Inside: Looking for self-care tips? Take the free self-care assessment below to find out what area of self-care needs your attention!
Let’s face it. Moms don’t always come first.
One minute, you’re eating boxed mac & cheese and binge-watching The Real Housewives. Nine months later, you’re anxiously sweating and scrambling to find baby wipes before your son shoves poop into his belly button.
The harsh reality is – Once you’ve pushed a baby through your vagina, your priorities take a backseat to everything and everyone. I’d be lying if I said it was my favorite thing about being a mom.
I’m a mom living with chronic illness and disability. My body doesn’t work at 100% capacity. There are times when my physical needs have to come first, and I don’t feel ashamed.
Self-Care isn’t one-size-fits-all.
– Disability Dame
My body doesn’t reward me the luxury of neglecting myself. If I were to run myself ragged tending to everyone else, my body would likely shut down on me. Self-care is what gives me the energy to play with my son, write a blog for disabled moms and spend quality time with my husband. Self-Care isn’t selfish.
What is Self-Care?
Self-care is creating the time and space to put yourself first. It’s being truly attuned to what you need in order to reach your full potential. Without it, you risk neglecting your needs until one day your doctor tells you that you have an incurable chronic illness that could eventually kill you.
OK, so maybe it won’t be that dramatic.
Basically, without self-care, you can’t be the best version of yourself.
There are many different ways to practice self-care. The easiest way to keep track of your self-care habits is with a self-care checklist. This will help you keep organized and make sure that you’re prioritizing yourself throughout the week.
Take the Self-Care Assessment Now
Don’t wait to take control of your life, take the self-care assessment now and find out what area of self-care you’ve been neglecting.
What do your results mean?
Self-Care isn’t one-size-fits-all. The self-care assessment above helps identify your unique set of self-care needs. Your needs are exclusive to the things happening in your life. For help understanding the different types of self-care needs, check out my post on creating a self-care checklist.
Self-Care will look different for everyone. Your self-care checklist won’t be the same as your friend’s. For instance, I have a chronic illness; therefore, I need to prioritize physical self-care. For me, getting eight hours of sleep is more important than prioritizing my spiritual needs. That’s not to say I should neglect any area, but I have to focus on what makes the most sense for me.
Take time to self-reflect
Now that you have your self-care assessment results, take time to self reflect on opportunities for growth in your life.
How do you do this?
Sit in a quiet room without any distractions and visualize yourself waking up in the morning and going throughout your day. Be mindful of your actions and any unintended emotional reactions that occur.
When you visualize yourself, do you notice any decisions that you make out of habit when a more positive choice could have been made? For instance, do you grab a bag of potato chips for a snack out of convenience? Does something as small as losing your keys send your day into a tailspin?
Take note of any time you feel like a more positive choice or reaction could have happened. More than unlikely these notes will align with your self-care assessment results.
How do I incorporate self-care into my day?
Now that you have your self-care assessment results and you’ve visualized areas for improvement in your life, it’s time to incorporate self-care activities into your day. If you need help coming up with self-care ideas, check out my post on 50 self-care activities based on your specific self-care needs.
Once you have the self-care activities in mind, you have to plan, plan, PLAN! In order to turn self-care into a habit, it’s critical that you plan the activities into your day. Otherwise, the time is likely to get away from you, and you’ll finish the day without taking any time for yourself.
If you need help incorporating activities into your day, don’t forget to check out my post on how to create a self-care checklist. It includes a FREE printable to help get you started!
Final Thoughts on the FREE Self-Care Assessment
Sometimes in life, it’s hard to know what’s bogging you down. We, especially as moms, get so caught up and making sure that everyone else is taken care of that we forget to take time out for ourselves, too. I hope the results of the self-care assessment help you better understand yourself and your needs.
Where are you on your self-care journey? Were you surprised by your self-care assessment results? Tell me below in the comments!
Allie Schmidt
Allie Schmidt is a rare disease advocate and disabled mom living with motor neuron disease. She founded Disability Dame in 2020 to provide tips to other moms living with disabilities and chronic illnesses.
In her spare time, you can find her traveling with her husband (she's been to 38 states and 16 countries!), watching reruns of Survivor, or tending to her near-constant sunburn from spending too much time outside. You can follow her adventures here.