It’s February. A time of cold, short days for those of us on the Northern Plains, when our bodies are feeling the brunt of winter, the kids are bouncing off the walls with too much pent-up energy, and the freshness and resolve of greeting a new year feel like a distant memory.

We hear about it all the time these days, about how important self-care is for our mental, emotional, and physical health. More than ever, we moms are encouraged to make time for ourselves. And more than ever, with the high standards placed on us by ourselves, by society, it’s difficult to find the time, to form rituals around taking care of our own hidden needs, even as we’re so often reminded that you can’t pour from an empty cup.

Indeed, self-care begins to feel like one more to-do to mark off the ever endless list. Often it feels like one more thing to measure up against. One more thing subject to comparison, one more thing that “good moms” do, one more thing to fail at. One more notch on the mom guilt list.

And when we do resolve to take the time for self-care, what form does that self-care take? Some of us are lucky enough to know what it is that fills our cups, and then there are those of us with no clue except for the things everyone else is talking about:

do your nails
go for a run
going to therapy
get a massage
go to Target
make a budget
take a bubble bath
do yoga
journal

None of these things are bad, but no one of these is going to work for each individual. Personally, I have tried to become a runner multiple times, I am sincerely jealous of friends that love to run and use it as a stress-reliever. RUNNING DOES NOT LOVE ME. At least, it hasn’t started loving me yet. 😂There’s needs to be some element of enjoyment or satisfaction in self-care practices, or they become drudgery.

All this to say that, unless you have well-established self-care routines and know what works for you before you have a baby, it can be hard and overwhelming to find the rhythms that work for you after kids have come into the picture. Trial and error can feel like a waste of time. Things that worked before aren’t working anymore.

Or perhaps that’s just me.

I will freely admit to failing at self-care. Or rather, my standards of self-care are extremely basic: mainly, showering on a regular basis. Taking my meds and my vitamins. Maybe seeing a therapist once in a while. Feeding my body in a way that honors my needs. That’s about as much as I can manage on the regular. There are more things that I would love to add, but then comes the overthinking and subsequent overwhelm.

Sometimes it’s just easier for someone else to make the decisions and tell me what to do so I can reach my goals. So I’ve made a list and I’ll be the one telling me what to do. Ha!

Here’s where I invite you to join me!

For seven days, I’m going to experiment with different types of self-care and I’d love it if you came along on the journey and share what’s working for you. Every single thing I’ve chosen will be extremely basic, taking no more than 15 minutes out of your day, with no special equipment needed. Unless you’re on strict bedrest, all of these will be doable for you if you’re pregnant or recently postpartum. There will be no effort to reach 200 squats. That’s not what this challenge is for, go to Pinterest if that’s what you need. 😉 It’s not going to be about perfectionism or comparison. This challenge is about focusing on your whole health, as an individual: mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically. Some days will be prompts that have us going inward, checking in with ourselves, others will be simple ways to promote our physical wellbeing.

This challenge is for you if you’re feeling the doldrums of winter, if you get bored easily with the same old routine, if you need a simple, easy-to-follow pick-me-up. If you’re a tired mom or mom-to be, this challenge is for you.

Every day starting tomorrow morning, I’ll be posting a brief summary of the day’s challenge on Facebook and Instagram, with a link to more in-depth blog post. For every day that you complete the challenge, you’ll get one entry to win the sweet Quattro Mama tank- all you have to do is check in and provide some feedback or a photo of yourself doing that day’s challenge. This can be in a comment on that day’s social media post, a post on your own social media account tagging Sweet Clover Photography and using the hashtag #SCPselfcarechallenge, or commenting on the day’s blog post.

And that’s it! Participate every day of the challenge and you’ll have seven chances to win the tank top! I love the message on the tank so much, I’m ordering one for myself, too. Our bodies don’t only deserve love after pregnancy and birth, but it’s just one more pretty great reason to be kind to ourselves and to our physical and spiritual beings.

7-Day Self-Care Challenge