How to Put Yourself on the Front Burner

Struggle with making time for yourself?
I have 3 tips to ease into making time for YOU and why dating yourself is a MUST!

I also mention that one drunken Peloton ride my feet still hurt from....It's a treat :)

My favorite FREE YouTube guided meditation channel: https://www.youtube.com/@GreatMeditation

Treat yo-self & be well, 
Meg

thebesthealthcoaching.com
IG: @Best_Life_Health_Coaching
Free FB Group: Best Life for Women https://www.facebook.com/groups/1285034911963897

Transcript

 can't say that enough. When you show up for yourself, you show up better for the people around you

  

 Welcome to  the Hertz Like a Mother podcast, where we celebrate the joys and pains of motherhood to share the message that we aren't alone in this journey. I am Megan Hansen, mom to six-year-old triplets registered nurse and certified integrative health coach.  . Today is a super duper special day because I have been putting on my 10 K in giveaway coaching to celebrate my company . Best Life Health coaching. Turning one. My baby has turned one. Y'all. My little baby of a company has turned one. And to celebrate, 

I am gifting  one lucky deserving woman. The gift of coaching to change her life, to change her health, and to spread the ripple effect that is health. So I am gonna be announcing that today,  when this airs. It will be a few days after I announced the winner, but I'm super excited to give that gift to someone today and also give some partial scholarships.

Cause there are some amazingly wonderful women out there that I am so fortunate that I can hear their stories and work with some of. . So I'm super excited. I have some really good energy emanating from me. I feel like right now. And I just want to share it with all everyone. So in reading these applications and these women's stories, I was honestly, I was kind of moved to tears with some of them because, you know, I think it takes a lot to share your story and be vulnerable.

And these stories are stemming from my question, which is why do you. , why do you think I should pick you as an applicant for the, for the scholarship? And it was just a very interesting read, every single one of them. And there was a common theme across all the applications, which is essentially putting yourself on the back burner.

And  somebody mentioned that putting themselves on the back burner.  that another person said, you know, it's been hard to navigate work and family balance. Somebody else said, I've lost track of myself. I spend most of my time putting everyone else first. And I think all of us can say that they've, they totally commiserate and they feel these words and they touch a bit of their lives at the same.

, and I guess I wanna say today that it doesn't have to be that way. And I've learned a lot the past several years since becoming a mom about the importance of making time for yourself and that  the age of self-exploration does not stop when you become a mother just because you have these tiny people that you have to nurture and raise.

I think that's really the time. The time of self-exploration ,

really starts when you become a mother. . So if you are the type of person that does put everyone first, that you do find it hard to find time for yourself, to make time for yourself, this episode is for you. And I have three tips of how to start putting yourself first, and I hope you get out out a lot of it.

So I always say start small. So here is. Small but mighty tip of how to put your start putting yourself first, which is the first tip being schedule quiet moments with yourself. And this could take anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes, and it all starts with taking a moment and doing some deep breaths.

And if you're like, Megan, I've got time to deep breaths. Girl, you do. You got time. So if you're at home, kids are driving you crazy. Try to get out of their room unnoticed. Close the door behind you. Sit on the ground and just for a minute, all you got is breathe. , take a big breath through your nose, hold it and blow it out.

man, that feels so good. And think of the last time that you've taken a deep breath. Like really? When have you, can you say that you've done that today, that you've gone about your day and you've consciously taken some deep breaths? We need some oxygen. Y'all. Oxygen is amazing things for your body.

So that is my challenge for you, in fact, right now, let's do it. Let's do it together right now. . Big breath in through your nose. Hold it at the top. Feel that belly expand and breathe it out. Be loud with it. Oh no. Feels so good. Keep doing it. Do the things that make you feel good. I think sometimes we forget what makes us feel good, right?

And it's can be as small as starting with a breath. Breath. I. . The next step would be spend a little bit more time doing like a five minute guided meditation, if that's a little too woowoo for, you call it breathing. You don't have to call it meditation, call it breathing. Just more breathing longer.

Breathing. That's all it is. . , , There's a free YouTube channel that I've followed for about a year now, and I absolutely adore them. Um, I can't think of the name off the top of my head. I'm gonna put them in the show notes, , but they have very quick guided meditation, so you literally, all you need to do, sit close your eyes and breathe.

They will tell you all the things about how to breathe, when to breathe, what to think about, and meditation's amazing for quieting your mind. , relaxing your system, allowing your parasympathetic system to kick in that, like that rest, relax, digest, being system, which is so important and it's so, it's so important to have those moments during the day that you aren't all hyped up on cortisol, doing all the things.

So that is a another tip. If you know, start with a couple deep breaths if you can work your way up to like a five minute guided meditation. Another quick thing you can do is when it's not raining outside , and you have, if you have some grass, go outside barefoot. And I want you to just stand in the. , and that's, that's pretty simple, right?

