I treat a lot of mums in clinic, I love it, I can so relate to everything they are going through. I even have a handful of mum patients that sit down in the treatment room and we just wax lyrical about kids and mum stuff for about 15 minutes before we remember they are there to get acupuncture.  Its all part of the service and actually makes my day.

As a practitioner I’m awesome at giving these mums simple take home tips and strategies to carve out some ME time, stressing the important of self-care, downtime and balance.  What I’m really crap at is taking my own advice!! Hey, I’m not perfect, and I certainly don’t expect my patients to be. But the truth is that I’m really bad at looking after myself.  I catch myself stressing the small stuff, getting anxious over something menial, feeling stretched between being the mum I want to be and having the career that really lights me up.  On top of that being a first-class wife, dog mama, daughter, friend…the list goes on.  Thing is… this mum gig is TOUGH. For all of us, and I’m certainly not immune.

The thing that I am learning to be really good at however is ‘awareness’. Sounds really simple, maybe too simple, but I’m talking about actually asking yourself regularly, “How am I doing?” and “what do I need” and then speaking up and letting those nearest and dearest know where you’re at. I know this doesn’t sound like rocket science, but as a mum, when do we have the time to really check in with ourselves and ask these questions? 

The definition of self-awareness is “being aware of different aspects of the self, including traits, behaviors and feelings. It is a psychological state in which oneself becomes the focus of attention.” As a working mum of the 3-year-old I’m hard pressed to find half an hour most days to “focus attention on oneself”!!! So, while this concept seems simple, in mum reality its super challenging.

So, what can we do? Start by finding 5 minutes in your day wherever you can, I find in the car on the way to or from work works for me. Take 5 long slow deep belly breaths to relax and become present.  Then ask yourself those two magical questions, “how am I doing” and “what do I need”.  Sometimes the answer is simple (chocolate!!), sometimes it’s more complicated than a quick trip to the shop!  But it always comes back to awareness.  So even if you don’t act on anything you at least practiced some awareness and like any practice, the more we do it a habit is created and that’s when the magic happens.

So I may be a hypocrite but I’m definitely aware of that, because none of us are perfect, but I’m trying my hardest to pave the way for all the beautiful mamas out there so that we can all be the best versions of our imperfect heroic selves.