Today is my 31st birthday! And no, this isn’t an April Fool’s joke, I really was born on April 1st!
Instead of sharing a recipe on my birthday, I figured I’d “take the day off” and share with all of you my goals for this next year of my life.
My 30th year was certainly amazing. I got pregnant, wrote my next cookbook (coming out May 1!), traveled to new, beautiful places like Hawaii and Bermuda, and had a baby!
Needless to say, there’s a lot of pressure on my 31st year thanks to my 30th, but I can’t wait to see what’s to come.
Now that I am a mother, there has been a huge shift in my priorities, of course. Before the baby, I had (extra) time to spend on myself, whether that was waking up early for a morning workout or getting a pedicure “just because” (like, not because you desperately need one.)
losing health and balance
I’ve found it very difficult to do what I do best: eat well and exercise, all within a healthy balance.
Luca’s 5th month (he turned 6 months last weekend!) crushed us. He went through a major sleep regression and would stay awake during the day for 3 to sometime 6 hours at a time (which was a shock, because he always would get tired around 1-1.5 hours). At night, he’d wake up wailing with his eyes closed for no apparent reason multiple times a night. Luckily, with a little patting, some shushing, and the occasional pick-up and cradle, he’d go back down in a few minutes.
And if you know anything about a healthy lifestyle, sleep is probably the #1 thing you can work on to improve your overall wellness. So, when that’s the #1 thing that’s failing, it sets the whole system off balance. I started eating more unhealthfully (I always eat healthy foods, I just eat too many of them), had little energy for exercise, and stopped taking care of myself as well as I had been.
Not to mention, we hired a nanny and went back to work full-time, so my priorities became my two babies: Luca and Inspiralized.
I keep telling myself that adjusting to life as a first-time mother won’t happen overnight and to be kinder on myself. It’s okay that you haven’t worked out in a week, it’s okay that you’re eating more to comfort yourself, it’s just okay. I’ve never practiced kindness as consistently as I have now, as a mother and let me tell you: it’s refreshing!
finding health and balance, again
But alas, the baby is 6 months old, I’m officially 31 and I want to find health and balance this year as a mother. I know it’s possible, and I think the key is finding a routine (which is hard, because Luca isn’t on a schedule!) By a routine, I mean things like
- meal-prepping for the week: by having healthy lunches and dinners prepped, you’re less likely to order-out, make unhealthy choices, or snack because you’re hungry while cooking.
- making exercise a priority at the same time each time: I’m better with mornings, and I need to accept that my life isn’t the same anymore and I can’t workout at 6am (for many reasons – like full breasts due to nursing and new mom exhaustion.) I always feel ‘guilty’ exercising during typical business hours, but that’s silly because I don’t work a typical job and part of my ‘job’ is to promote health and wellness!
- going to bed earlier: like many, I’m guilty of going to bed later than I should, because I do time-wasting activities like watch trashy TV and scroll through Instagram. I’m going to make a valiant effort to be more relaxed at night time and turn the lights off earlier, let my brain shut down, and get rest earlier to make up for the earlier mornings and night-time wakeups.
- making time for self-care and relaxation: you all know (if you follow me on Instagram) that I’m currently dealing with Bell’s Palsy, a condition that renders your face half paralyzed. my acupuncturist (and MD!) believes this to be stress-induced and that I drained my body of its energy supplies and it resulted in this viral flare up that surfaced as Bell’s Palsy. my routine is now going to include some relaxation everyday, which I’ve already time blocked in my calendar for each day (otherwise I’ll never remember to make the time!) more on this to come.
All of this, I believe, will help me find health and balance in my 31st year. I want to feel my best so I can be the best mother, wife, friend, daughter, and entrepreneur I can be!
Life is short, and I want to enjoy every moment of it and to do that, I need to find that healthy balance once again. Thanks for following along in my journey, as always – and thank you for all the birthday wishes, they mean so much to me!
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