There are three critical periods in a professional mums journey into motherhood:
1) Pregnancy
2) The first 1-5 years of parenting
3) Returning to work after maternity leave
When you become a mum, all your focus is on developing a health baby. Pregnancy becomes focussed on ensuring you are doing all you can to eat the right foods, be as calm as possible, and stay active in a manner that is safe for your baby. Whilst this focus is important and necessary, it’s common to neglect your own mental and physical health needs once your baby arrives. Little attention is pregnancy is spent focussing on how you are going to cope with all the changes that occur once your baby enters your new family.
This one-eyed focus unfortunately leaves you vulnerable to stress, exhaustion, overwhelm and ill health in the first year of motherhood and particularly once you re-enter the workforce.
As the demands of managing a household, a social life, your relationship with your partner, finances, fitness/diet and career set in, it’s no wonder this reduced preparation for motherhood results in increased confusion about the ‘right’ way to parent and manage a healthy lifestyle. In addition to the personal impact self-neglect has on your mental health and wellbeing, exhaustion, stress and disorganisation place further strains your career aspirations as you attempt to balance competing demands.
In order to feel in control, self assured and boost vitality, it’s important to:
* develop strong self-confidence
* be organised
* maintain a healthy lifestyle that suits your personal needs
* practice the art of effective and assertive communication within your new role as mother and as an individual
* take time-out when you need it
In doing so, you:
* do not lose your identity
* can return to work with confidence and reduced guilt
* boost your level of concentration and focus personally and professionally
* create a closer bond with your child
* become a health/happy role model for your child
* increase your energy levels
* feel happier
* trust your instincts
* don’t worry about other people’s opinions
* feel more motivated to exercise
* feel more motivated to be intimate
* build a long lasting loving partnership with their partner
* feel comfortable spending time by themselves when they need it most
Through this balance of learning to prioritise your own needs, whilst STILL prioritising the needs of your child, creates a happy, healthy, secure and save manner in which to live and raise your family – Isn’t this what being a parent is all about?
What stage of Motherhood are you current at:
