4 Things I do Everyday to Fill my Cup -

As a stay at home working mom, it is hard to focus on yourself. Even if I wasn’t working, it still would be hard. I feel like if I am not writing, grading, playing with Cooper, or cleaning, I am being lazy. So, if I didn’t have some work to do, I know I would feel even lazier. But the problem is I am not spending any time trying to fill my cup so I can be a better mom and wife each day.

If my cup isn’t full or is running low, then I am not at my best to be the best mom and wife I can be. And, let’s be honest, those are the two roles that I cannot be replaced at. So, that is where it matters most. But, by filling my cup, I am not only making sure I can be the best mom and wife, but I am also making sure my work is going well. I find it so important to take the extra time each day to make sure I am filling myself up so I can do well in all areas of my life.

Here is what I try to do each day to fill my cup:

Daily devotional
Enjoy a full cup of coffee without distractions
Make myself breakfast
Yoga

These are my 4 main items but if I am being honest, I don’t always get to these all the time. There are some days that are so hectic that I miss all 4. And, I can tell that those days, I don’t feel my best. So I try to make it a priority in my life to find the time to do all 4 of these. If not all 4, at least 2. I also think these are easy and doable so I don’t discouraged when I go to do them.

Daily Devotional

The first on my list is a daily devotional. This is something new that I have added to my routine as part of my New Year’s resolution. Last year, hubby and I decided that we needed to get back into the church and we had made it a point to spend more time with God and going to church. So, this year, I wanted to make sure I was devoting some time each day to read scripture and reflect on the topic for the day.

So far, I have noticed that this helps me focus my day and keeps my relationship with God open. I have felt more at peace since starting this and it really helps me focus on what matters in life versus some of the trivial things that we tend to get caught up in.

Enjoy a full cup of coffee without distractions

Now, I don’t always get to this one especially with having a 1 year old running around. So I know that this one isn’t always going to happen each day. And that’s fine! I like to take a give and take approach with almost everything I do and this is no different. If I can’t get to this because Cooper needs me to nap with him for whatever reason, then that’s fine! It just means I get to replace this with extra snuggles with my sweet boy.

However, it is still something that helps fill my cup when I can do it. I typically try to do this during Cooper’s first nap of the day. He goes down about 10am so shortly after that, I will take a break from grading or writing and sit on the couch with a cup of coffee and a show on TV and just relax. I also start working about 6:30am so I have already put in some time. This coffee time has been great for me to reset and feel like I actually got a break. Instead of filling his nap time with more work or house chores, I take that time to reset myself. This especially helps me if we had a rough start to the morning. I know that I have all day to get more writing or grading done and I can do some house chores during his second nap in the afternoon. This took me awhile to do without feeling guilty.

Make myself breakfast

This is huge for me. Before I got pregnant, I could skip breakfast and did often. But once I was pregnant, I needed to eat all the time so I started to make myself breakfast every morning and still do now. I notice that on the days that I have not made myself breakfast, I feel more groggy and cranky throughout the day which makes me have less patience with Cooper. So because of that, I make sure to whip myself up something to eat.

This doesn’t have to be fancy! Sometimes I just quickly scramble some eggs and throw it in a tortilla and call it a day. Other days, I will make french toast or my favorite Easy & Cheesy Veggie Hashbrowns that always fill me up. I also will share some of my breakfast with Cooper so it makes it an intentional breakfast with him. Instead of just giving him a plate while I busy myself with something else, we sit down together and share our meal. It helps us bond more and I feel like I am teaching him the importance of mealtimes.

Yoga

This one I don’t always get to. It really depends on how I am feeling in the morning. I have a 20 minute yoga routine that I do (it is a beginner Sara Beth Yoga video on YouTube) in the morning to stretch my body and get warmed up for the day. When I skip this, I don’t necessarily feel worse, but I can tell that my patience is a bit thinner.

I try to wake up before Cooper and do this routine so I am reset before I go get him. It also helps me wake up a bit so I feel like I am more prepared to start my work day. I like how yoga makes my body feel too. I like being able to stretch my body to its limits while finding a sense of calm. It does help to start my day off on the right foot. It is hard to wake up before Cooper nowadays though so I have been slacking. I am trying to see if there is another time I can work it in but I am struggling a bit in this area – which is okay!

Keeping my cup full

These are just the 4 things I do to help myself be the best version I can be. While I may not get to all of these every day, it is so important that my intention is to achieve these. It really does help me focus on my tasks and helps me be a better mom. Self-care is so important especially with so much social media so I think that in order to be the best versions of ourselves for whatever reason, we need to be able to fill our cups when we can. I hope you try some of these things and let me know how they worked for you!