Looking After Your Mental Health As A Mum ♥

When you’re a mother, there are many things that you worry about. You worry about how your kids are doing when they’re at school, you worry that you may have put those sandwiches in the wrong lunch boxes, and you worry that you may not be doing the right things all of the time.

But when do you ever take some time out, and simply worry about you? Because of everything that you go through, you can feel like your mental health is totally at the back of the queue. However, it’s one of the important factors for a happy life, so we really need to look after it.

I've shared honest posts on my Instagram about my mental health, particularly this post which seems to resonate with a lot of people and today I wanted to share the importance of mental health for us mothers and how we can help to look after ourselves, no matter how little time we feel we have.

Here are some ways in which you can look after it.

Enjoy some things alone
Aah, motherhood. The most significant thing to note about motherhood and time is that you never have any of it. Remember when you could just sit back and chill out for a few hours? No, me neither. Whilst this is certainly something that most mothers experience, relaxing is key.

However, there is nothing more important than making sure that you spend some time alone whilst you’re relaxing. We’re always going between our friends and family members in our free time, but why can’t we just focus on our own needs for a while? Take yourself out for dinner, or to a coffee shop. You deserve it.

Look after your body
Motherhood doesn’t just take it out of you mentally, but it also makes you feel physically exhausted sometimes. You can feel like you’re chasing an entire team of Olympic runners around, even though they’ve only just learned how to walk.

However, your physical and mental health are closely interlinked, so get enough sleep in, don’t push yourself too hard, and stay off the alcohol. If there’s anything stopping you from looking after your body, then you may want to get in touch with someone like help4addiction.co.uk.

Ultimately, your body should be a priority, as your health is one of the most important things in life. When I exercise I feel so much better about myself, both in body and mind and it's amazing what a quiet walk through the woods can do for your mental health - even with the kids in tow. It blows off the cobwebs for everyone and while they're running happily ahead, I can just have a breather and some quiet thoughts to myself while I stroll along.

Don’t underestimate the power of 15 minutes 
OK, Mums. We’re not sure, but we think that we just cracked the code to motherhood self-care. Since time is pretty sparse, it’s a good idea to learn how to make the most of it. We’re talking spending an extra 15 minutes in that lovely warm bath.

Whether you’ve got 15 minutes to relax with a magazine, or a bit of time to spend doing something that you love, there’s no time like the present. Self-care time may be coming in short bursts, but we’re going to make the most of them anyway, you know? Put your phone away in these short periods, and do something that makes you feel great. There really is no time like right now to do what makes you happy, even if ‘right now’ is only half an hour of free time.

If you want to look after your mental health as a Mum, then remember some of these things. You’ll soon be feeling better about everything, even if you’ve only got 15 minutes to do it…