Self Care For Busy Parents (A Reminder)

intentional parenting self care Apr 24, 2023
A woman wearing a warm hat sits, relaxed, cross-legged on a rock wall overlooking the mountains at sunrise.

How are you doing? Really. Take a moment and ask yourself. Right now, how are you? Is what you’re doing aligning with who you want to be and where you want to go in life?

As you can probably guess (if you’ve followed me on social media at all or read any of my emails), I think deeply and I’m an advocate of self-care for parents.  I believe self care allows you to be the best version of yourself and the parent your autistic or neurodivergent child needs you to be.

Parents, we need to take care of ourselves mentally and emotionally as well as physically.

But… I have a confession. These last 6 months, I have been STRESSED. Why? Because I put a lot of pressure on myself to always do more, in all aspects of my life. This is both a blessing and a curse! 

Let me tell ya, this online, social media (etc) stuff behind the scenes is not easy for me. It’s honestly super overwhelming and challenging.  It's a whole new world, and putting my heart, time, and funds into this process can be overwhelming.

I am learning so much but as I was diving into this world, I started feeling more overwhelmed with life, which increased my anxiety (which is very much part of my personal experience).

My anxiety and stress started to impact my children, my home, and my relationships. I thought I could do it all!

Well, let me tell you, I got caught in a dysregulated cycle. I started to feel it in my body (I also have Crohn’s disease, so that doesn’t help) and I KNEW I had to change.

Sometimes self care is just taking a moment to reflect and listen to ourselves.

I took a moment to pause and think back on the past few months:

  • What have I been doing… is it in alignment with my goals?
  • How are my actions supporting me?
  • What do I need to change or adapt? 

This process of reflection is such an important part of self-care, because it creates an opportunity for you to “try again” and create different actions to support the path you want.

I created an action plan to help realign myself with my goals and what I really want out of life and work.

After this time of reflection, I was able to use my dynamic intelligence and think through what choices I can make that will help reduce the stress. As a result, I was able to make some shifts, let go of things that weren’t serving me, and realign with what truly matters rather than focusing on the “shoulds,” or other stuff that just takes up my mental space and adds stress!

It’s been about 15 days since I made the choice to re-align myself, and as a result I am back into my groove again!

If you want to go deeper and try something new, think about what you want.  What are you doing to support where you want to be?

In the RDI process we do a Mission Statement to help identify the future you desire for both you and your child. When you give yourself a moment for self care, remember it doesn't need to be long but it needs to be a moment that allows you to stop and breathe.

Take a second to reflect upon your journey and how you are supporting yourself. Self care isn’t just bubble baths and scented candles (although those things are nice). Radical self care gives you the opportunity to notice your own experience of life, and allows you to make changes when needed to create a world you want to experience.

This works for your own day-to-day life, and parenting too. Give yourself time to pause and reflect and see how you are able to find more peace and joy in life!  

 

If you feel stuck and need help, feel free to send me a message. I’d love to help. You can also join my newsletter for more content from me direct to your inbox.

Does your child have a new autism diagnosis? Are you struggling to understand and support your child through challenging behaviours? You can access a recording of my free webinar here

Connect with me in my free Facebook Group!

I Want to Join

Stay connected with news and updates!

Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.
Don't worry, your information will not be shared.

We hate SPAM. We will never sell your information, for any reason.