Making Time for Mama

It’s incredibly easy as a Mama to find yourself at the end of your own priority list. It’s never intentional. You don’t just wake up one morning and decide that you aren’t a priority for yourself anymore! No, but still...even as a first time mother you begin to notice that slowly but surely there never seems to be enough time.! Many moms work, take care of their homes, they have their own passions and interests and now of course we’re adding on prepping for baby! Which, let’s face it, usually takes the number one priority spot in your mind as soon as you find out you’re pregnant. The rest of your decision making begins to revolve around the fact that you are/will soon be a mom, and that baby is priority number 1. This isn’t a bad thing, it’s our minds' way of preparing for the baby by going into overdrive.  However, it’s still vital to remember yourself in the midst of all of this change too.

THE MAMA MENTALITY

It’s pretty easy to see that when you become pregnant your body does a lot of changing in a very small amount of time. What you can’t see is that your mind is also doing a lot of adapting! Aside from the ever present baby brain that seems to have you forgetting where your keys are...or your phone...come to think of it where’s the cat?? Scientifically speaking your brain isn’t just undergoing hormonal changes, but is actually also physically changing in ways to help support and care for your baby-to-be.  There’s even evidence to show that areas in the brain actually shrink during pregnancy to “fine tune” a mother's instincts with her baby. Your brain and body are working in tandem to support your baby in the absolute best way that they can.

You’ll notice there’s nothing in any of that, that speaks to the mother herself at this time. When everything around you, your body and mind, it all tells you to focus solely on this one little being and be the best provider you can be...sometimes that leaves us with a little blind spot just the right size and shape for mama. This is where self-care is absolutely vital. There’s a reason why self-care has become such an incredibly large and all encompassing market. It’s important. It nurtures our body and our mind, and helps fuel us to be the most effective versions of ourselves in other aspects of our lives. If you don’t first take care of yourself how can you effectively care for someone else without suffering insane burn out around every corner? 

SKINCARE AS SELF-CARE

Self-care can be many things, it’s only real requirement is that it be an action of love and care towards oneself with no other goal in mind. Self-care is essentially just doing things that you love, that make you happy, or that fulfill a basic human need simply for that fact alone. This could be that once a month trip to the salon, a good hour in the afternoon set aside for your favorite book, hitting the gym, making your bed in the morning, or even of course one of our favorites: skincare. Skincare fits into self-care seamlessly because it is an act that literally has you taking care of nothing but your actual self! You are dedicating time to just taking care of your skin's needs, your needs, and that can be incredibly therapeutic. For many it can almost become meditative, a comforting routine at the end and beginning of each day.

WHAT DOES THIS DO?

We can tout the importance and benefits of self-care all day long, but we could also just simply boil it all down to brass tacks here. Practicing good self-care is something that benefits us mentally, physically, and emotionally. Mentally it enables us to refresh and reset. We are more capable to take on our day having set a good intention for ourselves. It also reduces stress in many instances which eases our mind, body, and soul. When we take care of ourselves we ensure our basic needs are met and we treat ourselves with love and respect. As such, we are then able to turn around and treat others that we love and care about the same way! 

When we channel this self-care into the realm of skincare, we marry the idea of caring for the body with that of caring for the mind and soul as well. We are actively taking steps to ensure the health of our skin, fulfilling a basic need without any other motive. This IS self-care. Now pair that with the soothing, pampering, nurturing aspects of a healthy skin-care routine and you have a self-care experience that can really do some good, especially for a tired mama at the end of the day!

OUR PROMISE AND HOPE FOR OUR MAMAS

This concept of self-care is something that we are very passionate about with our mama’s at Element Mom. We want to produce products that don’t just work but also make mama feel good, feel loved, and feel empowered that she is taking this moment to care for herself. We want to bring mama back into her own equation, eliminate the blind spot, and remind her that she is valued and worthy of this time just for her. We carry this hope and promise in each of our products, a promise to mamas everywhere. And a reminder that you are beautiful, strong, and important not just to those around you but to yourself as well. Good skincare, good self-care.