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MAMA WELLNESS

INVESTING IN YOUR MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH

 Modern Mommy Doc


PUBLICATION DATE:

Aug 31, 2020

INVESTING IN YOUR MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH

 Modern Mommy Doc

CATEGORY: MAMA WELLNESS

To say that we are living in a high stress season is an understatement, I know. But it’s in these crazy times – these global, national, and personal WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON moments –  that we have to establish routines that help take care of our mind and body. It’s tempting when we feel a complete loss of control to think what we all need to be doing right now is MORE. But more isn’t always helpful. Can I challenge you for a quick sec? Maybe what you really need is less. Maybe what you really need to be doing at this time is investing in your mental and physical health. Mama, don’t get caught up in the tasks and demands that are being thrown at you left, right and center. Instead, slow down and intentionally practice self care.

We need to purposefully prioritize self care. 


It’s so easy to say, “oh, it doesn’t matter.” I told myself this recently when, one morning, I almost cancelled my couples counselling sessions. We hadn’t been able to find child care and had a lot going on. Feeling slightly overwhelmed, I figured that those sessions could just fall by the wayside. But something inside me told me not to move forward with the cancellation—the realization that if my husband and I don’t make an effort to put ourselves first and prioritize the things that are important to us (like our marriage), then eventually other parts of our life (like how we parent) will suffer. The things we do to invest in and take care of ourselves DO matter. 


Unplug. Recharge. Show yourself compassion and grace.


Your physical and mental health are connected, and when you have a healthy body and mind, you’re less likely to look for those quick fix solutions that don’t last and just end up coming back to bite you. Instead, you’ll be able to make better and wiser decisions. This is so important for moving towards being the best version of yourself, which can ultimately help lead to you parenting a healthier and happier child.


So how do you invest in things that will aid your mental and physical health as a busy mama? How do you say YES to self care practices that you need to undertake for the betterment of your own mind and body and NO to the things that truly don’t matter? 


Schedule in your self care. 


It’s obvious that I would put my couples counselling sessions into my calendar, but not all self care mechanisms naturally come with scheduled time slots. For example, I journal in the mornings and engage in regular self-therapy, where I check in with myself and evaluate where I need guidance and accountability. I also exercise three times a week. While it may seem silly, I add all of these things to my calendar and treat them like appointments. Scheduling in space for me to recharge and just be me has been crucial to effectively investing in my own health. Give yourself opportunities to experience and remember what stillness and quiet feel like—sort of like daily or weekly mini-vacations!


Make a priorities list.


Write down a list of your priorities (read more on how to do so here!). I keep mine in my journal, and right now my list looks like this: 


Mental/emotional health, Physical health, Kids and partner, Community, Work and my pursuits 


Making this list, and keeping it in a place where you can regularly remind yourself of the items on it, can help you figure out what to say yes to and what to say no to. Invest your time in doing things that align with your list, and take note of what is at the top (mental and physical health should definitely be up there!).


Set up systems.


After having kids, I had to hire a nanny if I wanted to keep up with my sometimes haphazard work schedule and odd hours. I decided quickly to pay her $15 extra a week to fold and put away laundry for me. I can do the rest, but the folding part was taking me a whole week to get done, plus I’d get discouraged or down on myself whenever I looked at the socks and undies continually piling up. This small financial investment has given me so much mental breathing room and physical space—I’m not constantly staring at piles of unfolded laundry and feeling overwhelmed! It’s more than okay to ask for help by outsourcing or delegating—yes, this is a form of self care! It can also free up time for you to take care of yourself. Can you hire someone to help with small tasks around the house? Can your friends or parents help with looking after your kids once a week? As you set up these systems, do an audit and take inventory of the systems and appointments that you find yourself saying yes and no to. Make a list of the things you want to do and a list of the things you don’t want to do. What are some changes that could help make those things possible? Who can you bring in to help?


Remember, practice makes perfect—this applies to self care too! Just don’t put this on the back burner—what you do will impact who you become. 


What are some self care habits that you want to incorporate into your life in order to take care of your mental and physical health? Think about things you can specifically invest in during the COVID-19 era now that you possibly have some time back that otherwise would have gone towards commuting and school or activity pickups and drop offs. 



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About Our Guest: Whitney Casares, MD, MPH, FAAP, is a practicing board-certified pediatrician, author, speaker, and full-time working mom. Dr. Whitney is a Stanford University-trained private practice physician whose expertise spans the public health, direct patient care, and media worlds. She holds a Master of Public Health in Maternal and Child Health from The University of California, Berkeley, and a Journalism degree from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. She is also CEO and Founder of Modern Mommy Doc. Dr. Whitney advocates for the success of career-driven caregivers in all facets of their lives, guiding them toward increased focus, happiness, and effectiveness despite the systemic challenges and inherent biases that threaten to undermine them. 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Episode Takeaways: This is not an episode about “how to grow a multimillion dollar business” or how to double your following overnight. I really shy away from talking about business because it’s disheartening to see that most of the people making online are people who are trying to teach you how to make money online. This is an episode that comes from many conversations I’ve had recently with people who are wanting to start a side hustle or even a full blown business, but are curious how to do that with the rest of life that’s going on around them. I’ve recently made a hugely drastic shift in my career and have moved from private practice into a company called Blueberry Pediatrics . It is a shift that still allows me to practice medicine as well as still running Modern Mommy Doc full time. The thinking behind this shift really is born out of these 8 tips I have about running a business while you’re working full time or maybe still taking care of your family. 1) Know your why. We’ve heard it a thousand times, but if we don’t know the driving force behind why we want to do a certain thing, it’s infinitely easier to stop doing it when things get hard. Ask yourself why you’re so committed to this one particular area. In my business, my why is to help, support, and encourage women (specifically working moms) so they don’t feel alone in their journey. So when I’m pulled away from my family for a time period or I’m exhausted from traveling, I remember the greater mission behind what I do. 2) Expect that you’re going to fail. I just pulled the plug on a project we had been working on at Modern Mommy Doc for two years: the Modern Mamas Club app. I thought it was going to be so valuable for moms, when in reality it was just duplicating what we already had. I learned so much through that process and at the beginning, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Failure is a natural part of growth. 3) Prepare to invest in your business. 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It reminds me that I’m so grateful for my job, that it’s flexible so that I work where I want, and that I’m in control of my life. A big way I do this is through a travel rotation with my kids and husband. Each trip I go on while consulting, I’ll rotate through taking one daughter, then the next, then my husband, then I’ll do a solo trip. These are trips they never would have been able to take on their own, and it’s a cool way my business gets to give back to my family. 8) The way you set up your business is a marker if you will be successful. Not the way you structure it, but the mindset you have around it. In fact, there are so many parallels between the way I run my business and the things I taught in my newest book, Doing It All: trying to build efficiency into how I do my tasks, batching my work, not spending extra time on stuff that doesn’t matter at all, swapping out for what others can do for me, pairing things that aren’t enjoyable with things that are, not letting things contaminate my time, and making sure my desk, home, and calendar are decluttered. More Blogs on this Topic: T he forgotten boundary: setting limits with yourself Thanks for the cookies in the breakroom, I’m still tired Wake up, working mama. Are you wasting your life? More Podcast Episodes on this Topic: T ranslating “mom skills” into “boss skills” How to be an ambitious, out of the box, career maker and an engaged mom How to claim your confidence as a working mom
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