Self Love: A Journey 🫶🏽

Self-love and I have an estranged relationship. To be honest, I don't really think we've ever been close lol. I'm not entirely sure why. I just haven't really prioritized taking care of myself mentally. Plus I'm naturally pessimistic and unnecessarily hard on myself. So, not first nature lol. I really didn't know how important it was to take care of your mental health until I became a mommy and noticed that if I wasn't intentional about my time then the day would just pass me by and I'd have 0 time for myself. It's absolutely essential for mamas to make time for themselves, but even outside of motherhood, I wish I took better care of my mental health before. It really would have helped me in so many different situations if I had taken the time to take care of myself, learn myself, and love myself. That's all self-care is to me. Learning who I am, Loving who I am, and taking care of that person mentally and physically.

To start this journey, I feel like I have to start with the most basic thing: A Morning Routine. Guys, believe it or not, I've literally never had a morning routine until recently. Like sleep was/is such a big love of mine. I would literally sleep in as long as possible. And I know you're thinking, "now you have a kid and she gets up early so you have to get up early." Listen to me. The number of times I've given this girl a toy or a book and sat her next to me and closed my eyes with my arm wrapped around her so she can't go too far is sickening lol. I will prolong my sleep as long as I can.

Until recently, that is. I just haven't really been having any quiet private time with God when I get up because Grace always wanna play with mommy lol. And I really hate shooing her because I'm trying to do something, so normally I cave. But I need some 1-1 time with God in the mornings like it just has to happen. My anxiety has gone from a 2 to a solid 8 on a regular in the past year. I need some time with my Lord or I'll just be off all day. Never fails. Not only that, I have daily affirmations that also help with my anxiety as well. The point is, the only way to get that alone time, is to get up before Grace. Which is how I came to the conclusion that if I'm going to wake up before grace, waking up on time is going to have to trump sleep on the priorities list. Which is not something I look forward to every morning. And truthfully I've been doing this for the past month I believe. At the time of me writing this, I think I've gotten up before Grace like four times.. max... it's a work in progress, people. Hopefully, by the time this comes out that will have improved.

My morning routine so far consists of Getting up @ 6. Doing my devotion and praying. Reading my daily affirmations and meditating. If I have time before Grace is up, then I'll read one of my self-development books. When Grace does get up we go eat breakfast. If I haven't read yet, I read during breakfast time. In the mornings' is the time Grace is the most clingy, so I try not to do anything that requires a lot of my attention until after her nap. So I sit on the floor with her and play with her or read her some books and we sing songs and have learning time. We're still developing a morning routine that works best for me and for her. But yes, that is my morning routine so far. Will I stick to it? Find out on the next episode of Mama Ry.

Aside from a morning routine, I have no idea what else I'm going to start doing to incorporate self-care because I'm not rolling in money. I know I want to start doing Mama Mondays where I'm intentional about doing some form of self-care every Monday. I know a couple of those will be hair days. I started my loc journey this month which I am loving. I think that will be a self-love journey all by itself, honey. I'm nervous but also very excited and I'm sure I'll have a blog post just about that journey in a few months. I'm also trying to get on the body positivity wave. Loving myself the way I am, especially after having a little one and my body has changed so much. Not sure what else I'll do though when it comes to self-care. Put some ideas in the comments of some things I can do for my Mama Mondays! Or just things I can do for self-care in general!

The moral of the story is that self-care is important and I'm slowly learning that. I don't show it of course, but I can be pretty insecure and doubt myself a lot and I really want to grow out of that. I want to be confident and love and embrace every part of who I am. I will be taking you guys on this journey with me to find out how to love the skin that I'm in and take care of her. I hope this motivates you to love yourself unconditionally.

until next time, selah <3