10 Ways to Find More Harmony in Motherhood
At Thryve, we believe in exploring how we can embrace our expanded identity and all of the changes, transformations, and emotions that come with it. We believe in nurturing the mother part of us through all of her seasons so she can feel in harmony with her well-being and truly be seen.
To start the conversation of ‘The Balancing Act’, we’ve listed 10 ways to create more harmony in motherhood
1. Simplify motherhood
Learning to create a life of less which in turn, creates more. This is not easy - especially in a society with so many demands. Finding ways to simplify, whether that is taking less on in a day, minimizing purchases of clothes or toys (when you can), putting your kids in fewer after school activities and instead, creating more moments of joy and stillness with each other or yourself.
2. Be open to making adjustments
We’ve all been there. We start getting into a great routine, we’re eating fairly well, getting the kids and ourselves to bed on time, making time for fitness - we’re in a good groove. And then the family gets sick. Everything you were doing before goes on pause and then the routine is all out of sorts. When we begin to learn to adjust and go with the flow more often (again, not always easy to do!) it can do wonders on feeling more in harmony within yourself and with your family.
3. Have more honest and open discussions
We need to continue to have more real conversations, whether they are with our partners, friends and with other moms (and dads) to help provide more context around the modern day burnout we feel as parents. We also need to continue to talk about the ‘invisible labour’ in households which primarily affects women.
4. Let go of perfection
As mothers, it can be so hard to let go and have others step in to take care of our children, especially in the early months as a new mom or in their early school years with school and activities. We want to be there for everything! We all need to learn to let go (just a little bit) and know the strong mother/baby bond will still be there, our kids won’t be upset if we aren’t there for every drop off or pick up. Because being there for everyone, every time (the mom guilt), isn’t going to help our own mental health, our own wellness. When we take care of ourselves, we are taking care of our family too.
5. Prioritize mental health
We need to look at ourselves first — how we can nurture our own well-being and find harmony through motherhood and beyond? When we stretch ourselves too thin, have mom guilt, feel overwhelmed - this all plays a role in wanting to be the perfect mom, wife or whatever you are trying to achieve. With postpartum depression & anxiety being such a prominent health concern for mothers, we need to notice how too much stress or lack of support and can affect our mental and emotional health.
6. Setting healthy boundaries — minimize the ‘hustle’ mindset
The hustle approach isn’t bad. There is a time and place for this if someone chooses this is the path they want to be on. As mothers, in particular working mothers, taking on the hustle mentality, trying to squeeze in every business engagement or networking event in order that we don’t miss out. Or working on projects late into the night (or very early mornings) when the kids are sleeping, could, in the long run, affect our health and well-being balance. Instead, let’s find ways to start taking on less in our day. When we know there will be many other demands, which we may not be able to filter out, we just need to set clearer boundaries and prioritize what is most important.
7. Find stillness in the daily chaos
We need to figure out how we can create more moments of stillness within the busyness and often chaos of parenthood. Finding new ways to be more mindful with what we are doing throughout the day - even with all of the constant stressors surrounding us.
8. Take more ‘digital detoxes’
We need to look at how we use the digital space, I’m seeing many people now taking digital detoxes, finding ways to take a pause or break from social media for reasons primarily because they want to be more present with their family and themselves.
9. Tune into your inner wisdom, your intuition
We need to listen to our inner voice more carefully as women, mothers, which will, in turn, provide us more simplicity. Whether this is through a spiritual practice, sitting alone for 5 min a day or journalling.
10. Find support within our global motherhood community
We realize some of these conversations we are having about finding more harmony are only conversations we are able to have living in a more privileged part of the world where we don’t face the horrifying struggles so many women face. While it has been something I have always been drawn to on a personal level, now that we are building a community, it is even more important to acknowledge the components of what Thryve stands for. We want to provide support for women from other cultures and in other parts of the world, where women’s rights aren’t necessarily as prominent, for women who may not have a strong support system, or are single mothers working multiple jobs just to survive. Our intention has always been inclusive and we will continue to do this through our deeper purpose with the work we do at TRYBE Wellness.