Give Up Guilt & Nurture Yourself

Women tend to take responsibility for the happiness of others. While this is not reasonable, or achievable, women really take it to heart.

Mothers, shun your shoulds. We mothers often think we should consider everyone else’s feeling and needs before our own.

Many moms believe they should make their children and husbands happy. The reality is that we have influence on one another but we do not have the power to make anyone feel anything.

Then there are those voices of people from our past that set off the shoulds. Don’t let people should on you. Observe and censor your own menu of shoulds. Being driven in life through unhealthy, and usually meaningless shoulds, can create resentment and serious exhaustion.

End the “should”; begin the nurturing. We all know how to nurture, so let’s apply that beautiful knowledge to ourselves. We support and sustain the whole family, why not ourselves.

Moms, especially those moms with babies and small children need ample rest. Broken sleep patterns due to night feeding take a genuine toll on physical and mental health. So dump the guilt; take a nap if possible.

A couple days a week, find 30 minutes to take a warm, relaxing bath, instead of the quick shower. This act of kindness to yourself is important. When we don’t take care of ourselves, nurture ourselves, we send a message to our families about how we should be valued. If we neglect our needs, others will too.

Guilt defined is: self-reproach for supposed inadequacy or wrongdoing. Does this sound like anyone you know? We feel we are doing something wrong if we nap when we really need rest. We feel guilt when we can’t meet everyone else’s needs.

Get out of the guilt zone. Throw out regret.

Do you remember the golden rule? Put a healthy twist on that rule. Nurture yourself, as you would nurture others.