The TOP 10 ways to stay Energized as a Mom.

 Whether you are a stay-at-home mom, a working mom, or a work from home mom, we all need ways to maintain our energy. Here are a few tips to do just that!

 1.      Exercise

Find a Youtuber that you like and start doing at home fitness in your living room. Even 20 min each morning with positive affirmations makes a big difference. After 2 weeks of steady exercise, you will no longer be sore in the mornings. Your body will get used to it, and even become sore/tight once you stop working out. I must warn you, that upon the initial start you may feel even more inclined to hit the sheets, but muscle through the first two weeks and you will be sure to hit your energy stride!

2.      Drink fun, creative and caffeinated beverages.

Feel free to experiment with hot and cold beverages. To make things fun, purchase a frother wand to make frothy and creamy Starbucks copycat recipes.

Hot drinks can be coffee, or warm tea. Cold beverages can be iced coffee, infused fruity inspired teas. You can even try cold caffeinated raspberry tea with lemonade to make it fun. If you cannot do caffeine, no worries! Water and lots of it will keep your brain hydrated and ready to think.

3.      Engage in play with your children.

As the mom, we do the boring supervision of the activities. We are unapologetically creative when it comes to deciding and finding fun things for our kids to do, but we often do not take a taste of the pie we make. As a suggestion, the next time you are at the playground with your children, instead of just pushing your little one on the swing, sit next to them, or let them sit on your lap while you swing. When they are making up imaginary stories, get into it, and add your own fairytale line.  Of course, engagement with play is not always an option, but consider it from time to time, as it will make your day more interesting, and less of a lull.

4.      Take a multi vitamin

I recall some vitamins used to make me tired especially during pregnancy. For others they worked the opposite. Play around with a few different brands and find a multivitamin that works for you.

5.      Don’t overeat

Try not to overeat, and stuff yourself with sugary snacks or lots of bread. Feeling bloated can make you feel sluggish. You don’t have to eat a salad at every meal or go on a diet plan but being intentional not to eat the foods ‘that you know you shouldn’t’ really goes a long way. 

6.      Give yourself permission to take a break, and/or sleep

Remember this affirmation “I am enough, I have done enough. I give myself permission to do nothing”.  Sometimes we need to set ourselves free from all the responsibility just for a few minutes. When you have energy, then you have enough to pour into a situation. If you are empty, then you have nothing to give, and you are a burnt-out hopeless liability. Take this analogy: when you are on a plane, the flight attendant tells you that when the plane is going down, the first thing you need to do is put on your oxygen mask. The lesson here is that you must take care of yourself before you can be reactive to any given situation. For my working moms, take a long bathroom break, or take a quick nap in your car. For my work from home moms, silence your phones, and close your laptop for 20 minutes then LAY DOWN. Do not take out a load for the laundry.  For my SAHMs, give yourself permission to take a nap.  Be energized for your husband when he gets home and have energy to feel enthused and not fake it.

7.      Blast some upbeat music. 

This is the quickest way to pick up your mood.  My go to is “Uptown Funk”. I am guaranteed to start moving and dancing within seconds of the intro. Sometimes needing more energy is really about a desire to experience something that is just more engaging than what you are doing in that current moment.

8.      Take a shower and brush your teeth.

On days when I wear my pajamas all day, I feel more lazy than usual.  Getting dressed or even grooming just to do a wardrobe change mid-day can really reset you.  I recall when I commuted to work, I would bring my toothbrush and toothpaste in a toiletry bag.  I would also carry a spritzer fragrance that had a rejuvenating fresh scent. I would freshen up in the bathroom on days when it was hard to stay awake until quitting time.   The 10 minutes I’d take to refresh myself, really gave me a second wind for the second half of the day. 

9.      Make tasks easy on yourself.

I know there is a proper way to make the baby bottle, or a proper way to fold the clothes. It would even ‘be best’ if you sat in on that meeting at work or created an outline for the new hire; but you have to think about yourself in the process.  Maybe this one time you microwave the water for the bottle, or you give the clothes to your kids to fold. Moreover, you can ask someone to give you a highlight of the meeting, or send a note to new hire letting them know you are available for questions tomorrow when you get in. Sometimes as women, we focus on making the world so ‘user friendly’ for everyone else, that we don’t realize how complicated we are making it for ourselves.

 10.  Get intimate with your partner or yourself.

One sure fire way to get those brain synapses moving, is to trigger your pleasure senses. Even feel free to start a juicy texting conversation with your partner if you are not with them in the moment. Those texts are sure to keep you alert and ready for the next message! Your partner will thank you!