On Wednesdays, we feature posts from guest bloggers. One of our Challenge Champions will be featured here tomorrow, Thursday, and we apologize for getting off schedule. We’re human, too!
Meanwhile, just wanted to take this opportunity to remind you that this opportunity is available, as we love to hear from the real women who are LIVING self-care with us. If you’d like to be featured on a future Wednesday, please email Diane at realmomexperts{at}gmail.com.
Have a great day, make sure to write down (or make a mental list) of all today’s accomplishments, and see you tomorrow for this week’s featured guest.
As you read this I want you to focus on the absolute most basic function of life. You are doing it right now.
Breathing.
Notice how your chest rises and falls, your stomach moves up and down, the air in and out of your nose and mouth. If it is cold, you may even be able to see your breath today. When we take time to be aware of our actions, even the most basic, we tune with what is going on within ourselves and around us as well.
When we are panicked, our breathing is shallow and quick. When calm, it is slow, deep, and rhythmic. Breathing is one of the quickest ways we can change our moods. When my day gets to me, I go to a quiet place and just breathe in and out. This resets my mindset and heads me in a different direction.
Real woman Lauren of My Postpartum Voice
At My Postpartum Voice, I started blogging in order to re-frame an unexpected pregnancy after two episodes of Postpartum OCD. Through my journey, I learned a lot, including how to take a time out for myself. As mothers, we do not have to sacrifice ourselves for our children. We matter too. Motherhood is something we add to our sense of self, not something which must overcome our sense of self. We must take care of ourselves so that we can then take care of our families.
When first introduced to breathing as a relaxation technique, we wonder how something so simple can work. My favorite story about “breathing” was finding my 10 year-old daughter playing the deep breathing/relaxation CD I’d made to a friend who was spending the night and having trouble sleeping. She said, “Just listen–you’ll feel better.” Fifteen minutes later, they were both asleep.
Deep breathing works so well because we spend so much time physically and emotionally stressed. Psychologist Alice Domar states that the average US adult experiences the fight or flight response 50 times daily. While adaptive for cave-dwelling ancestors running from saber-toothed tigers, the flood of stress chemicals through our bodies makes us edgy, irritable, and more vulnerable to physical and emotional health problems. Likewise, it results in short, shallow breathing which fuels rather than diminishes the stress response.
The busier we are, the truer this is, especially for moms with small children who already feel physically and emotionally depleted. The more rundown we are, the more likely the fight-flight response is to trigger. Research has shown that five minutes of deep breathing several times a day leads to lower stress hormones by day’s end. Why wait? If we can delay bedtime to pick up the house, certainly we can take 5 minutes, 3 times a day, to improve our physical and emotional well-being. Although it may feel strange at first to be still and breathe deeply, it feels good.
This week’s mantra: “I always have my breath to destress.”
Self-care should be a revolution – it’s an idea so basic that many people, especially women don’t even think to take the time or make an effort to be a “cult of one,” to take care of themselves first.
Real woman author of today's post, Mollee Bauer of pregnancy.org
That’s where this self-care challenge comes in. Day one’s challenge of chanting the mantra, “Taking care of me benefits others I love,” sounds simple and it should be in theory. But we tend to clutter our lives with complications and excuses.
I take this mantra to heart lately. I can’t do anything if I spend all my time catering to others. Doing so would affect my business and personal life. By meditating, exercising and eating right, I know that I am on my way to being the best I can be at any given moment. I make sure I take care of myself and fuel my engine.
Making self-care a part of my daily life ensures that I am ready to take on any challenge that I need to deal with. Each tip is a valuable pearl of wisdom that allows me to pamper and take care of myself in ways I never thought of.
At Pregnancy.org, we’re in a similar business. We give women the tools they need to not only empower themselves, to feel safe and secure but also advice on how to take care of themselves, pamper themselves, check in with themselves to make sure they have the tools necessary to meet each of their challenges along the way.
Though the initial 21 day self-care challenge has wrapped up, LIVING self-care is regrouping to inspire you to carry on. Here’s the blueprint:
Each Monday, we’ll review a daily tip and discuss ways for you to apply it through the week, day by day.
Each Wednesday, we’ll inspire you with words from a “Challenge Champion,” acquainting you with some of the resources who offer incredible support and information for real women like you.
Each Friday, we’ll strive to make you laugh, reinforcing humor as a cornerstone of wellness.
