Healthy-ish Working Mom

  5  Mom Life Hacks That I Rely on to Simplify Life  We all want to accomplish more and have more free time. With limited time and energy, every trick that can potentially make life easier is worth investigating. There’s more than one way to catch a mouse, as they say! Use a timer. A simple timer can greatly increase your focus and productivity. For example, the next time you need to clean the kitchen, determine how long it should take. Then set a timer for a couple of minutes less than your guess. See if you finish before the time runs out. You’ll be more focused and get more done. I use this also for my kids, a 10 minute clean up timer at the end of the day, for them to clean up their bedrooms and playroom before bedtime.  Timers even help at work.  When possible, a 10-minute break every hour boost productivity over the other 50 minutes! I like to use the 10 minutes to take a quick walk or stretch,  get a drink of water, or deal with personal email. You’l...

                                                                Every mom has stress.  The best we can do for ourselves is to reduce bad stress, know how to cope with good stress, and work on practicing a positive attitude. Practice a Healthy Lifestyle Sleeping enough, eating enough, staying hydrated, and seeking medical attention when needed, all contribute to living a healthy life. If you are committed to stress reduction maintaining and improving your health is essential. Tip: if you're 40, time to begin annual mammograms; don't avoid it because you're busy!   Learn to Meditate One way to deal with stress in the moment is to take time out of your day each day to focus and meditate or pray. If you’re not sure how to meditate properly, you can find plenty of help from books l...

  Self-Care Sunday: Thoughts   Self-care has transformed a lot over the last few years. It began as a way to encourage people to do more for themselves, which is amazing. But somewhere along the way, it became something people felt like they were forced to do.   If you are feeling a little overwhelmed with this idea of the perfect self-care routine, it’s time to take a step back. Instead of focusing on having to fit it into your daily life, why not just start one day a week?     Why do Self-Care on Sunday?   Sunday is actually the perfect day to dedicate to yourself, since it is often already a day of rest for many people. You are winding down after a weekend, and likely getting ready for a new week to begin.    Setting Up A Weekly Self-Care Routine   First thing’s first – figure out what your routine is going to be on Sunday. As a mom, a lightbulb went off in my head when I realized that care doesn’t have to be done...

  No two workdays are the same, most of the time. Have you ever felt that just showing up to work seems like that is the best you’ll do? What I found is there are some re-framing and re-focusing can help with staying on track   1.      Set Clear Milestones You have a project to complete and it seems SO daunting. Instead of working endlessly toward that one end goal, set mini-goals or milestones for yourself. If you can meet a milestone every or every other day, it will be easier to keep your head up and pushing forward with the same vigor as day one.   2.      Prioritize and Plan Many jobs include prioritizing work tasks. Take time at the beginning and end of every day to look at what you have done and what you need to do. Prioritizing and planning your workday (or the next one) will allow you to move seamlessly through your day without losing focus.   3.      Conquer Difficult Tasks First...

  Constructive criticism is fine, but some people are so relentlessly negative that they can suck the joy out of life. No matter what happy news you might have, they are guaranteed to find the cloud to fit your silver lining.   Here are 6 strategies I've used to deal with hypercritical people.   1.      Don’t Take It Personally It’s a safe bet that it's not you, it's them. Some people just hug their negativity around them like a security blanket, and it colors their view of the world. They criticize everything because that suits them. Watch how they treat other people. It’s almost guaranteed they criticize everybody, not just you.   2.      Listen to The Message Is the person obscuring the message? Maybe your critical colleague or friend is tactless, or bad at expressing themselves rather than being mean. Try to see past the messenger to understand what is really being said, otherwise you might miss out on som...

If you have any contact with social media, you've noticed how everyone is striving to be perfect. Suddenly you can’t post a selfie without at least one filter or go out for dinner without showing your curated plate of food. Even your dog has to look perfect. What if we just decided to take a step away from all the competition, all that clamoring for likes and hearts? What if we chose merely to enjoy your life without sharing it with the world? Here’s what I've found helped make me happier with my life Not judging You can decide right now to stop analyzing other people, looking for what’s wrong with their their body or their life choices. What if we refocus our attitudes, so we stop seeing a differences as  flaws but as merely something that makes that person unique? How does that process impact how we see ourselves?   Accept imperfection Wanting to be the best version of ourselves isn’t the same as being a perfectionist. A perfectionist is never happy with who th...

  It can be a challenge finding natural products.  After researching I could have made this list thousands of bullet points long buuuut... nobody's got time for that.  Here's the scoop to demystify you skincare shopping! Toxic Ingredients to Avoid Read the ingredients list of the skincare products you purchase, and avoid the following toxic ingredients: 1.Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) 2. Ethanolamines 3. Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) 4. Formaldehyde 5. Triclosan and Triclocarban 6. Coal Tar 7. Oxybenzone 8. Parabens 9. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) 10. Petroleum Distillates 11. Fragrance 12. Phthalates 13. Nanoparticles 14. Hydroquinone 15. Silicone-derived Emollients 16. Talc Derivatives and Preservatives Petroleum derivatives are often found in store-bought skincare products and cosmetics, including: Polysorbates = DEA or TEA Mineral Oil = Paraffinum Liquidum Petrolatum = Petroleum Jelly Also keep an eye out for preservatives that don’t...