Making Wellness a Priority in Motherhood

Motherhood has been such a beautiful journey thus far. With all of the life changes that I’ve gone through these last seven years, however, it wasn’t always easy. One of the things that I truly lost sight of in my early stages of motherhood, was wellness. I don’t know if it was the stress of motherhood, or simply the stress of life that threw me so off-course in terms of my health, but one way or the other, I fell off.

It would be easy to have regrets about all of it, but then perhaps I would not be exactly where I am today, so instead of regretting any of it, I embrace it and feel full gratitude for the broken road that brought me to this beautiful place and time.

With all of that said, I am so happy that today, wellness is such an enormous priority for me. Movement (exercise), nutrition (food/hydration), and spiritual/emotional health are the three big areas that I focus on nurturing to keep my wellness high. As a busy mother, sometimes it’s easy to let these things slip to the bottom of my priority list, but I know that I cannot serve from an empty vessel–so I work hard to remember that my wellness is just as important as everyone else’s.

Nothing is perfect and I have good weeks and bad weeks, but today I want to talk about exercise and movement. Here are a few of the things that I do to make sure that physical wellness remains a priority for me.

Time Management
Time management is critical. I put this first on my list because without it, everything else falls apart. Motherhood is very busy, even for those who work hard to live slowly and intentionally. I’ve been writing on this topic a lot lately and time-management is key. If you’re an early riser, you can squeeze in your fitness before the rest of the house wakes up. If not, you might have to juggle things around to get your movement in, but no matter what, you can find a way to get it on your schedule. Practice effective time-management and treat exercise as important as any of your other top priorities.

Make Sure You Have the Right Equipment
Whatever area of exercise you choose to focus on, make sure you’ve got what you need to be successful. Of course, most workouts require comfortable and durable shoes, so check out the runnerclick website and find everything you need. I am a yoga girl, so I have invested in a yoga mat that I love and several beautiful and comfy outfits that I can throw on when I’m ready to practice.

Focus on What You Love
Like I just said, I am a yoga girl and that (re)discovery was so life-changing for me. A couple of years ago now, I found my way back into a yoga class and from there, my life began to shift drastically. Once you find a physical movement practice that feeds your body and your soul, physical wellness will transform from an obligation into a thing of joy. I truly love going to yoga class. In addition to yoga, I also love to be outside. So my other favorite way to move is walking and hiking. A lot of people get caught up in routines that they dislike. For me, that is a typical gym routine including weight training and cardio. I used to try to force myself into that mold and I always failed because I hated it. I realize that some people love that stuff. But my point is, find whatever it is that you truly love and then find a way to make it work for you. When you find what you love, success will come naturally.

Do What You Can With What You’ve Got
At the end of the day, as mothers, we don’t always have the flexibility to get outside or to get to a class or whatever else we may wish to do. That’s when we have to get creative. YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram are all excellent places to find inspiration, instructional videos, and routines. Right now it’s realistic for me to get to a yoga class about twice a week and when the weather is good, I can get outside for a walk once or twice a week too. But I try to fill in the other days with a little movement as well. Sometimes that means a 15-minute stretch before lunch. Sometimes that means dancing around my bedroom for 5 minutes. But getting my heart beating and blood pumping each day makes me feel so good, no matter what it looks like.

There are truly so many ways that you can make wellness a priority in motherhood. It takes a bit of creativity and thought in the beginning, but once you find your groove, it’s absolutely beautiful in so many ways. If you have any tips for making physical wellness a priority, please let us know in the comments. I’m always looking for ways to improve my own habits, too. xo