How to Prioritize Self-Care with a Busy Schedule

Moms with busy schedules are always putting others’ needs before their own. When your kids need you to show up for their school’s fundraiser, your husband needs your help organizing the springtime BBQ, and your boss needs you to file those expense reports all in the same day – that can mean your own needs fall a little off the radar.

If that happens to you often, then it’s probably time to start prioritizing self-care. What is self-care? It’s taking the time to intentionally tend to your own needs, build yourself back up, and relax and rejuvenate. If you’re not sure how to prioritize self-care with your busy schedule, check out this handy guide.

Pick your favorite activities

Self-care is all about spending time taking care of your mind, body, and soul. That makes it essential to pick out the activities that fill you up and help you truly flourish. If it’s been so long since you’ve been able to truly cultivate any hobbies that you don’t fully remember what activities make you happiest, try these common favorites out:

• Yoga: this spiritual exercise is great for your body, sharpens your mind, and rejuvenates your soul. It’s really an all-in-one that can help boost your spirits.
• Journaling: this practice is great for walking through everything you’re going through and better understanding where your head is at.
• Relaxing baths: no, not just a quick dip in the tub at the end of the day. We mean a serious soak, complete with nourishing bath bombs, relaxing CBD oil, beautifully scented candles, and mellow mood music.

Once you’ve found the routine that works for you, you can get started seriously focusing on your self-care.

Set aside time

Like most busy moms, you probably have your day planned down to the minute. If your shower runs even two minutes too long in the morning, the rest of the day falls apart like dominoes. That means that, if you want to have any hope of getting your self-care time in, you should specifically plan it out.

Pro tip: It’s okay to let some people down to take care of yourself. Tell your husband you won’t be able to make it to his work function because you need some time to take care of yourself. A good husband will understand.

Make an entry in your scheduling app, personal planner, bullet journal, or whatever it is you use. Then, when the time comes, you know it’s your time to let go of all those other distractions and focus 100% on your own self-care.

Make it a routine

We’ll let you in on a little secret: habits are one of the most important things you can cultivate in order to improve your mental health. Building good self-care habits is an essential part of that, because you need to know that, every day or at least a couple times a week, you’ll have that little space in the day where you can unwind and assess where you are emotionally. Many mental health care professionals recommend taking some you-time regularly as a way to decompress and gain better insight into where you are emotionally.

Getting a routine started is hard work. Remember the last seven dentist visits when the hygienist told you to floss more? It’s not exactly easy to fall into a new routine, especially one where you’re only accountable to yourself. That’s why a critical part of prioritizing self-care is making it a regular part of your day.

This has two benefits. First, you’ll be able to rely on self-care because you know that it’s a scheduled part of most of not ever day. Second, regularly engaging in self-care will have a slow and steady effect on your mental health. The more you do it, the more you want to do it, and the more that the ripple effects are noticeable all across your life.

Prioritizing self-care as a busy mom can feel like just another hassle and chore to throw onto your already precariously piled stack. But, with the right planning, foresight, and self-love, your self-care routine will soon become one of the most important parts of your day, and one you’re always looking forward to.