How well does your self care wheel roll?
It seems fitting on the day after Mother’s Day to reflect on self-care.
Looking after ourselves is essential to optimising wellbeing and in turn being able to parent effectively.
Self-care often falls down towards the bottom of a mums to do list.
Self-care involves attending many quadrants of yourself. You may be kicking goals in one area it is highly likely that other types are neglected.
So, let’s do a quick audit of 8 types and see how round your wheel is.
Physical care is essential to survival. It covers getting enough sleep, eating regular healthy meals, exercising in some way whether it be high intensity to walking and stretching. Taking moments to pause and rest.
Emotionally do you know when your feelings are soaring? Being able to notice your feelings with compassion and care. Be on the lookout for the self-judgement story that might try to tell you to toughen up. Tune into how you feel regularly and train yourself to nme it checking the facts and what you can do to release it.
Socially do you feel like you are connected to the people around you? Establishing strong networks, putting limits in place so that you don’t give too much and scheduling regular quality time with loved ones, helps meet our social need to feel connected. Whether you are an introvert or extrovert you can feel deeply alone and drain the tank.
Spiritual satisfaction through religion or finding meaning in your life can be easily over looked. Pathways include going to church, mindfulness, time in nature and reflective space alone to look at who you are and what is important to you.
Personal identity is about meeting your own unique needs connected to interests, hobbies and individual time use activities that bring you satisfaction and energy.
Your living space can also help optimise sense of calm and security. The setting must fit your lifestyle and be set up in a way that helps you feel good. Attending to domestics and living somewhere that fits with your environment needs sets up a home you can return to for replenishment.
Financial security is critical to being able to live the life you want. Having children can throw out budgets. Your financial affairs need to be reviewed and prioritised to ensure you are live within your means.
Finally work which can be a paid job, maternity leave, a home maker or a mix of everything. So often people get stuck in jobs with high stress and a lack of balance. Ask yourself if you like what you do, want to learn new skills or put better boundaries in place to allow you to find greater meaning and prevent burn out or loss of family time.