Not too complicated, right? You might feel a little funny doing it, especially if you only have grass in your front yard and your neighbors are like, what's this weirdo and barefoot just doing, , standing outside? But you know what this is called grounding. There's a lot of research on grounding and the benefits and the electromagnetic energy fields and all that.

What that does for your. . But if you wouldn't wanna just keep it simply as you're just putting your feet to the earth and you are one with the earth for a minute, ah, it does amazing things just to center you. And honestly, I think the connection to nature is so underrated that, and we don't make time for it.

So even just that one simple task of going outside, putting your feet in the grass and just standing there for a minute, super simple. . So when you start to incorporate those little things in your day, and you might forget about it, and if you need to set a timer or a reminder or a calendar date, , for, for these little tasks, do it.

You gotta figure out what works for you, what's going to remind you to do it. You can do it with a friend. Maybe you, your friend, can have a nice little deep breathing session.  every day at 2:00 PM I don't know. Marco Polo, her . Um, the next tip of ways to put yourself first is going to be to move your body.

I think this is super important as, as moms, is a tip to not only learn more about yourself, but to better yourself is through movement. , and I think the first way to start is to figure out what makes you joyful in movement. So is this dancing, is this yoga, is this paddle boarding? Like what brings you joy?

And I don't want you to immediately skip to, oh no, I don't have time for that. No, no, no. We're we're done with that talk. Like we're the earth. Nope. Reverse. I want you to think what, what would bring you joy? What would let you. Take out all the other factors, the kids, the husband, the dog, whatever. Take out all that garbage outta the picture.

What's gonna bring you joy and what's one way to get you there? Start small and then you can backtrack and make a plan to how to get you there. I'm a huge, if you know me, you know I'm in love with strength training. If you wanna know more about that, I, I could talk about strength training for days. , I would say strength training and my gym time saved me my identity.

And honestly, I don't know if I'd be here, . I'll be completely honest with you. I think motherhood would've swallowed me up and spit me out without the time that the gym allowed me to be with myself to breathe with.  and the transformational process of changing your body, strengthening your body, that process, man, it is one of a kind and unlike any other.

So I encourage you to figure out ways to move your body joyfully. I find the best bang for your buck is strength training.  because it is, it is you and that weight man. It is you and that barbell, it is you and that dumbbell, and it is you against you. And there's no comparison unless you allow yourself to compare yourself to somebody else.

But it's you against you getting better. Every single gym session, challenging yourself, and there are just so many life lessons wrapped up with moving your.  and challenging your body. , and it could be also as simple as going for a walk. Walking is another super underrated activity. There's so much research on the fat burning benefits of walking.

And let me tell you, gone are the days of killing yourself for. , right? Like you don't have to do hit, you don't have to do orange theory, you don't have to do these high intensity spin spin sessions all the time. I love the idea of a Peloton, but you don't have to be a crazy Peloton or in order to be healthy.

You know how many Peloton sessions I've done? I'm not saying this is like the end all, be all for health, but I've done about 12 minutes on the Peloton in my entire life, actually make that 15. Because I'm pretty sure I had a three minute drunken spin session in Amador County once. Shut up, Melissa. Hi.

What up girl . Um, oh, and that drunken Peloton session was barefoot, by the way. So, I did not call it as, I did not call it grounding, though that would've been kind of cool if I had incorporated some barefoot grounding in there. But no, it was barefoot peloton, which is a little painful, by the way. I dunno if anybody's done that.

If you have done some barefoot drunken Peloton rides, will you let me know? Will you please send me a message? I would love to connect with you, . Um, okay, so a first tip was schedule quiet moments with yourself. Breathing. Meditation, go outside, stepping under the grass Second. Move your body. Third tip. This is my favorite one.

I mean, I love all of these, but hear me out. This one's good. Date yourself? Yeah. I said it. Date yourself. Does that excite anybody? I'm excited right now. Who wants to go for a date with themselves? Yes. Let's go right now. Here's what I'm talking. . I'm gonna, I'm gonna read off a couple scenarios and I want you to think to yourself, if you've done this before, have you been to  Dinner alone?

Just with yourself. Have you been to a movie by yourself? Have you done a spa day by yourself? What about going to the library and just chilling and browsing and reading by yourself? Coffee shop by yourself?  and actually sitting there enjoying your drink by yourself. What kind of feelings come up when I talk about this?

If you've never done any of these, why? If you haven't done any of these, I want you to for a moment think about what that would feel like to sit with yourself doing these things. What does that feel?  and I know a few of you would have a hard time knowing what to do, like quote, what to do because we always have to be doing something right.

