prepare some of these snacks for you and your kids so you can have them throughout the week.75 Healthy Snack Ideas
Maybe you don’t have time for a spa treatment or to do your regular makeup routine, but it’s so important to feel good about how you look. Since we are staying at home, many of us are not even bothering to get dressed or do our makeup. I don’t know about you, but when I’m not dressed and ready for the day, I don’t feel very motivated. Here are some ideas to help you look and feel good that take only a few minutes.
Put on your makeup.
Wear jewelry.
Do your nails.
Do a facial.
Style your hair in a different way.
Reading
Reading is one of my favorite activities because I learn new things or I can escape into the book depending on what I’m reading. Those are just a couple of benefits of picking up a book or listening on Audible. Reading doesn’t have to take up a lot of time. You can just read a few pages at a time, but if you totally get absorbed, that’s okay too.
Outside Time
How about taking that book outside and enjoying the peace that comes from being in nature? These days it can be harder to get out with our social distancing practices and stay at home orders, but as long as you keep these things in mind, you can still safely enjoy the outdoors. If you have a dog, take him for a walk. The dog needs to get out, so why not take this time for yourself as well? If you have a baby, it can be nice to just put them in the stroller and go enjoy the fresh air. Maybe you’re working and you can take your laptop outside. Being outside for a few minutes can bring some calm not only to yourself, but to your kids as well.
Creating a Peaceful Environment
This may be an aspect of self-care that you haven’t thought of. If you are working at home, think about the environment that you are working in. Is it uninviting? Is it complete chaos? One way to make your day more peaceful and or motivating is to change your environment in subtle ways. Here are some ideas.
Put pictures on your desk.
Add motivational quotes or affirmations where you see them.
During this time of isolation, it’s so important to reach out to others. What’s better than a good chat with a friend? Maybe you want to reconnect with someone you haven’t talked to in a while or maybe you want to make some new connections. Whatever the case may be, reach out. It could make your day or someone else’s. It can also help us to slow down and listen and or be heard.
Self-care is so important, especially during these uncertain times. What are you doing to take care of yourself? Tell us in the comments.
This week on the blog, I’ve talked about how to sit with our feelings at this uncertain time. If you missed the post, I shared several strategies to help us work through our feelings. As adults, we understand what Is going on the world around us and of course, we are feeling many strong emotions. We may be feeling fear, sadness, anxiety and or grief.
Our kids are having these feelings too and the hard part is they may not even know how to describe what they are feeling. Young children are just learning how to regulate their emotions and express themselves. They may start acting out, become withdrawn or become extra clingy during this time. They hear our conversations and see the news if they have it on. They are hearing things they don’t understand and are picking up on whatever their family members may be feeling. Their worlds have also been turned upside down. Their routines may be totally different with the school closures and parents now working from home or not working at all. Even though all this extra time at home with our families can be wonderful, it’s a huge change.
However, there are things we can do to help our toddlers and preschoolers understand and work through their feelings. We can help our youngest toddlers label their feelings and we can help our older preschoolers work through their feelings by playing and creating. I have compiled a list of activities that parents can use to help their toddlers and preschoolers recognize, label and work through their feelings.
Art Feelings Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers
The Feelings Collage
What you do:
Look through magazines or print off pictures from the internet that express different feelings. Then glue them on paper.
Paper Bag Puppet
What you do:
Take a brown paper bag and draw or create a face using materials from around the house.
Materials may include googly eyes, felt, tissue paper, foil, paper scraps cut into different shapes etc. Be creative!
Dry Erase Faces
What you do:
Print off blank pictures of faces like these coloring pages from Dabbles & Babbles. Then have your children color them, expressing whatever they are feeling. Then erase and start over.
Open Ended Drawing or Painting
Have your children draw or paint whatever comes to mind. Then talk about the picture. They may open up about their thoughts and feelings.
Play-dough
This is usually classified as a sensory activity, but it is creative as well. Make silly faces out of play-dough or let your children use their imaginations to create whatever comes to mind. They can also add items to the faces like beads, pompoms, googly eyes, rocks, shells etc. You could do this with modeling clay as well. It makes a perfect mixed media art activity.
Story Writing for Preschoolers
Have your child dictate a story to you and write it down. My daughter loves to do this. It’s a great window into your child’s thoughts. You can either make the story into a homemade book letting the child draw the pictures or keep it as is.
Family Feelings Activities
The Happy List
Have the child make a list of things that make him or her happy. They can draw pictures to go with it and you could turn it into a happy book. This could be done with other feelings as well. You could also make it a family happiness list and write down things that make each family member happy.
Feel Good Jar
Talk with the child about how to make others feel good. Each morning, they can either draw a name from the jar or an action depending on how you want to set this up. You could either put in the names of your family members or you could write down actions instead and the child can pick who they want to do something nice for that day. Here are some action examples.
Give a complement,
Give a hug,
Share a snack,
Take a walk together,
Call a friend,
Help a family member with a chore,
Tell someone you love them,
Make a homemade card,
Share a toy.
The Bruised Apple
This is a good activity to do in a classroom setting, but you could do it at home as well. It’s a good activity for teaching how our words or actions can hurt other people without us knowing it. All you do is have the child hit the apple on a table or the floor. Then cut it open to see the bruising inside.
Conversations About Feelings With Kids
Sometimes the best way to teach something is to slip it into everyday conversations or activities.
One way is using the daily calendar. We have a calendar that has a space for feelings. Ask the child how they are feeling and have them put the face on the calendar.