Each weekend, we’ll take time off, while we practice self-care ourselves!
In between, we’d love to hear from you, with a goal of sharing your successes and dilemmas.
Bit by bit, fifteen minutes at a time, you can build a lasting habit of self-care. To request a PDF of ALL the tips in this first challenge, email ann{at}realmomexperts.com.
Real woman Allison
Be inspired by these testimonials from real women on some of the Challenge Champion sites:
Thanks for this challenge! I sure did learn alot… and now have better ways to cope with the day-to-day.
Done. Great challenge! I learned a lot, and I WILL remember to take care of myself, too. 🙂
Thank you for this challenge! I am going to try to keep myself near the top of my priority list.
If only for a moment at a time self care forced me to think of myself in a positive way. Thank You for caring.
I know that gratitude was yesterday’s tip, but I feel it’s the one I need to practice today. I am thankful to each of you for pursuing this journey with us, and hopefully continuing on. Ann and I have gained from your comments and participation, and perhaps without knowing it, you have deepened our commitment to LIVING Self-Care for ourselves and our loved ones.
It’s been humbling to see that although we KNOW how important it is to practice daily, we stumbled and regained our footing several times. And honestly, that’s how life is. “We fall and get up, fall and get up, fall and get up again.” Thanks to all of you for being there when we fell with your comments and experiences which inspired us to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and carry on.
Please stay with us as we make LIVING Self-Care a reality in your lives and ours. Together, we can support and encourage each other, one moment, one day at a time.
We’re challenging each of you to get 2 friends to sign up for LIVING Self-Care in the next week, before the 21 day challenge ends. Share this great resource! There are many more deserving women out there. You, as one of our valuable fans working the challenge, are our best recommendation. We hope the tips have been helpful and that you feel empowered to make self-care part of your daily routine. Your comments have inspired us! They help us keep our emotional pitchers full. For more about this, preview our new book, Life Will Never Be The Same: The Real Mom’s Postpartum Survival Guide at http://www.realmomexperts.com.
We’ll be making an exciting announcement in the next few days about our future plans and how you can be involved. Meanwhile, we want your feedback! Please let us know:
Which tip you liked best?
Which tip you liked the least?
What helped you stick with practicing self-care?
Where you ran into obstacles?
Anything else you’d like us to know.
You can offer your feedback here, in the comments section, or email us at realmomexperts{at}gmail.com.
Together, we can encourage and support each other to make LIVING Self-Care a reality day by day.
Thirteen days into the 21 Day Self-Care Challenge, and the response is amazing. On the initial day of the challenge, nearly 800 viewers visited this LIVING Self-Care blog. The average number of visitors per day to date is 340. The message is spreading across the web, as the list of friends and supporting organizations continues to expand.
It’s not too late to join the 21 Day Self-Care Challenge! Check out the daily tips, beginning on Day one. Or choose a tip that works for you, jumping from Day 2 to 8 to 6. Work at your pace. Skip the parts that don’t resonate, and repeat the activities that really light you up. Invite your friends and loved ones. Ann Dunnewold, Ph.D., and Diane Sanford, Ph.D., co-authors of Life Will Never Be The Same: The Real Mom’s Postpartum Survival Guide simply hope to inspire women to put themselves on the list, developing a lasting habit to support well-being.
Join with Challenge Champions such as Postpartum Progress, Cafe Mom, and Postpartum Support International in supporting this effort to change the lives of women. Don’t miss the insightful, touching comments and conversation about the impact of the daily tips on real women of all ages and life stations.
Finally, rally to the call for photos and videos! Contribute these as a way to make your presence known in this landmark event. Don’t delay and miss being included–send those today to ann[at]realmomexperts.com . For more information about joining as a Challenge Champion, email realmomexperts[at]gmail.com.
In all the hubbub of launching the 21 day self-care challenge, we forgot to announce the contest. For each week of the challenge, we will give away a copy of Life Will Never Be The Same: The Real Mom’s Postpartum Survival Guide. The winner will be drawn from those who post comments on the daily tips.
To enter, all you need to do is share your experience with one of the tips–how you made it work for you. Make sure we have your email address, either when you post or email it to us at ann{at}realmomexperts.com if you’d rather not have your email address public on the blog. Each week, we’ll draw a name and send out a copy of the book. So let us know how it’s going to you, and you could win!
drdianesanford.com 