Being a new mom is suddenly, urgently grounding.
It’s hard to leave the house because, well, there’s a baby right there. He needs me. Unless I get a babysitter, daycare, or my husband is home, I’m here, and it’s me and the baby.
This makes so many things infinitely harder. Leaving the house? That’s pretty difficult to do with a brand new baby. Exercising? Hard to do solo, especially when the kid is too young to hold his head up, so we can’t do a jog together yet. Nevermind the fact that leaving the house to go exercising is far less appealing than, say, eating a pint of ice cream. For breakfast.
(This is a real craving I’ve had, and I just dissected this craving with The Cravings Whisperer Alex Jamieson on her podcast, and she says it’s totally okay as a new mom for me to eat a pint of ice cream daily. I’m going with it.)
But back to the present: there is a real baby in the house, and he’s made it far more challenging to get things done.
There is a temptation to focus on all of the things I can’t do right now.
But instead, I’m trying to figure out everything I can do instead.
When I can’t leave the house to go visit people? I can call them instead. I can text them, send cards, or host hangouts for my favorite people on the interwebs.
When I can’t call someone? I text them instead. I drop them an audio text (a voice memo sent via text, like a voicemail. But better.)
When I can’t run, I can walk instead.
If I can’t get outside to a class to exercise (boy, do I wish!), I can do a Seven Minute Workout in my house instead. My neighbor, who also has a new baby boy, says he does the 7-minute workout twice in the mornings, and that’s all he does for exercise.
I try to do the 7-minute workout twice each week. So there we go.
When you don’t have time for the 7-minute workout, you can practice deep breathing.
Meditate, even just for a moment.
Stretch while you’re waiting in line for something.
If you can’t walk, enjoy the time that you can sit.
When you can’t take a vacation, you can absolutely find a patch of grass to lie down in for ten minutes. A micro-vacation.
Lie down in the sunshine, close your eyes, and feel the late warmth of the summer sunshine. Let the grass tickle your elbows, let a dog lick your feet furiously. Kick off your sandals.
Focus on what you can do.
P.S. I’m opening up applications for my Fall 2016 Mastermind. There is space for 8 to 12 people. I’m looking for the right mix of ambitious, intelligent, quirky, creative people to bring together for accelerated success. We’ll start in September. Sign up for program details here. Applications close Sunday, August 14th.