Renew you
Filed Under Tips & Tricks | January 4, 2008
We began this year with a commitment to supporting all of you in your path to self-care. Together with Mama Renew, yoyomama has been bringing you a weekly self-renewal tip designed to inspire, challenge, and encourage you to care for yourself. While you may see suggestions for the occasional yoga class or a candlelit bubble bath, we plan on expanding your vision of self-care to include much more.
We encourage you to take each week’s suggestion to heart. Some will be simple, others challenging, but for the most part they will be small steps you can take towards reconnection, balance, and self-renewal. We all know that even the best of intentions are dependent on taking the first step, and the next, and the next.
Below you will find an archive of our favourite self-renewal secret from each month. We would love to hear from each of you as you seek to bring our words to life. Please take advantage of the comments box below to share with us your successes, frustrations, and insights on the road to self-care.
We recognize that this is not an easy task for busy mothers, but hope that our weekly inspirations, prods and nudges will help create the space for you to care for yourself. And a few steps down the road of self-renewal, you might just discover that by caring for yourself, you are better able to care for your family:
New Year 2008
In honour of the New Year, take this opportunity to sit down in a quiet cafe on your own this week and reflect on the new directions and ways of being you hope to move towards in 2008. Write a letter to yourself with three positive intentions for 2008, and write April 1st on the envelope – an opportunity for reflection and re-focus. Do not write this at home! Stepping outside of your routine provides a different perspective.
January 2008
Choose one night this week to Slow Down. Before dinner goes on the table, turn off the lights and the computer, and unplug the phone. Fill your home with candles (out of the kids’ reach). Enjoy your meal by candle light, and a quiet evening of play and talk reconnecting with your family without modern distractions. You may find this becomes a treasured weekly tradition.
February 2008
What do you do when you have a window of time on your own? We know too many of you who take advantage of that time to do errands. While a grocery trip on your own can admittedly be blissful, will you remember it a month from now? This week, gift yourself with a two or three hour solo date at a cafe or favourite restaurant with only a journal, a pen, and some crayons or watercolour pencils in your bag.
March 2008
You’ve just finished buying a week worth of groceries. Bags are overflowing, you have a toddler in tow, and the clerk asks if you would like help out with your groceries. Too often, we say no. . .This week, go buy a big load of groceries and ask for help! Don’t even carry one bag – just smile, and say “thank you!” and enjoy not having to juggle it all.
April 2008
The great dilemma of what to eat tonight can be eased if you make extra food each night this week. Freeze the leftovers to have one meal ready for each of the next five weeks. On that night, leave your family with a great meal while you meet with a friend for dinner, go for a walk or to the gym, or catch an early movie.
May 2008
The next time you begin something new or feel like you’re in the centre ring juggling more balls than you can handle, pause. It is completely up to you as to how you approach your task or commitment. No one’s asking you to be perfect. Too often our own expectations of ourselves shape the way we experience life. Consider how you might change your experience of juggling all the “balls” in your life, or if perhaps one or more of the “balls” can be dropped.
June 2008
When was the last time you danced? Perhaps it was with your kids on a rainy afternoon, or with a sobbing baby in your arms, or maybe even out dancing at a club! If it has been too long, choose a night this week to close the curtains and light the candles after bedtime. Turn on the music, Loud, and dance – just dance – alone, with a loved one, just dance wild and free.
July 2008
Tonight, after the kids go to sleep, surprise your partner with a candle-light picnic on the living room floor. Treat yourselves with strawberries and chocolate, a bottle of wine, or some of your favourite takeout. Who needs a night out?
August 2008
Pick a place, any place, a place you’ve always been intrigued by – a local museum or art gallery, a nearby island, or a hiking trail. Find a girlfriend and go! Set the date, get childcare, pack a bag with chocolate and go. No guilt, no worries, just you and a friend enjoying one another and discovering something new.
September 2008
Fall is approaching, a time of new beginnings and clearing the way for change. Do you remember that feeling of your desk on the first day of school? Pens and pencils in their zippered pouch. A fresh notebook with your name carefully written inside. Right now go to the drawer or cabinet that is the haven for all clutter in your life. Bring a garbage bag with you. You deserve a fresh beginning! You can even buy yourself a brand new eraser if you like. . .
October 2008
For no particular reason, show up at a friend’s doorstep with a homemade pie or brownies. A random act of kindness not only nurtures your friend and your friendship, but also brings you the joy of lovingly preparing the food and the playfulness of a surprise. You may even find that giving to a friend will open the way for you to give more fully to yourself as well.
November 2008
Rainy day and feeling blah? Put on your rain gear and go out for a glorious walk in the rain. Revel in the grey and green and the freshness of the air. Fall has truly arrived, and the best way to welcome the changes is to be out enjoying them. When you’re done, gift yourself with a cup of hot chocolate.
December 2008
Go to the library and visit a completely indulgent section of the stacks. Italian cookbooks. Fantasy Kitchens. Romance novels. Find a comfy chair, take a seat, read and dream. No interruptions, no late fees, just a quiet evening at the library on your own. Delicious.
Sarah Juliusson is the mother of two, and co-founder of Mama Renew, offering Self-Renewal groups for seasoned mothers, and Mothers Unfolding for new mothers and babies. To learn more, visit www.mamarenew.ca.
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Let us know what you think or share your great finds with us so we can share them with other Vancouver mothers!
If I were to win the gift card for Dandelion Kids I would definitely use it to buy some of the wall art. I love the giraffe and the monkey! I am setting up a nursery for my son and they would be PERFECT!!!
[...] place of our regular weekly tip from Mama Renew, this week Sarah Juliusson is taking the opportunity of the change of seasons to [...]