Like when was the last time we just were, we just existed. We didn't have to like physically be doing something all the time. So I challenge you, work your way up to dating yourself. . Hmm. Perhaps your partner could be solo parent for a few hours. Perhaps you splurge on a babysitter. Hmm. Perhaps you call mother-in-law or little childcare, or if you don't have kids, I didn't even know what to say to that.

But I love you. . Take me with you. No, um,

Here's why I love the idea of dating yourself. It forces you to confront the things that you might be running from. So this could be some thoughts that you're not ready to be confronted by. Maybe it's a scary idea that you've been wanting to spend time on, but , you're not ready for that scary, big idea because it means it's a challenge.

Maybe it's a personal goal, a new business idea, a job change,

dating yourself allows you like the other, like the other activities I mention.  to quiet the mind. It gives you opportunities, obviously, of less noise and distraction, but inner peace. Doesn't that sound nice? Inner peace,  I think of like a monk when I think inner peace, but I also think of.

This quiet still confidence when I think of inner peace, because when you have inner peace, nothing can shake you. Nothing really triggers you because you just are and you just accept, . When you date yourself, you learn who you are and what you.  because we're not worried in that moment about other people anymore, right?

We're not worried about what little Johnny wants for dinner and what little Susie is crying about, and little Charlie just pinched the baby.

We're not caring about all that. When we're dating ourselves, we're worried about what you're feeling, what you want, what's moving you. . So what's inspiring you

 Now I feel like Megan, I don't have a lot of extra money to spend on myself right now. I get it.  So I have a friend, we'll call her, we'll call her Nikki. Nikki has a lot of kids, a lot of kids. She's a great mom. She spends a lot of time and energy being a mom, and she loves being a mom.

That's honestly one of my reasons why I love Nikki because. . I try to kind of glean some of that love of mothering to use for myself because I struggle with that some days. 

 And I've talked with Nikki recently about ways you can spend time alone that don't necessarily cost a lot of money. ,

so here we go.

 . I mentioned the library. You can bring your own journal.

They have wifi. , you can sit, , if you wanna take a few minutes and scroll quietly on your phone.  not, I'm not saying scroll for hours.  But scroll for a little bit. You can journal, you can read. Here's what's amazing. They have, I usually only go to the library for kids books, but they have adult books.

Yo, they got adult books on anything. You can think of my personal favorites right now or about. Self-development, money, mindset, how to make more money, like those are my jams right now. If you can get some, all the books that you've been eyeing on Amazon but you maybe haven't been wanting to buy necessarily, they have 'em at the library for free , so like maybe browse and read about a hobby you've been wanting to do.

Read about, , if you like romance novels, get some, get some trashy novel time in, so libraries free, obviously, , coffee shop, you can spend, , the latte itself is a little pricey. I've been known to spend six to $9 on a latte for myself. But you know what, hashtag self-care. Okay? And you can sit, you can enjoy your drink.

Enjoy the wifi. You can people watch, you can sit, you can do journaling. There. , you see a common trend here of journaling, . It'll change your life. This, this self-discovery business, a gym day pass. If you don't belong to a gym, you could do a daily pass, especially if you find like a nice bougie one that has like.

Pool a sauna, maybe like a women's only hot tub or sauna. You can get some like really nice,  gym day passes. And they also have these day spas that if you go and you get like a pedicure, for example, you get access to the day spa services. So if you get like a, say you get like a $50 pedic.  you can have access to like the steam room, the sauna, the jacuzzi, all the other fancy words for sitting in warm water,  and relaxing.

But these are like some ideas of things you can do to really treat yourself and date yourself and be with yourself.

 and my biggest lesson here is that when you show up for yourself, you're able to show up so much better for those around you.

can't say that enough. When you show up for yourself, you show up better for the people around you because of all the things I've mentioned. That inner peace and stillness, and knowing what you want and learning who you are, building that confidence and giving yourself that mental break is beyond value, beyond measure, so you can go back to your loved ones, refreshed, renewed, and excited again.

When I leave my kids for a while, I'm excited to come back to them. When I don't get my time to date myself, I feel bogged down. I'm tired. I don't wanna even be with my husband. Nope, hands off, bro. Not your night tonight, Uhuh. Mm-hmm.

So I encourage all of you, if you have struggles with making time for yourself, I want you to know that you are worthy of this. You are worthy of putting yourself on the front burner for once you are worthy of investing in yourself, if not to benefit the ones that you.

So with that, I want you all to have a wonderful week. Have a great rest of your day. Thank you so much for listening. I love each and every person out there right now who is listening with their ears. I appreciate you and I would love to hear how you guys are liking the show. So please feel free to send me comments.

I'll leave my info in the show notes if you're a new listener and don't know me, but I love me some Instagram, I love me some Facebook. So connect with me there and if you have any ideas for shows in the future, let me know. If you wanna be on my show, I wanna hear your story. You wanna be on my show, you wanna chit chat with me?

Let's do it. Let me know. All right, y'all.