Prioritizing You In Motherhood

I just booked myself a hair appointment for next week and I feel extremely guilty. Should I? Absolutely not. But do I? Oh yes.

So I sat in it and started reflecting, when did it become a burden to treat yourself to something that makes you feel more confident, more seen, more taken care of? When did we as a collective say “this is selfish to do something for you”. And the worst part is this belief is total BS, but it is a belief that has been passed down for generations and generations.

We often can rationalize everyday self-care like a warm shower at the end of the day, or working out, buying ourselves a delicious coffee, doing your nails at home, etc. But when it comes to spending money and taking a larger chunk of time away from responsibilities, that’s when it becomes selfish. Why? Because society says parents and mothers in particular are meant to sacrifice more than anyone else because that’s “just what you do”.

So how do we combat this? We start by beginning to fully comprehend and embody that our time is valuable and meaningful whether we are taking care of the kids, our home, our family, or ourselves. Then we start to shift the mindset that spending money on ourselves is a “waste of money” and look at it as an investment into filling our cup. And if we have the resources to do so, then it is more than ok to in fact do it.

Being a parent and being a mother doesn’t mean we no longer are valuable as people just by existing, our value is not in only what we can do for others but also in how we are present for ourselves. You deserve to enjoy life, so make sure you take the actions to enjoy it.