Since we are all stuck at home, there may be more screen time than usual, so talk about the shows your child is watching. Many shows have feelings, friendship or specific fears as themes for specific episodes. My daughter watches Bubble Guppies, If You Give A Mouse A Cookie and Pete The Cat. Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood is another show that talks about emotions often. There are many episodes of kids shows that talk about being sick and or going to the doctors. With all this talk of sickness due to covid19, that may be worth exploring with your kids as well. They may have new fears about sickness and going to the doctors. My daughter has mentioned being afraid of the doctor several times since the pandemic started. I know she’s not alone.
Feelings Snacks for Kids
You can tie the feelings theme into meal times by having kids make faces on their food while preparing it. This works best with foods with toppings.
Mini pizzas,
Pancakes,
Rice cakes with peanut butter.
English muffins with peanut butter.
Feelings Activities Resources
I’ll leave you with a few extra resources that you can explore. If you want books, games and even more activities, check out these informative web pages.
In my last post, I talked about how we can use the time in quarantine for personal development. Coincidentally, an article came across my newsfeed about how there is this push to make ourselves a project during this time. While I agree that there has been a push to use this time to improve ourselves, I don’t see it as a bad thing. I see it as one way we can put positivity back into our lives. Also, I think if you see yourself as a project, it diminishes your worth. If you see yourself as a complete being that is constantly evolving, doesn’t that sound better?
Pay Attention to Your Feelings
That being said, the author brought up a really good point that I want to focus on. When there is a huge push to go, go, go, it is distracting. When we are constantly in motion, we don’t have time to sift through our feelings. While I think it is a great idea to do some personal development during this time, I encourage you to  incorporate working through these difficult feelings as a part of your routine.
This is a tragedy like no other in our lifetime. It is effecting everyone in different ways. People are losing their lives. Families are losing loved ones. To make things worse, family members can’t be with their loved ones who have to die alone. It’s heartbreaking even if you aren’t going through it. On the flip side, there are people getting sick, but they are fully recovering. The scary thing is you never know who will be the lucky ones. As this goes on, you might be feeling grief, sadness, worry and fear.
Then there is all the other stuff. You might be unemployed and not sure when you will get your next check. You might be worried about getting enough food or personal products. You can’t go see family members or friends. Schools are closed and you might be trying to homeschool your children. Children are missing their friends and normal routines. Students can’t have proms or graduation ceremonies. Vacations and weddings have been canceled. Then there are all the pregnant women who have their own set of challenges. It’s a scary and strange time and we all will have to deal with our feelings at some point.
Strategies to Cope With Strong Feelings
Simply acknowledge the feelings.
Recognize them, name them in your head and allow yourself to feel them.
Journal
Write everything down. Give yourself that safe space to let go of everything.
Release the feelings
For some people, it helps to wrip up or burn the paper after they’ve written about a negative event or negative feelings. It’s a way of releasing that negative energy from your mind and your physical space.
Other people just need to have a good cry or can release the feelings by doing something physical. You can either go for a walk, do a workout at home or take a bike ride.
Create
Some people work through feelings by creating something. You can use any kind of art, music or writing to express yourself.
Reach Out
Even though we are apart, we are all in this together. Don’t be afraid to reach out to a friend or family member. Sometimes just asking someone how they are doing can make all the difference. Mental health is so important and if you know someone who is struggling, please reach out to them. If you are struggling and need to talk to a therapist, don’t be afraid to reach out. It really can help to talk to someone.
If we all take this time now to work through how we are feeling, we will come out of this that much stronger. If you are one of those people who is constantly in motion distracting yourself, take a few minutes to stop and breathe. Let yourself feel even if it is hard. We will get through this eventually. Things will never quite be the same, but we will find our way down this new path together.
How are you holding up during these tough times? Tell me in the comments.
When this  quarantine period started in mid-March, I was lost. This was the first time in nine years that I was unemployed. It was also the first time I was home with my daughter full-time. With no preschool for her and no work for me, it was totally different. I had been wanting a change, but not under these circumstances. I was afraid of getting sick. I didn’t know how I’d end up paying my bills. I was worried about our food situation. I had so many worries and questions floating around in my head.
Shift Your Mindset
Meanwhile, I was about half way through my coaching course with World Coach Institute. On one of those calls, I talked to a classmate about how I was feeling overwhelmed and lost. He told me that this time was a gift so that I could focus on my business. When I started thinking of it like that, I felt much more positive about our situation. After my mindset changed, things started to fall into place.
I think of this time as a gift. How can you reframe this time of being alone to something positive you can identify with? Maybe you think of this time as a change, a rebirth or a chance to rethink your priorities. Maybe this time can be a reconnection. A reconnection to yourself as well as your connection to those around you. Even though we can’t be in the same room, there are plenty of ways to reach out to each other.
How To Choose Your Focus
If you are as overwhelmed and lost as I was, choosing something to focus on can seem like a daunting task. The obvious choice for me is my coaching business since it’s one of my big dreams for this decade and I was already taking the course. Have there been changes you wanted to make? Is there something you’ve always wanted to learn about? Is your home in need of cleaning and or organization? Have you wanted to start a new hobby?
Write everything down. Your dreams, goals, changes you want to make, things you’ve always wanted to try and then prioritize them. Then ask yourself, which of these things can I do from home?
Possibilities
Work on your business,
Spring clean,
Reorganize your home,
Do activities with your kids,
Start a new exercise routine,
Find a new hobby,
Take a course,
Read books,
Start a journaling or meditation practice,
If you’ve been running non stop, take a break.
What other ideas can you come up with? How are you improving your life during this period of uncertainty? Scroll down and tell me in the comments!
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What are you doing to help your kids work through difficult emotions during this strange time? Tell me in the comments.
How To Choose Your Focus